The Greek Church on the Pacific [pp. A469-482]

THE GREEK CHURCH ON THE PACIFIC.
Watkins, l,oo.
RUSSIAN CHURCH, UNION SQUARE, SAN FRANCISCC
were treated, saying that in some cases
they had to work for their living. The
hunters, too, did not like the priests,
because they rebuked them for their
intercourse with native women.
The head of the mission, the Archimandrite loassaf, was respectfully treated,
as the agents of the company took case
to check their subordinates in his case.
But even he wrote letters to Shelikof
containing the bitterest denunciations of
Baranof, and complaining that he could
not get a church built.
The first winter at St. Paul's, Kadiak,
was, doubtless, one of considerable discomfort and some privation for the priests,
who had sailed for America already imbued with strong prejudices against the
colonies, and ready to view everything
in its worst light. The missionaries even
asserted that they had to pick up food on
the beach, while Baranof and his associates feasted, but this statement does
not find support in the ac counts given by naval officers
and other visitors to the set tlements.
In I1795 Father Juvenal
opened a school at Three
Saints, Kadiak, the first since
that of Shelikof. Teachers
and taught were on mutually
good terms, and the school
was getting on pretty well,
when in June, I796, instruc tions came from the Bishop at
Irkutsk, in whose diocese Rus sian America was, that Juve nal should go to the trading
station at Ilyamna. Next
day he celebrated service for
the last time at Three
Saints, and was particu larly impressed by the fer vor with which Baranof joined
ih the singing and re sponses.
In July he set sail on the ship Catherine, on which he met with rude treatment, poor fare, and a rough passage.
The latter part of his voyage was both
tedious and dangerous, being made from
island to island in bidarkas, or native
canoes. Reaching the Kenai River, he
found a trading-station of the Lebedeff
Company, where he held services and
baptized several persons. With much
difficulty he pursued his journey to
Ilyamna, where the chief received him
in a friendly manner, gave him a native
boy who knew some Russian as a servant, and promised to build a house for
him. The chief professed to be a convert, and in company with one of his
wives and two servants, was baptized in
the presence of his tribe. But when
Juvenal began to tell the natives that
they must put away all their wives but
one, and must marry her, the chief and
others became hostile to him. Most
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