Native Americans
and Russian Orthodox Church
in Alaska

During two summers, in 1998 and in 2000, I conducted a field work in south-central Alaska researching the place Orthodox Church occupied in the life of the Athabaskan Indians. This work was part of my project of examining encounters of Native peoples of Siberia and Alaska with Russian Christianity from the nineteenth century to the present. I examined the status of Orthodoxy among Dena’ina Indians by visiting a few of their villages (Tyonek, Nondalton, Eklutna) and by interviewing native people about their attitudes toward Christianity. All Dena’ina people are formally affiliated with the Orthodox Church. I also tried to pin down traces of Orthodoxy among the Dena’ina neighbors, the Ahtna Indians, some of whom were members this church in the past. For this purpose, I made a trip to two Ahtna settlements, Copper River and Glennallen. Another important part of my work was research in Alaskan and Russian archives for primary missionary documents related to this topic.  Two generous grants provided by the Alaska Humanities Forum and a summer fellowship from American Philosophical Society supported my research in Alaska and St. Petersburg (Russia). I would like to share with visitors of my page a collection of visual materials I accumulated during my trips to the Athabaskans.

One of the most memorable trips was my August visit to Nondalton, a Dena’ina village in the Iliamna Lake area. Welcomed and accommodated by Michael (Jimmy) Balluta, a sub-deacon from the local St. Nicholas Orthodox Church, I shared not only his food, but also informative conversations.  I enjoyed hospitality and stories of his wife Olga Balluta, who is a granddaughter of Zakhar Evanoff, one of Dena’ina chiefs at the turn of the century. Jimmy’s brother, Andrew Balluta, who is extremely knowledgeable about history and culture of his people, was another valuable source of information.

I was also fortunate to meet and interview Frs. Michael Trefon and David Askoak, two Orthodox priests, who work among local Dena’ina and Yupik people.  Fr. Trefon is the only Dena’ina ordained priest.  Furthermore, I had a chance to spend a whole day in St. Juvenal Summer Bible camp organized by Frs. Trefon and Askoak and located in the vicinity of the Nondalton village. The chief goal of this camp is to expose local Dena’ina and Yupik children to native Orthodox religion and develop a sense of community among these young people.  Moreover, I was permitted to participate in and record Orthodox Saturday and Sunday services conducted by Dena’ina people both in Old Church Slavonic and English. What surprised me in Nondalton was the active involvement of people of different age groups, including young people, in religious services and activities.  It might be suggested that Nondalton people successfully use Orthodox Church as a tool for maintaining communal integrity and control.  Incidentally, Nondalton is the village where Dena’ina people preserve their language and have a number of successful programs, which benefit welfare of all residents and consolidate the community.

Some results of this field and archival research were incorporated in my book: Shamanism and Christianity: Native Encounters with Russian Orthodox Missions, 1820-1917 (Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1999) and Through Orthodox Eyes: Russian Missionary Narratives of Travels to Dena'ina and Ahtna (Fairbanks: University of Alaska Press, 2003)

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