St Innocent the
Metropolitan of Moscow
the Enlightener of the Aleuts and Apostle to the Americas
Troparion - Tone 4
O Holy Father Innocent
In obedience to the will of God
You accepted dangers and tribulations
Bringing many peoples to the knowledge of truth.
You showed us the way,
Now by your prayers help lead us into the Kingdom of Heaven.
Kontakion - Tone 2
A true celebration of the
providence and grace of God
Is your life, O holy father Innocent, Apostle to our land.
In hardships and dangers you toiled for the Gospel's sake
And God delivered and preserved you unharmed.
From obscurity He highly exalted you as an example
That the Lord truly guides a man in the way he should go.
Innocent (Veniaminov), Metropolitan of Moscow
and Kolomensk, was glorified by the
Russian Orthodox Church on October 6, 1977. He was born in the village
of Anginsk in the Irkutsk diocese. The Apostle of America and Siberia
proclaimed the Gospel "even to the ends of the earth": in the Aleutian
islands (from 1823), in the six dialects of the local tribes on the
island of Sitka (from 1834), among the Kolosh (Tlingit); in the remotest
settlements of the extensive Kamchatka diocese (from 1853); among the
in the Yakutsk region (from 1853) and North
America (in 1857); in the Amur and the Usuriisk region (from 1860).
Having spent a large part of his life in
journeys, St. Innocent translated a Catechism and the Gospel into the
Aleut language. In 1833, he wrote in this language one of the finest
works of Orthodox missionary activity INDICATION OF THE WAY TO THE
KINGDOM OF HEAVEN.
In 1859, the Yakut first heard the Word of God
and divine services in their native language. Twice, in 1860 and again
in 1861,
St. Innocent met with St. Nicholas the Apostle to Japan,
sharing with him his spiritual experience.
A remarkable preacher, St. Innocent said,
"Whoever abounds in faith and love, can have mouth and wisdom, and the
heart cannot resist their serving it."
Having begun his apostolic work as a parish
priest, St. Innocent completed it as Metropolitan of Moscow (January 5,
1868 - March 31, 1879). He obeyed the will of God all his life, and he
left behind a theme for the sermon to be preached at his funeral: "The
steps of a man are rightly ordered by the Lord" (Psalms 36/37:23).
The memory of St. Innocent is also celebrated
on October 6.
