KWETHLUK, Alaska (AP) 鈥� It was in the dusty streets and modest homes of this remote Alaska Native village that Olga Michael quietly lived her entire life as a midwife and a mother of 13. As the wife of an priest, she was a 鈥渕atushka,鈥� or spiritual mother to many more.
The Yup鈥檌k woman became known in across for quiet generosity, piety and compassion 鈥� particularly as a consoler of women who had suffered from abuse, from miscarriage, from the most intimate of traumas. She could share from her own grief, having lost five children who didn鈥檛 live to adulthood.
Her renown spread to a widening circle of devotees after her death from cancer in 1979 at age 63 鈥� through word of mouth and reports of her appearance in sacred dreams and visions, even among people far from Alaska.
Now, after an elaborate ceremony in her village of about 800 people in southwestern , from North America, officially known as 鈥淪t. Olga of Kwethluk, Matushka of All Alaska.鈥�
鈥淚 only thought of her as my mom,鈥� said her daughter, Helen Larson, who attended the ritual last Thursday along with St. Olga鈥檚 other surviving children and many of her grandchildren and great-grandchildren. She is in awe of her mother鈥檚 wide impact.
鈥淭his is not just my mom anymore,鈥� Larson said. St. Olga is 鈥渆verybody鈥檚 helper.鈥�
Why Olga鈥檚 gender and ethnicity matter
For a church led exclusively by male bishops and priests, the glorification of Olga, the first Yup鈥檌k saint, is significant.
鈥淭he church is often seen as a hierarchical, patriarchal institution,鈥� said Metropolitan Tikhon, head of the . 鈥淩ecognizing women like St. Olga is a reminder that the same path of holiness is available to all. Male or female, young or old, rich or poor, everyone is called to follow the same commandments.鈥�
St. Olga鈥檚 sainthood is especially meaningful because many women canonized by the church have been ancient martyrs or nuns, said Carrie Frederick Frost, a professor of religion and culture at Western Washington University who studies women and Orthodoxy.
鈥淭o come here and be a part of the glorification of a woman who was a lay woman and was a mother and a grandmother and lived a life that many women have lived, it鈥檚 just incredibly appealing,鈥� Frost said.
St. Olga鈥檚 appeal to those who have suffered abuse or miscarriage is also important, she said: 鈥淚 think the church has largely failed to minister to those situations, not entirely but largely.鈥�
There are several female Catholic saints from North America. They include St. Kateri Tekakwitha, a 17th century Mohawk-Algonquin woman canonized in 2012.
An elaborate canonization ceremony
Hundreds of visitors from near and far converged for her canonization 鈥� or 鈥済lorification鈥� in Orthodox terminology.
鈥淭hou art the glory of the Yup鈥檌k people 鈥� a new North Star in the firmament of Christ鈥檚 holy Church,鈥� the choir sang. The ceremonies were replete with ringing bells, robust hymns and processions of black-robed clerics, golden-robed acolytes, women in headscarves and other devotees in a mingling of dust and incense.
Some worshippers arrived for the glorification from nearby Yup鈥檌k villages. Others flew in from faraway states and countries to the regional hub of Bethel, and then rode in a fleet of motorboats some 17 miles up the broad Kuskokwim River 鈥� a watershed central to the traditional Yup鈥檌k subsistence lifestyle, marked by yearly rhythms of fishing, hunting and gathering.
Hundreds gathered at a riverbank in Kwethluk to greet Metropolitan Tikhon and other bishops at a specially made dock. Choral chants and incense began rising after they disembarked, and continued for hours in the uncharacteristically hot sun of Alaska鈥檚 long solstice eve.
About 150 devotees squeezed into the sanctuary of Saint Nicholas Orthodox Church, whose golden onion domes rise above the village's modest one-story homes. Others listened outside as a choir sang hymns in Yup'ik, many of them composed for the occasion:
鈥淣anraramteggen elpet, tanqilria atauwaulria cali Aanaput Arrsamquq, cali nanrararput tanqilria yuucin elpet,鈥� said one. (鈥淲e magnify thee, O holy and righteous mother Olga, and we honor thy holy memory.鈥�)
Prayers honored St. Olga as 鈥渢he healer of those who suffered abuse and tragedy, the mother of children separated from their parents, the swift aid of women in hard labor, the comfort of all those wounded in heart and soul.鈥�
Worshippers approached her open casket after the ceremony, crossing themselves and kneeling.
A family's recollections
Wiz Ruppert of Cranston, Rhode Island, returned to her native Kwethluk for the ceremony. That the grandmother she lived with for much of her childhood is now a saint seemed strange at first, 鈥渂ut then it was also very fitting, because she was also so kind and generous when she was alive.鈥�
And Larson, one of St. Olga鈥檚 daughters, recalled watching women, and some men, seek her mother鈥檚 counsel. She didn鈥檛 eavesdrop, but 鈥淚 used to read their faces,鈥� Larson said.
鈥淭hey鈥檇 feel heavy, by their facial expression, their body language,鈥� Larson said. 鈥淭hen they鈥檇 have tea or coffee and talk, and by the time they go out, they鈥檙e much lighter and happier.鈥�
What is Orthodoxy's link with Alaska?
St. Olga joins a growing cadre of saints with strong ties to Alaska 鈥� widely deemed an Orthodox holy land, even though only a fraction of the state鈥檚 population are adherents.
It鈥檚 here that Orthodoxy 鈥� the world鈥檚 second-largest Christian communion 鈥� gained a foothold in the present-day United States with the 18th and 19th century arrival of Russian Orthodox missionaries to what was then czarist territory.
Several Orthodox monks and martyrs with ties to Alaska have already been canonized in the Orthodox Church in America, the now-independent offspring of the Russian Orthodox Church.
St. Olga is the third with Alaska Native heritage, emblematic of how the faith has grafted in with some Indigenous cultures. Most of the state鈥檚 Orthodox priests, serving about 80 parishes, are Alaska Natives. More than a dozen are from Kwethluk.
A debate, now resolved, over Olga's remains
In November 2024, priests exhumed Olga鈥檚 body. Her remains are currently kept in an open casket in Kwethluk鈥檚 church, where pilgrims can venerate her shrouded relics.
When the bishops of the Orthodox Church in America authorized St. Olga鈥檚 canonization in 2023, there was talk of moving her body to Anchorage as a more accessible location.
But bishops answered the pleas of village residents, who didn鈥檛 want to lose the presence of their spiritual mother.
Now Kwethluk, inaccessible by roads, will become one of the American church's most remote pilgrimage destinations. The diocese is working with the village on plans for a new church, hospitality center and cultural center.
Worshipping in your own language
The village provided a taste of such hospitality for the glorification. Pilgrims stayed in a local school or in residents鈥� homes 鈥� amply fed by home-prepared meals of Alaska specialties such as walrus meat and smoked fish.
Nicholai Joekay of nearby Bethel 鈥� who is named for St. Olga鈥檚 late husband and grew up attending church events with her family 鈥� was deeply moved by the glorification.
鈥淚n church, up until today, we sang hymns of saints and holy people from foreign lands,鈥� he said in a written reflection shared with The Associated Press. 鈥淲e have had to learn foreign concepts that are mentioned in the Gospels referencing agricultural terms and concepts from cultures that are difficult for us to understand.
鈥淭oday, we sang hymns of a pious Yup鈥檌k woman who lived a life that we can relate to with words that only we can pronounce properly,鈥� he wrote.
鈥淭oday,鈥� he added, 鈥淕od was closer to all of us.鈥�
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AP video journalist Mark Thiessen contributed.
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Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP鈥檚 with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.
Peter Smith, The Associated Press
