"True heirs to a heroic Russian past" or "Russians in name only": Sitka creoles as seen by the late nineteenth century Russian orthodox clergy
Criticism expressed against the Creoles of Sitka by Russian Orthodox priests who came to serve in their midst in the late 19th - early 20th centuries. The symbolic meaning of the Russian colonial, missionary history of Alaska and its legacy in ideology.
| Рубрика | История и исторические личности |
| Вид | статья |
| Язык | английский |
| Дата добавления | 07.04.2022 |
| Размер файла | 46,3 K |
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While Kostrometinoff knew when to act as affable «Colonel George» to his Yankee friends, he was a master of welcoming visiting Orthodox dignitaries in true Russian style. He liked to lead the Creole choir in the «Baranov's Song», an old-time favorite of the RAC days, which still brought tears to the eyes of patriotic Russian servants of God (Russian Orthodox American Messener, 1906, vol. 10, p. 447). A visit to Sergei Ionovich's house, where one was met with bread and salt and where Russian zakuski and tea from several samovars awaited the guest, was considered a must for every Orthodox dignitary passing through Sitka (Ziorov, 1893, p. 53) Local American dignitaries and an occasional Yankee visitor of high rank was honored in a similar fashion.. One could even find a Russian magazine or a newspaper in this «little corner of Mother Russia».
Not surprisingly, Sergei Ionovich was the recipient of several prestigious Russian/Orthodox awards: first an Order of St. Daniel from Prince Nikolai of Montenegro and in 1906 a special silver goblet from the tsar. In his congratulatory speech delivered in St. Michael's Cathedral on the latter occasion, Bishop Innokentii (Pustynskii) praised the «modest, pious, Christian Kostrometinoff family whose name is known far and wide» and then told Sergei Ionovich the following:
The Russian people have a proverb «A prayer to God and a service to the Czar are never lost». It means that the Russian people have a firm faith in God who always hears the prayers of his servants and in due time grants their wishes; and that they also believe in the Orthodox White Czar, an appointed sovereign who rewards every good deed as soon as it comes to his knowledge.
Your reward is given to you for being a guardian of this remarkable monument of the Orthodox faith in this country [i., e., the St. Michael's cathedral] and it means that your service to the White Russian Czar is never lost» (Russian Orthodox American Messener, 1906, vol. 10, p. 447).
As if to prove the truth of the bishop's words, Sergei Kostrometinoff, who had worn so many different hats in his life, ended it as a priest of the St. Michael's Cathedral. He only got to serve in that capacity for a few years, dying of cancer in 1915; appropriately, he was granted the ultimate honor for an Orthodox person - to be buried underneath the cathedral floor In 1900, having been offended by some Presbyterian missionaries or government officials with Presby-terian ties, Kostromitinov was seeking a job in Sitka or Seattle involving working for the Russian gov-ernment or some Russian cause via the intercession of the AK bishop. His interesting letter of May 16, 1900 to the bishop of Alaska mentions it and also some troubles he has had with his American enemies, “With all my heart I thank you for your efforts to direct my future into a Russian stream. It is difficult to get along with one's enemies and so one's spirit [dukh] demands to be reunited with the old, the familiar, with the eternally precious. . . . All my sympathies are Russian” (Kostromitinov, 1900)..
Conclusion
Between 1867 and 1917 priests from Russia, who labored in Sitka, tried to use the methods of clerical service and the religious rhetoric acquired back in Russia to deal with an unfamiliar type of parish. Having brought with them the late 19th century ideology of Russian nationalism and monarchism, they found it very difficult to accept that the Russian culture of the local Creoles was in a state of gradual decline, especially among the younger generation. Convinced that their own culture was far superior than any other, and especially the crude new Yankee one, men like Donskoi, Kamenskii and Dashkevich tried to explain this decline by attributing it to a variety of causes, most of them ideological. Not surprising, America became the main culprit.
Of course, they did blame the Creoles themselves for the sorry state of affairs as well. On many occasions the priests emphasized in their writings that very few true Russians remained in Alaska after 1867 (i.e., indicating that the Creoles were only partially Russian) and for decades they insisted on listing most of their parishioners under the rubric of «Creoles» This practice seems to have ended only in the early-to-mid 1900s, especially under a Creole priest, Fr. Andrei Kashevaroff, who simply divided the entire St. Michael's parish list into “parishioners” (prikhozhane) and “Tlingit”. (Parish records--confessional list, ARCA, D 416, Reel 266, 1900-1905).
(1906). Russian Orthodox American Messenger, 10, 447.
(1908). Alaska-Yukon Magazine, 4(2), 147-148.
(1911). Russian Orthodox American Messenger, 15, pp. 301-302.
(22 March 1907). The Ketchikan Miner, p. 1.
(6 February 1893). The Alaskan, p. 1.
(7 February 1891). The Alaskan, p. 1.
A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation: U.S. Congressional Documents and De-bates, 1774-1875. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://memory.loc.gov/cgi- bin/ampage?collId=llsl&fileName=015/llsl015.db&recNum=572
Afonsky, G. (1977). A History of the Orthodox Church in Alaska (1794-1917). St. Herman's Theological Seminary. Kodiak.
Alaska Russian Church Archives [ARCA] (1900-1905). Parish records - confessional list. D 416, Reel 266.
Alaska Russian Church Archives. (n.d. - a). D 334-D336, Reels 2 77-279.
Alaska Russian Church Archives. (n.d. - b). D349-D350, Reels 228-229.
Alaska Russian Church Archives. (n.d. - c). D 414, Reel 265.
Alaska Russian Church Archives. (n.d. - d). Donskoi Report to the bishop of Alaska for 1892, 3. D 334, reel 219, 1.
Alaska Russian Church Archives. (n.d. - e). Stepan Ushin's Diary. D 334-D336, Reels 2 77-279.
Alaska Russian Church Archives. (n.d. - f). Annual Reports, St. Nicholas Brotherhood.
D 323, Reel 213.. It does not appear that they saw the latter as being racially (biologically) inferior to the Russians, although at least Fr. Anatolii, who dabbled in ethnographic writing, did on occasion use biological reasoning to explain Alaska Natives' sociocultural inferiority compared to the whites (Kamenskii, 1985).
In their efforts to stem the tide of Americanization, the Orthodox priests worked hard to promote Russian education among the young Creoles and actually made some modest progress in that area. Thus, in the early 1900s Sitka had a fairly active Orthodox parish school as well as a small Seminary. Yet here too, conservative nationalist ideology clashed with common sense. For example, Fr. Anatolii fought with a more progressive Russian-born teacher who argued that teaching arithmetic to Creole children in Russian made absolutely no sense. Not surprisingly many of the Creole parents did not see this Russian education as something their children really needed.
Despite their best efforts, the Russian schooling and even the more informal day-to-day Russian culture could not flourish in Sitka without a continuing addition of new immigrants from the mother country. The local Russian-speaking community was simply too small and eventually it disappeared through intermarriage with non-Russians and outmigration. Moreover, conflicts between the Creoles (especially the Alaska born younger ones) and the Russian clergy, had as much to do with fundamental cultural and ideological differences as with issues of personality and leadership style. The two sides were simply beginning to see the role of the priest and his flock in rather different terms.
It appears that even such a staunch nationalist as Kamenskii who, having left Sitka, served in an Orthodox community in Minneapolis before returning to Russia, eventually understood that. A highly educated man, he clearly identified a fundamental difference between the structure of a Russian and an American religious community. In Russia, he argued, the Church was based on a principle of «hierarchical subordination» and was «like a monarchy»; in America, a parish was a demo cratic community that could hire and fire a priest and could tell him what to do. Although Kamenskii did not advocate surrendering to this Americanism, he did suggest adjusting to it by listening to the leading parishioners, promoting some degree of self-rule in the parish, making compromises with the flock, etc. (Kamenskii, 1908).
When it came to preserving the Russian culture in America, he was more pessimistic and argued that this was more or less a losing proposition. In his Amerkanskie Ocherki, published upon his return to Russia, Fr. Ana - tolii acknowledged that the preservation of Russian and broader Slavic culture in the United States was very difficult. What could, however, be done, in his view, was the preservation of Orthodoxy.
Of course, neither he nor his colleagues could predict that the dramatic events that took place in Russia a decade later made this task a lot more complicated, but that is another story.
References
russian orthodox creole colonial
1. Alaska Russian Church Archives. (n.d. - g). Donskoi to Fr. Antonii Dashkevich. D 334, roll 219, 1897, 10.
2. Alaska Russian Church Archives. (n.d. - h). Minutes of the St. Nicholas Brotherhood. D 323, reel 213, 1895, 74.
3. Alaska Russian Church Archives. (n.d. - i). St. Nicholas Brotherhood By-laws. D 323, roll 213, 1892,1.
4. Alaska State Archives. (n.d.). George Kostrometinoff Scrap Book. Juneau.
5. Cracroft, S., & DeArmond, R.N. (1981). Lady Franklin Visits Sitka, Alaska 1870: The Journal of Sophia Cracroft, Sir John Franklin's Niece. Alaska Historical Society.
6. Dashkevich, A. (1898). Alaska Russian Church Archives. Letter to bishop Tikhon Belavin. ARCA, D334, reel 218, 5.
7. Grinev, A.V. (2011). Social Mobility of the Creoles in Russian America. Alaska History, 26 (2), 21-38.
8. Kamenskii, A. (1897a). Alaska Russian Church Archives. Letter to bishop Nikolai Ziorov. D 335, reel 220, 12.
9. Kamenskii, A. (1897b). Alaska Russian Church Archives. Report on the Sitka Parish for 1897. ARCA, D 335, reel 220.
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13. Kan, S. (1999). Memory Eternal Tlingit Culture and Russian Orthodox Christianity Through Two Centuries. University of Washington Press.
14. Kan, S. (2013a). Guest Editor's Introduction: Individuals and Groups of Mixed Russian - Native Parentage in Siberia, Russian America, and Alaska. Ethnohistory, 60 (3), 351-361. Doi: 10.1215/00141801-2140686.
15. Kan, S. (2013b). Sergei Ionovich Kostromitinov (1854-1915), or «Colonel George Kostrometinoff»: From a Creole Teenager to the Number-One Russian - American Citizen of Sitka. Ethnohistory, 60 (3), 385-402. Doi: 10.1215/00141801-2140704.
16. Kan, S. (n.d. - a). Fieldnotes, Sitka, 2000-2018. Manuscript in author's possession.
17. Kan, S. (n.d. - b). Orthodox Church Brotherhoods of the Sitka Creoles, 1870s-1910s. Alaska History, in print.
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20. Luehrmann, S. (2008). Alutiiq villages under Russian and U.S. Rule. University of Alaska Press.
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23. Parish Records-Confessional List, ARCA. (1870). D 414, Reel 265.
24. Smith-Peter, S. (2010). Creating a Creole Estate in early nineteenth-century Russian America. Cahiers Du Monde Russe, 51 (51/2-3), 441-459. Doi: 10.4000/monderusse.9198.
25. Smith-Peter, S. (2013). «A Class of People Admitted to the Better Ranks»: The First Generation of Creoles in Russian America, 1810s-1820s. Ethnohistory, 60 (3), 363-384. Doi: 10.1215/00141801-2140758.
26. St. Michael Cathedral. (n.d.). Alaska Russian Church Archives. Library of Congress, D 414, Reel 265.
27. Teichmann, E. (1963). A Journey to Alaska in the Year 1868: Being a Diary of the Late Emil Teichmann. Argosy-Antiquarian.
28. Vinkovetsky, I. (2011). Russian America an Overseas Colony of a Continental Empire, 1804-1867. Oxford University Press.
29. Ziorov, N. (1893). From my diary: Vol. 1: Travel notes and experiences while traveling in Alaska and the Aleutian Islands. St. Petersburg. (in Russian).
30. Znamenski, A.A. (1999). Shamanism and Christianity: Native Encounters with Russian Orthodox Missions in Siberia and Alaska, 1820-1917. Greenwood.
31. Список литературы
32. (1906). Russian Orthodox American Messenger, 10, 447.
33. (1908). Alaska-YukonMagazine, 4 (2), 147-148.
34. (1911). Russian Orthodox American Messenger, 15, 301-302.
35. (22 March 1907 г.). The Ketchikan Miner, p. 1.
36. (6 February 1893 г.). The Alaskan, p. 1.
37. (7 February 1891 г.). The Alaskan, p. 1.
38. A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation: U.S. Congressional Documents and Debates, 1774-1875. (n.d.). Ioann Veniaminoff Notes on the Islands of the Una - lashka District. L. Black (Trans.). Retrieved from https://memory.loc.gov/cgi - bin/ampage? collId=llsl&fileName=015/llsl015.db&recNum=572
39. Afonsky, G. (1977). A History of the Orthodox Church in Alaska (1794-1917). St. Herman's Theological Seminary. Kodiak.
40. Alaska Russian Church Archives. (1900-1905). Parish records - confessional list. D 416, Reel 266.
41. Alaska Russian Church Archives. (n.d. - a). D 334-D336, Reels 2 77-279.
42. Alaska Russian Church Archives. (n.d. - b). D349-D350, Reels 228-229.
43. Alaska Russian Church Archives. (n.d. - c). D 414, Roll 265.
44. Alaska Russian Church Archives. (n.d. - d). Donskoi Report to the bishop of Alaska for 1892. D 334, reel 219, 1.
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50. Alaska State Archives. (n.d.). George Kostrometinoff Scrap Book. Juneau.
51. Cracroft, S., & DeArmond, R.N. (1981). Lady Franklin Visits Sitka, Alaska 1870: The Journal of Sophia Cracroft, Sir John Franklin's Niece. Alaska Historical Society.
52. Dashkevich, A. (1898). Alaska Russian Church Archives. Letter to bishop Tikhon Belavin. ARCA, D334, reel 218, 5.
53. Grinev, A.V. (2011). Social Mobility of the Creoles in Russian America. Alaska History, 26 (2), 21-38.
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58. Kan, S. (1999). Memory Eternal Tlingit Culture and Russian Orthodox Christianity Through Two Centuries. University of Washington Press.
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61. Kan, S. (n.d. - a). Fieldnotes, Sitka, 2000-2018. Manuscript in author's possession.
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66. Oleksa, M. (1998). Orthodox Alaska: A Theology of Mission. St. Vladimir's Seminary Press.
67. Parish Records-Confessional List, ARCA. (1870). D 414, Reel 265.
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69. Smith-Peter, S. (2013). «A Class of People Admitted to the Better Ranks»: The First Generation of Creoles in Russian America, 1810s-1820s. Ethnohistory, 60 (3), 363-384. Doi: 10.1215/00141801-2140758.
70. St. Michael Cathedral. (n.d.). Alaska Russian Church Archives. Library of Congress, D 414, Reel 265.
71. Teichmann, E. (1963). A Journey to Alaska in the Year 1868: Being a Diary of the Late Emil Teichmann. Argosy-Antiquarian.
72. Vinkovetsky, I. (2011). Russian America an overseas colony of a continental empire, 1804-1867. Oxford University Press.
73. Znamenski, A.A. (1999). Shamanism and Christianity: Native Encounters with Russian Orthodox Missions in Siberia and Alaska, 1820-1917. Greenwood.
74. Зиоров, Н. (1893). Из моего дневника: Вып. 1: Путевые заметки и впечатления во время путешествия по Аляске и Алеутским островам. Санкт-Петербург.
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