AILSA CHANG, HOST:
We go now to the tiny village of Kwethluk, Alaska, where the Orthodox Christian tradition remains strong after almost two centuries. This village recently welcomed hundreds of clergy from the Orthodox Church in America and pilgrims from all around the world to canonize a local midwife and healer as a Saint. Evan Erickson with member station KYUK has this story. And a warning to listeners - this story includes the sounds of celebratory gunshots.
UNIDENTIFIED BOAT CAPTAIN: Let's get it off the ground.
EVAN ERICKSON, BYLINE: Volunteer captains of small fishing boats in Bethel, Alaska, welcome the visitors to ferry them 15 miles up the Kuskokwim River to Kwethluk, which is not reachable by roads.
UNIDENTIFIED BOAT CAPTAIN: You can take one more.
ERICKSON: In the village, a two-day glorification ceremony is about to begin.
(SOUNDBITE OF ENGINE CHUGGING)
ERICKSON: Locals whiz around on four-wheelers. Matushka Olga, the Yupik woman being sainted, was born here in 1916 and died in 1979. Her direct descendants are easy to find.
ATAN' WINKELMAN: She was an actual person to me that would hold me and piggyback me. And we would sit and eat together, or I would sit and watch her sew.
ERICKSON: Atan' Winkelman, an elementary school principal in Bethel, is Olga's granddaughter.
WINKELMAN: I'm finding the whole exhuming of her body - the whole glorification, canonization - very strange.
ERICKSON: Matushka Olga is remembered as a humble midwife and gifted healer of trauma, particularly sexual abuse. The FBI says rates of sexual assault in Alaska are among the highest in the nation. After her death, accounts spread of miracles attributed to her, often through appearances in dreams. Icons of her likeness began to appear in churches. Bertha Howard, one of her nieces, sums up her memories in Yugtun, the Yupik language.
BERTHA HOWARD: (Speaking Yugtun).
ERICKSON: "She helped. She was compassionate. That's all I can say," she says.
(SOUNDBITE OF GUNFIRE)
ERICKSON: On a muddy riverbank, around 200 pilgrims sing as boats arrive with Orthodox bishops and priests. A group of young boys fire off rifles in welcome.
(SOUNDBITE OF GUNFIRE)
ERICKSON: In the crumbling cemetery of the old St. Nicholas Russian Orthodox Church, St. Olga's glorification begins with her last funeral rite. Local priest, Father Vasily Fisher, explains, going forward, the day of her death will be celebr4ated as the day of her birth as a saint.
VASILY FISHER: Our faith is about life. Sainthood is about life. Everything is done as if going backwards. They come back to the church and in the presence of life.
ERICKSON: Some gathered in the cemetery have tears in their eyes. Others pat beads of sweat from their foreheads. Matushka Olga's descendants stand transfixed among head-scarfed pilgrims from nearby villages and from as far away as Romania and Australia.
UNIDENTIFIED GROUP: (Singing) You are my cross (ph).
ERICKSON: After the funeral rite, there's a procession. Clergy wear flowing robes. Altar servers carry golden banners. There are puffs of incense and a couple curious village dogs. Pallbearers bear the casket along a short, dusty track to the village's new church.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: (Chanting) The intercessions of our all-pure lady, the Theotokos and ever-Virgin Mary.
ERICKSON: A four-hour service follows. It's standing room only. Orthodox churches in Alaska don't have pews anyway.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: (Chanting) At the supplication of the honorable, glorious...
ERICKSON: Archbishop Alexei of Alaska calls this an elaborate, beautiful dance. St. Olga's casket is open for pilgrims to kiss her sacred relics and receive her blessing.
UNIDENTIFIED GROUP: (Singing) [inaudible].
ERICKSON: St. Olga's granddaughter, Atan' Winkelman, is touched that the ceremonies include the local Yugtun language.
WINKELMAN: To use the word elders in song - that was, like, the elders of Kwethluk. I'm like, oh, I've never heard that anywhere else in any of our - venerating any other saint.
UNIDENTIFIED GROUP: (Singing in Yugtun).
ERICKSON: The Alaska diocese is now fundraising for a new church, pilgrim's lodge and cultural center in Kwethluk. That would cost millions of dollars. People here don't have much extra money, but they do believe in miracles.
For NPR News, I'm Evan Erickson in Kwethluk, Alaska.
(SOUNDBITE OF MAZZY STAR SONG, "FADE INTO YOU") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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