The Era of the Establishment of the Orthodox Community in the City of San Francisco and Visits of the Russian Fleet
A History of the Orthodox Church in California: Part II
After such a finale to the Russian Colony in California, it was hard to imagine that some day Orthodoxy would once more shine here. Divine Providence, however, was pleased to act in a totally different way.
The discovery of gold here attracted masses of people, not only from the distant states of America, but even from the far off countries of Europe. Among those seeking happiness in the New World were also Orthodox Serbs and Greeks. They started coming here at the beginning of the 1850s. In 1857 Orthodox Serbs could be found as well in San Francisco. And in the 1850s the first Russian Government Agent, Kostromitinov also lived here.
In 1859 for the first time since the transfer of Fort Ross, a Russian Navy ship appeared in San Francisco Bay. On this ship arrived the Hieromonk Kirill, who was enlisted in the Second Amur Squadron. He came on shore and the same year baptized several Russian and Serb children in Mr. Kostromitinov’s apartment on Rincon Hill in San Francisco. This was, it seems, the first divine service for the community in California since the closure of the chapel at Fort Ross. Then in January of 1862 another Russian Navy ship, the Kalevala, arrived offshore at San Francisco. On it was a Hieromonk from the Konev Nativity Monastery, Father Vitaly. He also performed the sacraments of Baptism and Chrismation in San Francisco. In 1863, at the time of the American Civil War, six Russian Navy ships, under the command of Rear Admiral Popov, were stationed in San Francisco Bay for an entire year. Among these ships there were the corvettes Bogatyr, Riga, and Kalevala.1 On the flagship Bogatyr, there was a Hieromonk from the Tikhvin 1st class Monastery, Father Kirill. In 1863 he baptized several children in San Francisco, including the writer of this notebook.
According to the testimony of the local press, the Confederate ship Alabama did not risk coming to San Francisco once the presence of the Russian fleet became known.
On Pascha night in 1864, at the invitation of the Admiral, Divine Liturgy on board the ship was attended, along with Mr. Kostromitinov, by the Serbs Nicholas Dabovich, Peter Radovich and Andrew Chelovich. It is not known whose idea it was to establish the Orthodox Society in San Francisco, but it may be surmised that the initiative was taken by Admiral Popov, because he was present at the first meeting of the society in one of the halls of the city. Before the opening of the meeting, a Molieben with the blessing of water was served. Father Kirill, a middle aged man with a pleasant appearance, conducted the service. He was wearing a Cross awarded by the Synod, an indication of his many merits.
Toward the end of 1864 the newly established Orthodox society in San Francisco had $424.38 in a S.F. Savings Union Bank savings account. The following were the first members of this society: Nicholas Dabovich, Peter Radovich, George Lazarevich, Nicholas Gregovich, Bogdan Matkovich, Andrew Chelovich, Peter Bokanovich, Peter Zenovich, John Constantine, Michael Cheriasis, Luka Balich, Elias Vuovich, Gabriel Kustudio, Constantine Milinovich, and John Hertso2. Each of these members made a contribution of $20.00 in gold.
Eventually the Russian ships weighed their anchors. And there were no more priests here. It would seem that, left without a church or a priest, this Orthodox community should have disappeared from the face of the earth, especially in the rush for gold, for wealth. Through the mercy of God, however, this did not happen. The Orthodox—Serbs, Greeks, and Russians—lived at that time in concord, and supported each other in a brotherly manner. On all major feasts, they gathered together with those who had families, and sang religious and folk songs. In those days the wax candle did not burn down and the bread loaf did not run out in families where they celebrated Krestno Ime.3
The modest Society had already established correspondence with the old country and contemplated the acquisition of a pope.4 Such was the situation until 1867 when, finally and at no one’s invitation, there appeared a certain Honcharenko, who pretended to be an Orthodox priest.5 At that time the Russian Consul in San Francisco was Martin Klinkovstrem, a Russian Finn, a pious man and a strict observer of his duties. He, together with the majority of the Orthodox population of San Francisco, suspected Honcharenko of fraud. They began to make inquiries, and indeed it was discovered that Honcharenko was an imposter. This Agapius Honcharenko was a tonsured monk from the Kiev Caves Lavra. Elevated to the rank of a hierodeacon,6 he was assigned to the [Russian] embassy chapel in Athens. Eventually he was fired from that job for political crimes; but he did not return to Russia as he had been ordered. He lived subsequently in London and finally appeared in San Francisco, married no less. Here he managed to baptize the son of a Serb Lazarevich before his imposture was discovered. Honcharenko’s brother now lives on Mount Athos. The former monk in charge of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra refectory, Father Martirius, served with him in Athens. Hegoumen George [Chudnovsky], who later served in the Alaskan Diocese, knew Honcharenko from Kiev.
The arrival of Honcharenko in San Francisco induced the local Society to consider more seriously their spiritual state. Under the leadership of Consul Klinkovstrem the Society finally became completely organized. Its Bylaws were drawn up in a true churchly spirit, and then in December of 1867 the legal existence of the society was ratified at City Hall. Among the new members were the following: John Franetta, Carl Baum, Archimandritov, Elias Chelovich, Sabbas Martinovich, A. Chausov, George Fisher, Lasar Jovovich, and Luke Jankovich. The Russian plenipotentiary in the transferal of Alaska to the Federal Government, Alexis Peschurov, signed up as a member of the Society and paid his dues for several months in advance.
At that time money was cheap in California. The country was not yet overpopulated. Monopolies were not fully established. Compensation for labor was generous. There were no cheap Italian, or especially Chinese, laborers. The Society members, with few exceptions, were generous in their support of the common cause. The Director of the Russian colonies in America, Prince Maksutov, when he passed through San Francisco on his way to Russia, consoled the brethren with a promise of petitioning the Russian bishop in Sitka to send them a parish priest. At the same time he donated two hundred dollars to the Society.
And indeed, in the following year of 1868 the Priest Nicholas Kovrigin and the Reader Basil Shishkin arrived in San Francisco from Sitka. Liturgy was celebrated in the house of the Serb Peter Sekulovich at 3241 Mission Street, near 28th Street. At that time this was considered to be outside of town. I remember that first service, to which I went with my mother. We had to walk a long way along unpaved streets. Furthermore we were mercilessly drenched by rain. At last we reached a small house; we crossed over a ditch (or temporarily excavated gutter) on a plank and entered the church. The church was set up in a divided room. At the end opposite the entrance the Holy Antimension lay on a covered table. A little table in a corner served as the table of oblation. I remember two icons on the walls: the Savior and the Mother of God. There were approximately twenty communicants at that Liturgy. When it was time to approach the Cup of Salvation, my older brother followed my father and I wanted to follow my mother. But I was held back and told that no little ones are allowed there. This circumstance requires an explanation. Western Serbs7 do not allow their small children to receive communion of the Holy Gifts. The clergy in some places to this day have been unable to restore the Orthodox custom of communion of children.
That same summer, the Priest N. Kovrigin returned to Sitka, but at the beginning of the following year, 1869, he came back to us with his whole family - to remain here as a permanent priest. The parishioners installed him in a spacious house with excellent new furniture at 516 Greenwich Street. In this house’s parlor there was a temporary church without an iconostasis. I remember this house chapel for it was here that I made my first confession and communion. At divine services Consul Klinkovstrem’s three adult daughters sang harmoniously. They, like their mother, were Orthodox. Joachim Chuda, a Serb, served as a reader and altar server; parishioners paid him $50 a month. Besides providing the monthly rent for the priest’s apartment and the space for the church, the parishioners also maintained the priest by their own means. The Orthodox community in San Francisco lived thus until the summer of 1871. In that year the first Bishop of the Aleutian-Alaskan Diocese relocated here with his staff from Sitka. And so San Francisco became the cathedral city of the Diocese of the Aleutian Islands and Alaska.
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They came to protect the interests of the Federal Government.
A Roman Catholic Slav
The Serbian custom of celebrating a family’s Nameday. Every Serbian family and generation commemorates the acceptance of a Christian name instead of a pagan one.
Priest in Serbian
Detailed information about him, based on the correspondence of Metropolitan Philaret (Drozdov, now Saint Philaret of Moscow) and the Ober Procurator, may be found in Moskovskie Vedomosti.
Monk-deacon
e.g. Dalmatian and others