Spruce Island Books: An Interview with Abp. Alexei of Alaska
"Mount Athos prepared me by giving me a way of life that I now try to share in Alaska: obedience, prayer, and patience."
His Eminence ALEXEI, Archbishop of Alaska, spoke with the Union of Orthodox Journalists about his conversion to Orthodoxy, his time on Mount Athos, his ministry in Alaska, and his new publishing venture: Spruce Island Books.
What is Spruce Island Books?
Spruce Island Books is a prayerful publishing arm for the Orthodox Church in Alaska, headquartered in Sitka, under the auspices of the Orthodox Church in America, and entrusted to the prayers of Saint Herman of Spruce Island. It serves as the press of our Diocese and Saint Herman’s Seminary. Our mission is simple: to place sound, pastoral, and beautiful Orthodox texts into the hands of the faithful. We seek to honor Alaska’s Native Orthodox heritage and to share the light of the Church’s tradition far beyond our shores.
What kinds of books does Your Eminence plan to publish?
Our aim is simple: faithful books that help souls. We are preparing careful translations of the Holy Fathers, many not yet available in English, along with reliable service texts, catechesis for every age, and practical helps for confession and daily prayer. Our longer-term plan is to eventually translate into indigenous languages the writings of the holy fathers for the youth who are currently reviving their heritage and culture. We also plan a series on the saints and elders of North America, especially those who shone in Alaska, so that their witness may guide us.
But you have a special mission to serve the Church in Alaska?
By God’s providence the Orthodox faith came to North America through Alaska; for this reason the Diocese of Alaska is rightly honored as the Mother Church of the New World. All Orthodox Christians here, especially the newly illumined, owe deep gratitude to the Native peoples of Alaska, who are our elders and teachers in the Faith.
If the Kickstarter is blessed to succeed, then after printing the prayer book our first priority will be liturgical service to Alaska. With the Church’s blessing, and with the counsel of elders and clergy, we will advance faithful and pastorally clear editions of the Divine Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom in Native Alaskan languages, so that worship may be prayed ever more fully in the heart-language of our people. We will also bring out a trilingual Daily Prayers in English, Church Slavonic, and Aleut for parish and home.
We are inviting friends to Sponsor a Village. For the cost of fifty prayer books at nearly our production price, supporters may place these directly into the hands of the Diocese, which will distribute them to remote parishes across Alaska. As part of our charter, we tithe ten percent of all profits to the Diocese of Alaska, so that every book strengthens the Church that first brought the Gospel to this land.”
Can Your Eminence tell us about your background? I understand that Your Eminence was also a monk on the Holy Mountain for several years… How did your time on Mount Athos prepare Your Eminence for Your ministry in Alaska?)
I was born in Dover, Delaware. From childhood I learned to love God and Holy Scripture. While still a student, by God’s mercy, I was received into the Orthodox Church by the holy Mysteries, renouncing Satan, confessing the Creed, and being sealed with the gift of the Holy Spirit.
I did spend several years on the Holy Mountain, chiefly at the Monastery of Karakallou. Life there is simple and exacting: obedience, work, and long night-vigils that teach the heart to pray. I received counsel from holy elders, and in time I was tonsured to the Great Schema in 1998 and ordained to the priesthood in 2001. Whatever I try to offer in the Church now flows from those years: repentance of heart, quiet service, and trust that grace, not our strength, does the work.
Mount Athos prepared me by giving me a way of life that I now try to share in Alaska: obedience, prayer, and patience. At Karakallou I learned obedience as bending the head to listen so that God’s will, not our own, may pass through us. In Alaska I ask clergy and faithful to live this same obedience each day: not my will, but Thine be done, offered simply and without drama. On Athos I learned to let the Jesus Prayer become breath. I still place prayer-ropes in people’s hands, begin our gatherings with ‘Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me,’ and keep vigils by candlelight so that the heart is moved to compunction rather than to noise. The Holy Mountain also taught me love for the Mother of God and trust that grace, not our strength, does the work. Whatever good I offer in Alaska flows from those years.
Can you tell us more about the new prayer book?
We are grateful to be bringing out Daily Prayers of the Orthodox Church. It is a little book for sanctifying the home: to place us before God upon waking, to keep us mindful of Him through the day, and to commend our souls to Him at night. Inside are a short prayer after waking, morning prayers, prayers during the day, prayers before meals, Small Compline, and prayers before sleep. We have also included simple prayer rules, such as those of Saint Pachomius and Saint Seraphim of Sarov, together with short patristic counsels on the life of prayer from Fathers such as Saint Ignatius Brianchaninov and Saint Nicodemus of the Holy Mountain.
We hope it will help the faithful to pray with one voice and one mind, whether newly illumined or long experienced in the life of the Church. It is meant for the kitchen table and the icon corner, for parents and children, for inquirers and catechumens, always with the blessing of one’s priest. Our desire is not novelty but faithfulness: to place tried and trusted prayers in the hands of the people, so that hearts may be softened, repentance renewed, and thanksgiving offered to the Lord in the quiet of the home.
To support Spruce Island Books, visit their Kickstarter.
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