Ioasaph (Bolotov)

Bishop Ioasaph (Bolotov) was the head of the Orthodox mission to Alaska and its first bishop, drowned in 1799 on his return from Irkutsk. He is called the Enlightener of Alaska; he is venerated by the faithful without synodal canonization.

He was born on 22 January 1761 in the village of Strazhkov in the Kashin district of Tver province, the son of a priest. He studied at the church school of the Kashin monastery and at the seminaries of Tver and Yaroslavl, then taught for four years at Uglich. He entered monastic life at the Tolga Monastery, where he was tonsured in 1786 with the name Ioasaph, then moved to Valaam.

When it was decided to send a mission to Alaska, he was chosen to lead it. The team of ten, with four hieromonks, a hierodeacon, two monks and two servitors, travelled for nearly a year and reached Kodiak on 24 September 1794. The conditions were not as promised by Grigory Shelikhov, the promoter of the enterprise; Ioasaph had to report abuses between the Russians and the natives, which stirred up the hostility of Alexander Baranov. Nonetheless, the mission baptized many locals and spread to the mainland. In 1796 the Synod decided to create an auxiliary see at Kodiak and elected Ioasaph. He was consecrated on 10 April 1799 at Irkutsk, by Bishop Benjamin alone, which was highly unusual.

On the way back, between 21 and 24 May 1799, the ship Phoenix sank in a storm off the coast of Alaska. Ioasaph perished with Hieromonk Makary and Hierodeacon Stephan. The see of Kodiak was closed in 1811. A Greek synaxarion commemorates him on 22 January as Enlightener of Alaska.