First and only edition. Octavo (ca. 23x15,5 cm). [2 – t.p.], iii, 352, iii [errata] pp. Original publisher’s wrappers. Wrappers mildly age-toned, but overall a very good copy in its original state.

Attractive copy, preserved in the original publisher’s wrappers. Collection of sermons, teachings, and letters of Rev. Nicholas, Russian Orthodox Bishop of the Aleutian Islands and Alaska (1891-1898). The Diocese was founded in 1796 as a Kodiak Vicariate of the Diocese of Irkutsk to serve the Orthodox Christians of Russian America. In 1872, the Diocese’s centre moved from Sitka to San Francisco and its territory spread to entire North America. It was renamed as Diocese of the Aleutian Islands and North America in 1900 (and the centre was moved to New York in 1905). After the Russian Revolution of 1917, the Diocese became a part of the modern-day Orthodox Church in America. Throughout Rev. Nicholas’s service in the United States, he was the only Orthodox Christian bishop in North America.

The collection includes the text of sixty sermons and letters, mostly written in the diocese’s centre in San Francisco. There are also several interesting sermons spoken during Rev. Nicholas’s official travels to Alaska. Among them are speeches given in St. Michael’s Cathedral in Sitka (1890, pp. 185-190; June 19, 1892, pp. 214-219), Holy Ascension Cathedral in Unalaska (June 6, 1892, pp. 198-200, mentions Father Ivan Veniaminov or St. Innocent of Alaska), Redoubt St. Michael (June 16, 1892, pp. 201-204, teaching the flock not to communicate to shamans and non-Orthodox missionaries), Saints Peter and Paul Church in Nushagak, Alaska (July 20, 1894, pp. 224-226, teaching the parish members not to go to shamans, steal, drink or indulge in debauchery), and others. The other speeches were given in Chicago (July 25, 1893, pp. 227-233; August 6, 1893, pp. 234-238), Fresno (March 13, 1894, pp. 131-134), on board a Russian naval cruiser “Dimitry Donskoy” during its stay in Philadelphia (May 15, 1893, pp. 170-174), Streator (Illinois) before the ceremony of uniting a congregation of the eastern-rite Catholic Rusyns with the Orthodox Church (May 9, 1893, pp. 165-169), St. Mary’s Orthodox Cathedral in Minneapolis after uniting its eastern-rite Catholic community with the Orthodox Church (October 18, 1892, pp. 292-300), etc. In the speech addressed to the members of the Serbian Orthodox Church of St. Sava in Jackson, California (June 9, 1896, pp. 203-209), Rev. Nicholas stated: “you don’t go to church, prefer either to stay home and smoke a pipe or to go to saloons…” The book also includes his speech before the prayer commemorating America’s Independence (23 June 1896, pp. 220-223), a letter to monk Sevastian before his departure for Minneapolis (December 10, 1892, pp. 344-352), etc. Overall an attractive copy of this collection of religious texts addressed to the members of the Russian Orthodox Church in the United States, including Alaska and the Aleutian Islands. The book was published by the “Russian Orthodox American Messenger,” the official periodical of the Russian Orthodox Church in the United States.