The Alaska Orthodox Church recently recognized KYUK and a host of individuals and organizations with certificates of merit for contributions to the glorification of St. Olga in the summer of 2025.
The glorification ceremony, which is the formal process of sainthood in the Orthodox faith, was held in Kwethuk and Anchorage June 19-22, 2025.
It was a long-awaited honor for Olinka “Arrsamquq” Michael, or Matushka Olga, a local midwife and healer who died in 1979 and whose icons can be found throughout the Orthodox world. St. Olga is the first female Orthodox saint in North America and the first-ever Yup’ik saint.
The ornate certificate of merit featuring icons of other Alaska saints is known as a Diocesan Gramota. Archbishop Alexei, the head of the Russian Orthodox Diocese of Sitka and Alaska, personally presented the Gramotas in a short ceremony at the St. Sophia Russian Orthodox Church in Bethel on June 28.
Archbishop Alexei also traveled upriver to Kwethluk, where he placed a hand-sewn scarf given to him by pilgrims within the reliquary that holds St. Olga’s sacred remains in the St. Nicholas Russian Orthodox Church.
Recipients of the Gramota include KYUK, the Yukon-Kuskokwim Health Corporation, Bethel Search and Rescue, Donlin Gold, Ana Hoffman, Peter and Bethany Kaiser, Sam Samuelson and Dolly Clark, Don and Regina Johnson, Christian and Allison Samuelson, Joseph and Rachel Sallaffie, Levi Brink, Bruce Francisco, Phillip Brink, Harry Alexie, Balassa Larson, and Joseph "Trim" Nick.
