Alaska Seminary Celebrates Revival -- Institution Is State's Oldest Christian Church

KODIAK, Alaska - When Robert Poquiz arrived in Kodiak five years ago to study for the Orthodox priesthood, there were so many students at St. Herman's Theological Seminary he had to jostle for space in the altar of the small log chapel.

But today the number of students on campus has shrunk from 16 to two, and the seminarian from Sitka is completing his education in private tutorials - squeezed in between stints of painting and maintenance around the lonely campus.

Poquiz worked last month with community volunteers to get the dormitories and offices back in shape for the seminary's 25th anniversary, which was marked Oct. 30-31 with a gathering in Kodiak of Russian Orthodox priests and laypeople from all over Alaska.

The celebration came at a difficult time for St. Herman's - the training ground for village priests in Alaska's oldest Christian church. For months, the future of the institution has seemed to hang by a thread.

The state withdrew accreditation, students stayed away and the school's dean resigned, saying St. Herman's was broke. The dean, Father Michael Oleksa, said the seminary should quit ordaining priests because the church couldn't afford to pay them.

But now, Poquiz and others say they are encouraged by signs of support from Metropolitan Theodosius, the national church's leader. They hope the anniversary will be used to rededicate the mission of a church long in history but poor in dollars.

"It will grow," Poquiz said. "We've seen it here. It's like, wow, God does it. He provides."

St. Herman's backers say the seminary's success has been in providing Native-Alaskan priests and deacons for small villages where the religion took root during the Russian occupation of Alaska.

In 1973, the year the seminary opened in Kenai, there were nine priests in Alaska's nearly 90 parishes. Today, there are 30 priests and deacons.

"Our clergy were in tears when they thought there was a remote possibility St. Herman's was going to close," said Bishop George Gula of Anchorage, the top-ranking church official in Alaska.

The national church, known as the Orthodox Church in America, has other seminaries in New York and Pennsylvania. But those training grounds are too urban for the village men, mostly young, who are called to be priests, church leaders say.

The seminary has survived on state student loans, local volunteer help, money from the Alaska diocese and donations from other states, where many consider the Alaska church a sentimental treasure. St. Herman of Kodiak, for whom the seminary is named, was the first Orthodox saint in North America.

"Everyone in the church sees Alaska as a romantic place, the place where the saints walked," Gula said.

But Gula's arrival in 1995 started a shift in the seminary's fortunes, as the new bishop moved the diocese business office from Kodiak to Anchorage and appointed a new seminary administration led by Oleksa, well-known outside church circles as an Alaska historian and lecturer.

Oleksa expanded course offerings to include such things as liturgical music and icon painting. He talked of extending classes to Anchorage. Church officials say there was less recruitment and enrollment of new students, and more emphasis on outreach to the non-Orthodox public.

Record-keeping deteriorated, making it impossible for the state to audit student loans. The state placed the school on probation in 1997, and then revoked its accreditation last June. Without state authority, the seminary cannot confer bachelor's degrees.

In August, Oleksa resigned, saying the seminary didn't have enough money to meet salaries, pay off debt and fix neglected buildings.

Oleksa said the seminary was closing. But a public notice the next day from Theodosius said the announcement was premature. The seminary's board has since agreed to keep the school open on a limited basis this year, meanwhile increasing appeals for financial support.

Bishop Gula said the national church's bishops affirmed their support recently. He said the seminary plans to apply for formal exemption from state post-secondary requirements, allowing it to award degrees to its own members while limiting access to the general public.

"Father Michael felt Alaska didn't need any more priests, so we should educate people from down below," said Gula. "Now, our mission is clear. We see it as a pastoral school again."