Through Orthodox Eyes

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Through Orthodox Eyes brings into English an important collection of translations of Russian missionary writings that shed new light on the spread of Orthodox Christianity among the Athabaskan-speaking peoples of the Cook Inlet, Iliamna, Lake Clark, Stony River, and Copper River areas. These records provide unique insights into Russian perceptions of Native societies in Alaska, and include new ethnographic information on Athabaskan seasonal hunting and fishing cycles, settlement patters, migration, demography, shamanism, marriage practices, relationships between Natives and miners, and alcohol abuse. Andrei Znamenski, who translated this collection, also offers a new and substantial interpretive chapter that is itself a major contribution to the literature. Placing these events into a historical perspective, he describes nineteenth-century Athabaskan society and interactions between Native peoples and the Russian and American settlers. His sociocultural and religious discussions are multifaceted, showing the complex process of religious development through which the Athabaskans turned Russian Orthodoxy into their Native church. In addition to his analysis of their writing, Znamenski looks into the biographies and intellectual backgrounds of individual Orthodox missionaries and Native lay leaders, expanding the ability of readers to interpret their texts, actions, opinions, and lives. The importance of the translations, together with Znamenski's historical work, make this volume invaluable to scholars of Russian American, Alaska Native, and religious history, as well as intriguing for readers interested in first-hand accounts of this formative period in Alaska history.