When the Homily is about Immunology

Orthodox Alaska

I have begun reading Fr. Michael Oleksa's book Orthodox Alaska: A theology of Mission. And while only a couple dozen pages into it thus far, I have found it to be riddled with gems already.

Fr. Michael and I have dialogued briefly via email because as I was doing research on my family history I came accross his name from a collection put together by a third party - seemingly indicating that Fr. Michael and I at least have some not too terribly distant relational connection - my Great Grandmother's maiden name was Oleksa. Curiously enough, this book was Fr. Michael's doctoral dissertation at the Orthodox Seminary in Presov, Slovakia...perhaps a mere 30km from my ancestral village.

Anyway, the book begins with showing the paralells between the Orthodox mission to Alaska in the 18th century, and the Orthodox mission to the Slavs of the 9th century - of which there are many fascinating facets. But first:

The preface begins with quotes from an 1964 article by Bishop ANASTASIOS:

Orthodox Christian mission has as its twin goals the "incarnation of the Logos of God into the language and customs of a country," and the "growth of an indigenous Church which will sanctify and endorse the people's personality."

The point being: for both the Slavs and the Aluets this has been, to a large extent, accomplished. Fr. Michael further states that the book's primary purpose is to remind the Church that her mission extends beyond human concerns and issues, beyond politics, economics and even beyond "religion," as the subject is popularly understood. The risen Christ commanded that the Gospel be preached to "every creature," and St. John's vision in the Apocalypse re-emphasizes the Pauline revelation that, in the end, Christ will be "all in all." The visible created world possesses an eternal spiritual value, without which Christianity can no longer be considered "catholic," complete, whole.

What can we learn from incarnate Orthodoxy in the Aluet culture? Are there lessons there for helping us to incarnate Orthodoxy in the lower 48? Maybe we think we have already done so? Or have we simply brought incarnated Russian, Arab, or Greek Orthodox cultures? What would Orthodoxy look like in America is missionaries came instead of immigrants?