Posted on 06/05/2023 6:23:58 PM PDT by marshmallow
On a recent sunny day in May, Russian Orthodox priest Timothy Kolb unlocked a padlock securing the door to Anchorage’s oldest standing building and stepped inside. The small, rough-hewn building looks like a log cabin and is easy to overlook next to the taller, brighter, onion-domed new St. Nicholas Church.
The old St. Nicholas Church has been in disrepair for years, and a $350,000 federal grant, awarded in 2022 under the National Park Service’s Historic Preservation Fund, is intended to tackle many of the big issues, including a dangerously leaning bell tower and the construction of a new foundation.
Inside the church, a thin layer of dust covered 150-year-old icons depicting Jesus and the Virgin Mary. Newspaper clippings adorned the windows, including one of then-Vice President Richard Nixon and his family visiting the church in 1958. A handmade chandelier hung from the ceiling, with the candles sitting in empty .45-70 bullet casings.
Around the time of Nixon’s visit, the church would have been filled with worshippers during Sunday service.
“When I was little boy, say 6, thereabout, you had to be in the church for 12 hours,” said Lee Stephan, 68, vice president of the Alaska Native village corporation Eklutna Inc. “And lo and behold, if you were a young person and you couldn’t stand for 12 hours — you didn’t believe in God, I guess.”
The old St. Nicholas Church was built in Knik sometime around 1870 and was moved to Eklutna around 1895, according to Native Village of Eklutna president Aaron Leggett, who has worked for decades on K’enah’tana Dena’ina revitalization. The new church next door was built in the 1960s by Leggett’s great-great-uncle Mike Alex, who inherited caretaker duties from his father, Eklutna Alex.
(Excerpt) Read more at adn.com ...
Putin will probably demand it be given back to Russia ......
I dreamed of writing novels but I ended up working for a newspaper.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.