Fr. Stephen is a priest of the Orthodox Church in America
http://oca.org/history-archives/oca-history-intro
The Orthodox Church in America traces its origins to the arrival in Kodiak, Alaska of eight Orthodox missionaries from the Valaamo Monastery in the northern Karelia region of Russia in 1794. The missionaries made a great impact on the native Alaskan population and were responsible for bringing many to the Orthodox Christian faith.
Today, the Orthodox Church in America numbers some 700 parishes, missions, communities, monasteries, and institutions throughout the United States, Canada, and Mexico.
>> eight Orthodox missionaries from the Valaamo Monastery in the northern Karelia region of Russia in 1794 <<
Very interesting! I’ll bet that some or all of these men were ethnic Finns, not Russians.
(And even though I don’t know the language, I gotta say that the name “Valaamo” looks very Finnish.)
Ping!