International church-history conference on St. Innocent and Orthodoxy in Siberia and America to mark 375th anniversary of Yakutia’s incorporation in Russia

An international church-history conference on St. Innocent and Orthodoxy in Siberia and America was held on December 5, 2007, at St. Sergius Hall of the Church of Christ the Saviour to mark the 375^th anniversary of Yakutia’s incorporation in Russia.

It was attended by historians, theologians, philologists and clergy, among them, Metropolitan Clement of Kaluga and Borovsk, chancellor of the Moscow Patriarchate, Bishop Zosima of Lensk and Yakutia, Mr. Mikhail Nikolaev, first president of Yakutia, and Ms. Christal Lynn, USA, a representative of the Aleutian people.

His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia sent a message of greetings to the conference.

During the conference, decorations were presented on behalf of the Yakutian president to Metropolitan Clement, Archbishop Yevgeny of Vereya, Bishop Alexander of Dmitrov and Alexander Zhuravsky, head of the Department for Inter-ethnic Relations, Russian Ministry of Regional Development.

A display of archive documents, museum materials, books and pictures devoted to the life and work of St. Innocent was opened for the conference, the National News Agency reported. The shrine with the saint’s right hand was brought over from Yakutsk to Moscow for the occasion.

DECR Communication Service