Joasaph (Bolotov)

His ancestors served for a long time at the church in the village of Strazhkovo (Strashkovo) of the Kashinsky district of the Tver province (first mentioned here at the beginning of the 18th century ). He was born in the same village in the family of the priest Elijah Ivanov.

From 1777 he studied first in Tver , then in the Yaroslavl Theological Seminary .

At the end of the course, he was a teacher at the Uglitsky Theological School for about four years.

In 1786 he was tonsured a monk in the Tolgsky monastery near Yaroslavl .

On May 4, 1783, Empress Catherine II , condescending to the request of “eminent citizens” Ivan Golikov and Grigory Shelikhov , “to found and multiply Christian law in the northern part of America they found,” ordered the Holy Synod to establish a North American Kodiak mission. The hieromonk of the Valaam monastery Joasaph was made the head of this mission, about which the abbot, well-known for his holy life, the Valaam Nazarius gave excellent feedback. To help him, hieromonks were appointed: Athanasius (Mikhailov), Makarii (Alexandrov), Yuvenaly (Govorukhin) , Hierodeacon Nektariy (Panov) and monk German (Zyryanov) ^[1] .

Joasaph was promoted to archimandrite and received the order "to have a stay on the island of Kodiak." On a long journey he was given 500 rubles, to other mission members - 250 rubles each. He received the same instruction as was composed in 1769 for the same occasion for the Tobolsk diocese . In addition, the St. Petersburg Metropolitan Gabriel gave him written instructions from himself.

At the beginning of 1794, a mission with representatives of a Russian-American company went to America. She arrived in Irkutsk on March 16 of the same year; They set off on May 2 and arrived in Okhotsk on July 12, accompanied by one of the participants in the American company, Grigory Shelikhov, who provided the mission with everything necessary for three years. With their behavior and zeal for the holy cause, the missionaries already in Irkutsk gained such respect that the inhabitants conducted them “with great zeal and tears.” Upon arrival in 1794 in Kodiak , where the company already had its own settlement, the missionaries built a church, a school and immediately began to preach the gospel among the natives, and in this lofty business they achieved quick successes. Bishop of Irkutsk and Nerchinsky Benjamin (Bagryansky) already on January 23, 1796 informed the Synod that the mission baptized 6,740 people and married 1573 people. On May 25, 1795, Archimandrite Josaph sent Hieromonk Makarios to preach to the Aleutian Islands and until June 24, 1796, he christened 2472 people on twenty-five islands with up to 50 villages, 536 marriages were married, including 36 Russian marriages with Aleutians. In the same 1795, Archimandrite Joasaph sent hieromonk Juvenal to Neucek , where he christened more than 700 pigs; then in the villages of Kenaysky he christened all the inhabitants there. The following year, Juvenal crossed to Alaska to Lake Iliamna or Shelikhov, where he was killed by pagans. Other members of the mission, in addition to the usual ministry in the church, were also engaged in teaching children at school. The rapid success of the Kodiak mission in preaching the Word of God to the Gentiles and the constant intercessions of Golikov before the Synod to determine the bishop in the North American possessions of the company prompted the Holy Synod to establish Kodiak Vicariate in the Irkutsk diocese .

On July 19, 1796, the establishment of the Kodiak Vicariate took place; Archimandrite Joasaph was appointed Kodiak bishop so that the ordination over him was performed by the Irkutsk bishop alone, in the remoteness of the diocese. The maintenance assigned to him in 4030 rubles The new bishop was charged with a special duty to try to teach the native youth Russian language and literacy. Arriving in Irkutsk in December 1798, Archimandrite Joasaph gave detailed answers to the requests of the Holy Synod about the details of his actions; thus, he compiled a comprehensive “Topographic, climatic, statistical and moral description of the island of Kodiak”; it was published in the journal Friend of Enlightenment for October 1805.

On April 10, 1799, Archimandrite Joasaph was consecrated bishop by Bishop of Irkutsk and Nechinsky, Benjamin, and soon after that he went back to Kodiak Island.

On May 10, the bishop boarded the Phoenix ship with his retinue in Okhotsk . The ship did not arrive at its destination, only its remains were thrown ashore Kodiak Island ^[2] . Together with the 38-year-old bishop, all the attendants died (including the missionaries of Hieromonk Makarios and Hierodeacon Stefan) - the Phoenix ship on which he sailed sank in the Sea of ​​Okhotsk . After this sad event, concerns about the opening of the American diocese were for a long time abandoned.

• Golovshchikov K. D. Kodiak Bishop Joasaph Bolotov: On the 100th anniversary of his missionary work (1761-1799). - Tver. - 1894
• Kiselev V. Head of Mission // Russian America. Historical and geographical magazine. - 1995. - No. 4. - S. 5
• Pezhemsky F. Bishop of Kodiak Joasaph Bolotov // “Wanderer”. - 1862. - Prince. 6
• Joasaph (Bolotov) // Russian Biographical Dictionary : in 25 volumes. - SPb. - M. , 1896-1918.
• Joasaph (Bolotov) // New Encyclopedic Dictionary : In 48 volumes (29 volumes were published). - SPb. , Pg. , 1911-1916.

• Rev. Herman of Alaska