Innocent of Alaska

Innocent of Alaska (Russian: Иннокентий; August 26, 1797 – 12 April[O.S. March 31] 1879), also known as Innocent Metropolitan of Moscow, was a Russian Orthodoxmissionarypriest, then the first Orthodoxbishop and archbishop in the Americas, and finally the Metropolitan of Moscow and Kolomna. Remembered for his missionary work, scholarship, and leadership in Alaska and the Russian Far East during the 19th century, he is known for his abilities as a scholar, linguist, and administrator, as well as his great zeal for his work.

As a missionary priest he took his wife and family with him. In these territories he learned several languages and dialects of the indigenous peoples. He wrote many of the earliest scholarly works about the native peoples of Alaska, including dictionaries and grammars for their languages for which he devised writing systems; also, he wrote religious works in, and translated parts of the Bible into, several of these languages. His books were published beginning in 1840.