Roland Boer's Blog, page 95

Innocent of Alaska, canoes and languages

On my travels I passed by the Aleutian Islands, western Alaska and the Tlingit coast. It is probably less known than it should be that this territory is Russian Orthodox, due to Russian missions in the 19th century. There was this dude called Ivan Popov, who became Innocent of Alaska. In 1824 he was sent to Unalaska and built the church there (it's above). Problem was he had to cover the other islands too and the only way to get around was by canoe. Anyone who has been in the seas around the Arc

The sermon and the hourglass

I feel like I've been travelling to some wierd and wonderful corners over the last few weeks. From Brazil to Alaska and now to the 17th century sermon.

Apparently, ministers used used to pop out sermons more regulary than the usual bowel movement. In Rostock (Germany) the records state that 1500 sermons were preached in one year, 1640. As another German Lutheran minister said at the time, “we preachers preach ourselves to death.” And it wasn't merely the ministers who loved spouting forth the wor