www.byzcath.org Forums Faith & Christian Life Faith & Theology Saint Peter the Aleut

Hey everyone...I had a question relating to veneration of Saint Peter the Aleut. I, a Latin Catholic, feel very drawn to this Orthodox saint, and desire to begin a devotion to him. However, he was martyred by Spanish Catholic missionaries. I was wondering, would it be acceptable for me to venerate an Orthodox saint who was killed by Catholics? Is there any rule regarding this? Also, I have at times (most foolishly) imagined that Saint Peter would be holding a grudge against Catholics...although I know that could not be possible. Thanks and God bless you!

I had no previous knowledge of St. Peter the Aleut, so after reading your post, I read the article found at this link: http://orthodoxwiki.org/Peter_the_Aleut . If the information in this article is correct, then I believe St. Peter the Aleut to have been a martyr for his faith and deserving of veneration. As for the Catholic so-called "missionaries" who killed him, well, they were not worthy of the office of priest. So, in my opinion, there is no reason for you not to have a devotion to St. Peter. However, as has often been pointed out by our administrators, John and Fr. Anthony, the internet is not really a good place to seek spiritual advice. If you continue to have doubts about this, you might discuss the matter with your spiritual director, or if you do not have a spiritual director, then discuss it with a priest whom you trust and respect.

Sincerely,

Ryan

Oh, that was great advice, Ryan. What more is there to say now?!

Veneration of non-Catholic saints I, personally, would not advise, but then again you have John Paul II's example to follow; do with that what you will...

You could certainly pray *for* him, and pray for those poor examples of our Holy Faith who killed him.

Alexis

Alexis is right, too... ask your Spiritual Director...

Ohhhh INTERESTING. I see that once we look up Peter the Aleut on Wikipedia, and not on the biased Eastern Orthodox wikipedia (biased just as the Catholic Encyclopedia is biased, so I'm not throwing stones)....we get this little nugget:

"It should be noted that there are substantial questions as to the veracity of this story. The entire scenario is based on the testimony of a single witness (a Russian-Alaskan of dubious reputation, perhaps with the name of Keglii Ivan), no similar occurrence ever took place in the history of the Spanish mission in California and there is no independent historical text or confirmation of this event having taken place. Bancroft, in his multi-volume History of California briefly notes this story, but there is ample reason to be suspicious of the events of St. Peter's martyrdom.

This story is perhaps much more a statement of the distrust and competition that was transpiring between Russian and Spanish interests along the California coast line. It is also very reflective of similar stories that have become part of the hagiography of Christendom throughout the centuries (See St. Victorinus - Feb. 25th, D. 284; St. Arcadius - Jan. 12, D. 304?; Sts. Anastasia and Cyril - Oct. 28 D. ?; St. James Intereisus - Nov. 27 D. 421). There are, however, numberous accounts of Russians and Aleuts who escaped brutal treatment aboard Russian ships to the relative safety of the Spanish missions, some of whom even accepted baptism (see [1] for example, at Mission San Buenaventura."

Alexis

I seem to recall reading an article online by an Orthodox who questioned the veracity of some elements of PTA's hagiography. Someone can perhaps fill in the gaps on this one, but certain elements as presented seemed odd. The fact Spanish Jesuits were the supposed culprit of that sort of heinous crime sent off some warning bells on two counts - Jesuits were not known to be in the area when & where the event supposedly took place... Also the fact it was "Jesuits" (in some circles then as today, almost a curse word!) sets off sone additional alarms.

Having Jesuits serve as the culprit (with their reputation for being so darned - dare I say it? - jesuitical!) seems almost too perfect and scripted. Kinda like blaming al Quaeda for everything bad in the world. "I heard that new co-worker of ours parks in handicap spaces, kicks puppies, and is al Quaeda!" "Well that settles it, he is a bad apple!"

Having said all that, I can confide that my limited knowledge of Orthodoxy in Alaska leads me to believe that there are many, many Aleutians in the choir of saints in heaven. I also believe that it would take more than 100 years (without sleeping) to list the name of every glorious martyr in heaven from the past 20 centuries, if we even knew them all. I don't think it is any stretch to suppose that there are a dozen Peters or Piotrs up there, so prayers to St. Peter the Aleut would not go unheard, or unanswered! It just may be the case that we don't have the details of the lives of these "Holy Petes" quite correct.

I have nothing in particular against the veneration of "non-Catholic" Saints. The real question is whether Peter the Aleut as described ever existed. But if he did, and if the story is as usually given, one could theoretically regard him as a "martyr" for the Pope's exclusive right to grant a change of rite! How's that for casuistry?

Fr. Serge

ALEXIS:

The Orthodox Church in America, a Church that counts St. Peter the Aleut as a martyr for the Faith, has these hymns in its Matins for the Second Sunday Sunday after Pentecost:



Peter the Aleut is also mentioned in the biography of St. Herman of Alaska as being known to St. Herman and his death being known to St. Herman. The biography on this site also mentions that the actual murderers were Spanish Franciscans in California.

There is a further liturgical commemoration on September 24th and it's designated as being a "lesser feeast" but one that has it's own icon of St. Peter the Aleut and Priestmonk Juvenaly who had been murdered by Alaskan natives while doing missionary work in Alaska.

In Christ,

BOB

Thank you all for your input and advice! It was very helpful.

DT:

You can find this on the OCA website and an icon of St. Peter the Aleut. Go to www.oca.org [oca.org], go to Feasts and Saints, go to North American saints, and scroll to the bottom.

BOB

Dear Friends,

Historically, whenever an Orthodox church or group came into union with Rome, all of the saints considered "anti-Roman" would be deleted from the calendar.

St Peter the Aleut would definitely be one of them, under those rules, not because he was martyred by Latins but because he was, according to his life, asked to receive baptism by a Catholic but steadfastly refused (since he was already baptized an Orthodox Christian). For this he was martyred.

So, under the current rules, public liturgical veneration would not be accorded him.

However, IF one were to delete all Orthodox saints who, at one time or another, had something to say about Rome, then the list would be quite expansive and would include: St Paissy Velichkovsky, St Job of Pochaiv and even the so-called "Latinizing" St Demetrius of Rostov who, despite his "Latinizations" was quite adamant against the unia.

The New Catholic Encyclopedia sometimes says that such Orthodox saints "repeated the biases of their environment" including St Theophane the Recluse who had nothing good to say about Roman Catholicism (but whom Pope John Paul II did privately honour).

I once bothered Fr. Serge Keleher to the point of nausea, I'm sure, about the icon of the "Pillars of Orthodoxy" or Sts. Gregory Palamas, Photios and Mark of Ephesus.

Father paused a bit on the phone and then said, "Well, I've no problem with the first two, since they are indeed Catholic saints. But I wouldn't put that icon up in the church because some of my parishioners would stop by it, look at it and would then say, 'Oh dear!'" Father Keleher once also related how a friend of his whom he was visiting, a Roman Catholic, had the icon of the Pillars of Orthodoxy up on his wall at home. Fr. Keleher said he lingered by it wondering what this was all about, and then his friend said, "Yes, Father, I keep that up to remind myself that there are people who are just as adamant about their faith as I am!"

For me, if so and so is an Orthodox Saint, I will include him or her in my icon corner or my icon collection. No questions asked.

The cult of such will continue locally even after the Churches have come together.

There is much more that can be said about this, but I'm tired.

Alex

"In this, the most Orthodox of American cities (the city where St. Peter the Aleut was martyred by Jesuits in the nineteenth century... ( Source [orthodoxinfo.com])

Thank you for the OCA link - which I find to be a more level headed source. I only post this to show that the Jesuits are oft-implicated in different sources, not to counter your source, just to show I have seen such as the above in numerous places...

Franciscans don't sound as ominous then, do they? heheh Still, I hope I am not considered a cockeyed-optimist for my own communion to hope that some of the details might still not be exactly accurate...

Allegedly.

Alexis

A great answer Father! "A martyr for the Pope's exclusive right to grant a change of rite...." I had definately never thought of it that way.