Holy Assumption of the Virgin Mary Church

Holy Assumption Orthodox Church, also known as Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, is a Russian Orthodox parish church in Kenai, Kenai Peninsula Borough, Alaska, United States. Completed in 1896, it is one of the oldest-standing Russian Orthodox churches in Alaska and was a major center for the assimilation of the local Native population. It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1970.HistoryAlaska became a diocese in the Russian Orthodox Church in 1840, and the Church's popularity in the Kenai Peninsula region grew, particularly among the Kenaitze, the native people of the peninsula. Bishop Innocent created six parishes in Alaska, including one for the Kenai region. The first chapel was built that same year by the Russian-American Company near the village of Kenai within Fort St. Nicholas. The first priest to serve the parish, Igumen Nikolai Militov, arrived in 1844 and served until his death in 1869.Igumen Nikolai oversaw the construction of a church in 1849 on a different portion of the lot. He opened a school in the early 1860s, and Russian became the principal language in both education and commerce. The church served as a vital method of assimilating the natives to the Russian culture. In addition to religious and educational purposes, the church served as an administrative and judicial center for the region.