What we have, we protect not, and, losing it, we weep. A great
deal has been written and said about the possible closing to the
public of Fort Ross, on the Pacific Coast of California, and the
cultural and historical significance of this southernmost
Russian 19th-century settlement on the North American continent.
Indeed, Fort Ross was and remains a symbol of the Russian
presence on the West Coast of North America, and played a key
role in the history of the Russian acquisition of Alaska and the
Pacific coast of Oregon and northern California. But for an
Orthodox Christian, the history of Fort Ross is first of all
tied to the history of the dissemination of Orthodoxy in the
country which for us living in the United States has become a
second home. Fort Ross was settled by Russian Orthodox
entrepreneurs and natives of Alaska who were illuminated by the
light of the faith of Christ through the efforts of the Valaam
missionaries. Among them was St Herman, whose memory we
celebrate on December 25 (civil calendar)