SAINT JAMES, MO – This past weekend, His Eminence Daniel, Archbishop of Chicago & Diocese of the Midwest, made a visit to Annunciation Orthodox Church here to serve the divine services and offer talks for the historic first commemoration on October 27th of the Orthodox Church in America’s most recently canonized saint, Native Alaskan Saint Olga of Kwethluk.
“We were deeply honored to have Archbishop Daniel with us to share about his experience of Matushka Olga’s glorification service in Alaska, and learn more about her life from him,” said Fr. Joel, priest at Annunciation Orthodox Church.
Archbishop Daniel is the head of the Canonization Committee for the Orthodox Church in America (OCA). On Sunday morning, His Eminence tonsured a new Reader, Joel Morris, and served the hierarchal Divine Liturgy. V. Rev. Herman Kincaid, Chancellor of the diocese, Rev. Joel Wilson, priest at Annunciation, and Rev. Nicholas Roth served alongside the Archbishop. A newly commissioned icon of St. Olga was blessed at the end of the divine Liturgy. Over 240 people were in attendance.
In his two talks at Annunciation this past weekend, His Eminence shared details of the process of canonizing saints in the Orthodox Church as well as his own experience of his participation in this process over the past year.
“The church recognizes people [as saints] for their holiness and by far, most saints go unrecognized. At least I hope so, because all of us are called to be saints,” Archbishop Daniel said in his first talk. The last saint canonized by the OCA was St. Raphael of Brooklyn in 1999, and two other petitions are currently being considered by the OCA’s Holy Synod.
Annunciation Orthodox Church recently completed and moved into a much larger building for divine services and fellowship which provided room for the event this weekend as well. At the fall retreat, a set of Orthodox bells borrowed from St. Thomas Orthodox Church in Springfield, MO were set up and rung by professional bell ringer, Constantine Stade, for divine services and in a demonstration. Plans for a new limestone bell tower at Annunciation were also revealed during the event.
Vigil on Sunday evening and Divine Liturgy on Monday morning were served for the newly canonized St. Olga. Rev. Basil Ferguson and Rev. Nicholas Finley concelebrated on Monday morning in addition to the clergy above.
“We had more people this year than we’ve ever had, and we are incredibly grateful for everyone’s participation in this event,” shared Fr. Joel. “God willing we will hold our next fall retreat on the last weekend of October 2026.”
Photos and recorded talks from this past weekend can be found on Annunciation’s website at https://annunciationoca.org/fall-retreat/
Their new address is 14092 Annunciation Hill in Saint James, MO.
