Eugene Schuyler to Hamilton Fish, August 17, 1870

Mr. Schuyler to Mr. Fish.

Sir: I have the honor to inform you that his Majesty the Emperor, sanctioning the report of the Holy Synod, has seen fit to appoint the Archimandrite John archbishop of the Aleutian Isles and of Alaska. He was formally nominated on Wednesday last, and was consecrated to-day. The diocese of this new bishop includes the whole of the United States, but it is not yet decided whether he will have his residence in New York, San Francisco, or New Archangelsk. His salary is three thousand rubles, paid by the imperial government. The bishop himself is only thirty-two years old, and has been but eight years in orders, but is highly spoken of for learning and character. As this is, I believe, the first instance where a foreign sovereign (the Pope excepted) has sent a functionary of this kind to the United States, and certainly the first where the functionary receives his pay from the treasury of a foreign power, I have thought it necessary to call your attention to this fact.

I may add that a few weeks ago a Mr. Nicolas Behring, formerly a Catholic professor of Baltimore, came to St. Petersburg and embraced the Russian orthodox religion. He was at once ordained a priest for service in America, the rite being performed in the German language.