“People are suffering from substance abuse, families are in need,” Fisher said. “Her preparation towards glorification in the church gives hope to a path of sobriety and renewed dignity as a Native people who were first helped by St. Herman. That love, that only comes from God, is reflected by these local saints who reach out to those who hunger and thirst to see Christ.”
Jacqueline Stephens, an Orthodox Christian in Georgia, said she was “overjoyed” about St. Olga’s glorification. She credits Olga with helping her find a job and asks for her help toward a career helping women.
“I don’t think people understand the impact of (sexual abuse) on the soul, how that can open the door to other degradation, whether from the self or others, so many can feel like they have no purity to preserve, which is a lie,” Stephens said. “Sexual assault is a wound to the soul, not just the body, not just the mind, but the soul can be healed, can be restored. Her service and her miracles are a testament to that.”
One popular icon depicting Olga shows her holding a scroll that reads, “God can create great beauty from complete desolation.” The attribution comes from an anonymous woman from Ossining, New York, who said the saint visited her in a dream in the 1990s and healed her from years of trauma from childhood sexual abuse.
The woman, who later converted to Orthodoxy, hadn’t heard of Olga, but her therapist recognized her description from “Orthodox Alaska,” a book she had read by the Rev. Michael Oleksa, an OCA priest and historian of Orthodox Native Alaskans who knew Olga.
“I’ve always thought if there is anyone I’ve known in my lifetime who would be glorified a saint, it would be Matushka Olga,” Oleksa said.
Icons and murals of Olga’s wrinkled face wrapped in a head scarf have increasingly appeared in churches across the United States, adding to her case for sainthood and indicating that bishops believed her glorification was imminent. In Belarus, in Eastern Europe, a women’s monastery has painted and sold icons of Olga for years. In the remote region around Kodiak, Alaska, Native Alaskans have never stopped venerating her.
“For us, it’s very significant. We’ve been waiting for this,” said Deborah Yohannah Peterson, who often serves in her Greek Orthodox church’s bookstore in Anchorage. “A lot of people have an interest in her. We try to keep small icons of her.”
She heard the news of Olga’s glorification while sitting in an airport. “I just started crying,” Peterson said. “I don’t have a lot of personal experience with her, but I think that must be changing.”
Cynthia Sindall, who helped start a knitting guild named for Olga at Holy Cross Orthodox Church in Linthicum, Maryland, said the announcement also brought tears to her eyes.
“This news will make many people very happy and will be a blessing to all,” she said.
