With rare exhumation in Kwethluk, Matushka Olga moves closer to Russian Orthodox sainthood

Hundreds of people gathered in the Western Alaska village of Kwethluk on Saturday to witness the exhumation of Matushka Olga, who will become the first Yup’ik saint of the Russian Orthodox Church next year.

Olinka Arrsamquq Michael, known as Matushka Olga or “Mother Olga,” was born in 1916 and lived in Kwethluk and other Kuskokwim River villages. During her lifetime, she was a midwife, a mother and the wife of an Russian Orthodox priest, and was known as humble, compassionate and generous. After her death in 1979, she became a spiritual touchstone to people not only in Western Alaska but beyond, known especially as a healer to abused women.

Last year, the Orthodox Church in America’s national leadership voted to make Matushka Olga a saint, a process known as “glorification.” Alaska has the highest percentage of Orthodox Christians of any state, with Western Alaska among the most deeply Russian Orthodox regions.

On Saturday, Matushka Olga took one step closer to sainthood when her grave was unburied and her remains transferred to a church in Kwethluk.

In the Russian Orthodox Church, the remains of saints are considered to be holy relics, and are always exhumed so people can have direct physical access, said the Right Rev. Alexei, bishop of the Russian Orthodox Diocese of Sitka and Alaska, in an interview this week.

An exhumation, called an “uncovering” in the church, is like a funeral in reverse, he said — taking buried remains out of the ground and placing them in a specially prepared casket in a church. Such exhumations are extremely rare, the bishop said: The last one in the state would have been when St. Herman of Alaska was canonized in 1970.

For Matushka Olga’s exhumation, Russian Orthodox clergy from all over the state gathered in Kwethluk, with about 40 chartered flights landing Monday, he said. The visitors arriving by plane were joined by faithful from the region, many of whom arrived by snowmachine. First, there was a procession to the gravesite, and a memorial service of sorts, the bishop said.

Then came the hard work of actually exhuming a more-than-50-year-old grave from the ground. Priests in black cassocks and parkas spent nearly six hours digging with pickaxes and shovels. Only the top 6 inches of the ground was frozen, the bishop said. A crowd of more than a hundred looked on, praying in Yup’ik and English as the Bible was read aloud. A livestream on Facebook captured the proceedings for viewers around the world.

“There was a whole crowd that was immovable, for five hours, watching,” the bishop said.

Finally, diggers hit the casket, which had decayed over the years but was intact enough to be lifted by a group of clergy and taken to Kwethluk’s church, the bishop said. There, Olga’s remains were transferred to a new casket, built by nuns in California and decorated with salmonberries.

The relics will stay at the church in Kwethluk, the bishop said.

When Olga was recommended for canonization, there was a discussion about where the future saint’s remains should permanently be: Should the remains be kept in Western Alaska or be moved to a larger population center where it would be easier for pilgrims to visit them? Because of the deep significance of Matushka Olga to the spiritual life of the region and the wishes of elders, the church decided that her remains should stay in her home community of Kwethluk, the bishop said.

Eventually the church wants to renovate the village’s humble church into a “cathedral on the Kuskokwim,” he said.

“Having someone inside the church permanently, there’s no greater honor,” he said.

The exhumation is the last major step before Matushka Olga officially becomes a saint in a canonization expected to be held in June 2025 in Kwethluk.