His Grace the Right Reverend Bishop Joasaph (Bolotov) of Kodiak came to Alaska as the leader of a group of missionaries from the Valaam Monastery in 1794. Under very primitive conditions he and his monastic companions established the foundations of an Orthodox presence in North America. Called to Irkutsk, he was consecrated the auxiliary Bishop of Kodiak, but did not survive a shipwreck on his return to Alaska.