Alaska Native woman, ‘everybody’s helper,’ is Orthodox church’s first female North American saint

St. Olga’s sainthood is especially meaningful because many women canonized by the church have been ancient martyrs or nuns, said Carrie Frederick Frost, a professor of religion and culture at Western Washington University who studies women and Orthodoxy.

“To come here and be a part of the glorification of a woman who was a lay woman and was a mother and a grandmother and lived a life that many women have lived, it’s just incredibly appealing,” Frost said.