More traditional Tlingit gravitated toward the Orthodox Church among Christian offerings, as it had used local languages in worship since about 1800 in Kodiak and 1824 in the Aleutian Islands.

The Holy Scriptures and much of the Divine Liturgy (as the Orthodox call the Mass, or Lord's Supper) had been translated into Tlingit by St. Innocent (Veniaminov) during his years as a priest in Sitka (1834–40) and later as Bishop of Alaska (1842–1850).

On July 26, 1892, Bishop Nicholas (Ziorov) of the Aleutian Islands and Alaska (1891–1898), visited Juneau from San Francisco, where the seat of the church in America had been located since 1872.

Three days later, the Priest-monk Mitrofan baptized both Yees Gaanaalx and his wife, giving them the Christian names of Dimitri and Elizabeth.

With such a large Native congregation to be served, the Orthodox Missionary Society in Russia sent architectural drawings, interior church furnishings – such as candlestands, a chalice set, censers, banners, a full iconostasis (the icon screen), and festal icons – and two hundred silver rubles to support construction of a church for them.