Apostle to the Plains: The Life of Father Nicola Yanney

by The Saint Raphael Clergy Brotherhood

In 1892, a young man left his home in the coastal foothills of Lebanon in search of a better life. Coming to America with his newlywed wife, he found work as a traveling peddler before settling on a small farm in central Nebraska. Years later, personal tragedy and an unexpected midnight visit from a saint changed the course of his life. Seeing the desperate need of his fellow Orthodox Christians and heeding God s call, he would spend the rest of his life traversing the Great Plains as a circuit-riding priest, known to his thousands of parishioners as Father Nicola Yanney. His legacy stands alongside that of St. Raphael Hawaweeny, his mentor, as a seminal force in the American Orthodox Church of our day.

Genres: Religion, Nonfiction, Biography

288 pages, Paperback

Published September 5, 2019

Reviews

[Mimi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful engaging story about a truly humble priest, Father Nicola, his parish, his Syrian community, St. Raphael Haweeny, and Orthodox jursidictions in the United States.

[Jane G Meyer · Rating 5 out of 5]

A hard book to give "stars" to since it's the telling of one man's life. Beautifully written, with umpteen details about the adventures of a relatively unknown Orthodox Christian priest, Father Nicola Yanney.

Moving from his beloved Syria in the late 1800s because of the economic hardships there, Father Nicola and his new wife make a life for themselves in Nebraska, where he starts his life out as a peddler, then eventually becomes a farmer, then priest. The narrative follows his struggles and joys, and I marveled at the way he selflessly gave of himself to a story bigger than his own. I was inspired by his dedication, but his story is also laced with sadness--death, heartache, illness--real life things. The ending hit me hard--and I walked away from the story reflecting on my own life, wanting my own story, especially those pages yet unwritten, to be filled with grace and light and sacrifice...

[Nichole Banks · Rating 5 out of 5]

If ever you thought your life was chaotic between Parish Council meetings, work meetings, raising children or teaching Church school, Monday morning commute traffic, crowded elevators, or even just trying to rush out the door in time for Vespers after a long work day, I encourage you to read “Apostle to the Plains: The Life of Father Nicola Yanney” by The Saint Raphael Clergy Brotherhood. The story of the newlywed Syrian immigrant turned circuit-riding missionary Priest, Father Nicola Yanney, is a whirlwind of ascetic struggle, nearly unbearable heartbreak, and complete surrender to Divine Love.

The life of the Holy Priest - the first ever ordained by Saint Raphael Hawaweeny of Brooklyn - begins amidst the poverty of his native Fi’eh, where many of the younger generation are beginning to set sail for America in hopes of a prosperous life. The young Nicola is torn between his beloved homeland, kinsfolk, and nearby monastery where he has grown up, and the necessity of traveling to a strange land in order to send help back home for his remaining relatives. Upon deciding that he must leave for the New World, he and his betrothed, Martha, are hastily married, and immediately set sail.

After a harrowing journey across the sea, narrowly passing through Ellis Island, and an equally long train ride from New York, the newlyweds arrived in Nebraska. Faced with the uncertainty of a new life in a barren, unfamiliar land, Nicola quickly set to work. Learning the trade of peddling goods proved to be the means whereby Nicola and Martha would eventually have their own homestead on the outskirts of Kearney, Nebraska, filled with the fruits of his farming labor and their own beautiful children.

As a leader in the local Syrian Orthodox community, Nicola often gave counsel and lead prayer services amongst his brethren. No Church existed in the area, and indeed, not anywhere in the region was there an assigned Priest to serve the Holy Mysteries. The Saintly Archimandrite Raphael Hawaweeny was sent from New York to visit the communities in the rest of the diaspora, but he rarely made a visit as far as Nebraska. When Father Raphael at last had made a visit to the people of the Plains, the Yanney family, living far enough out of town not to hear the news until it was too late, was devastated to have missed an opportunity to receive the blessing of an Orthodox Priest after so many years. Upon hearing this news, the angelic pastor made a special point to visit the Yanney family upon his next return — traveling late into the cold night in an open horse-drawn cart, to arrive at their homestead doorstep well before dawn. The Yanney family were astonished, and fell at the feet of the Priest, praising God for His great mercy, and for answering their prayers. Father Raphael stayed at the Yanney house on their very couch for several days, confessed them all, baptized their children, and served the Divine Liturgy - the first Divine Liturgy they had attended since they had set sail from Fi’eh.

Tragedy would soon strike, however, when Nicola was widowed not long after Father Raphael’s visit, at a young age and with four children to care for. His brothers had moved to the homestead to help with the farm labor, but with Martha gone, the children could not be left alone all day. Nicola faced a tough decision; should he re-marry, or abandon the homestead?

God revealed His plan for the widower before long. The local Syrian community was growing quickly, and in desperate need of an established Church with a regular Priest. The community wrote to Father Raphael, asking for his help with the matter. Having stipulated that the community must purchase a building, choose one of their own to have ordained for this purpose, and pledge to pay him a respectable wage, Father Raphael joyfully blessed their endeavor. The community immediately and unanimously elected Nicola as their representative, raised funds to purchase a local abandoned school house, and sent word to Father Raphael.

Nicola had reluctantly, but eventually, agreed to this new calling. He knew he must move his family off of the homestead and into town so that his children could attend the local school and he could minister to his new flock. When the approval came from Father Raphael, it came with the news that he himself was to be elevated to the Episcopacy, and that Nicola would be ordained immediately thereafter, by the new Bishop’s own hand. Once Nicola had been ordained to the Holy Priesthood by the new Bishop, he was sent back from New York to his community to begin his missionary work.

From the time Father Nicola arrived in Nebraska after his Lenten ordination, he almost never stopped. The new Priest made sure he was home for Pascha (if not all of Great Lent) and Nativity, but otherwise traveled continuously for over a decade. His missionary territory went as far west as the Rockies, all the way up to Michigan, as far as western Kentucky, Tennessee and the surrounding areas, and everywhere in between. He was the sole clergyman for this region for the majority of his missionary time. By the end of his life, he had baptized over a thousand souls, not to mention the marriages, funerals, Divine Liturgies served, confessions heard, and peace restored continuously amidst community turmoil.

When following the log of his travels, which he kept strict record of in the back of his family Bible, the reader of “Apostle to the Plains” quickly has a sense of the immensity of Father Nicola’s great missionary work. Regularly traveling several hundred miles by train and several hours by horse drawn cart, to be met with the task of baptizing a dozen children, performing a handful of marriages, confessing all and serving the Divine Liturgy - all in the same community - only to travel twice the distance a few days later to another community to perform some similar feat, the reader follows Father Nicola on a nearly fifteen year missionary journey that almost never stopped, truly, even until just a few hours before his own death.

In all things, Father Nicola served God first, remaining blameless before men and God. As his last words to his sons proclaimed, he kept his “hands and heart clean”. This Saintly missionary Priest can easily be likened to the ranks of our Holy Fathers who have served to bring the Love of God through the One, Catholic, and Apostolic Church, to our “New World”. May we have his righteous prayers, and may we all attain to the immense humility and neighborly love that Khoury Nicola Yanney showed in his daily life. Amen!

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

Apostle to the Plains: The Life of Father Nicola Yanney
By the Saint Raphael Clergy Brotherhood

When Ancient Faith Publishing offered me the opportunity to review the new book Apostle to the Plains: The Life of Father Nicola Yanney, I eagerly accepted. My own maternal grandparents were immigrants who settled on the Plains, and their lives, like Father Nicola’s, followed a familiar trajectory: leaving their homeland due to lack of opportunity; coming to the United States, a foreign land with a foreign language; working hard to raise a family and establish a life in what could be a lonely and inhospitable landscape; staying in touch with family through letters, but never returning to their homeland, even for a brief visit. My grandparents immigrated from Norway and settled in North Dakota in 1925, and Father Nicola and his wife immigrated from Lebanon and settled in Nebraska in 1892. We may not picture the Midwest as a culturally diverse region, but Apostle to the Plains does the important task of illuminating its history of Syrian immigrants and the growth of the Syrian Orthodox church in the early decades of the 20th century.

The first part of the book chronicles the life of Nicola Yanney, a devout young man, and his wife. As newlyweds and virtual strangers, they took the momentous step of journeying to the United States and settling in Omaha, Nebraska, home to a sizable Syrian community. After working as a peddler, a common profession for new immigrants, Nicola moved his growing family to a sod house in the country to homestead on a farm. Joined by his brother, George, Nicola devoted his energies towards pursuing the American Dream.

From then on, his story might have followed a conventional path. However, personal tragedies changed the course of his life and his priorities. The second part of the book recounts Nicola Yanney’s existence as Father Nicola, a circuit-riding priest who served a vast swath of territory in the Great Plains. His life’s goal was no longer the American Dream, but God’s Kingdom on earth.

Reading Apostle to the Plains , I was struck by the hardship and sacrifice that characterized Father Nicola’s life. As a peddler and farmer, Nicola, along with his brother, undertook work that was demanding, physical, and unending: traveling for weeks on end with a 60-pound pack; leveling and clearing land on their quarter-section homestead (160 acres); planting, irrigating, and harvesting crops by hand. Even more striking, though, are the sacrifices--personal, physical, financial--that Father Nicola made in the second part of his life for the sake of the priesthood. Before he became ordained, there were only four Syrian Orthodox priests to serve the entire continent of North America, and once a priest, he became responsible for the spiritual lives of the inhabitants of the Great Plains; for each of the next 14 years, he spent months away from his family and home parish to travel to communities in states as far away as Michigan, Arkansas, Minnesota, and North Dakota. The book recounts many of these travels in detail, so the reader can appreciate the enormity of the task that Father Nicola willingly performed (it was not unusual for him to baptize 100 children in one year), as well as the demands of the work and the toll it took on his finances and family.

One of the most touching aspects of this biography is how much Orthodox Christians living on the Plains hungered for the life of the Church. As the book says, “they had been raised in an atmosphere of religious piety and devotion, yet for many years they . . . had been separated from the liturgical and sacramental life of the Church” (89) due to the scarcity of Syrian Orthodox priests to serve them. After coming to this country, Nicola and his wife Martha went for years without seeing a priest; their children were unbaptized, and they were unable to take Holy Communion. When, finally, a priest passed through, their neighbors formed an impromptu parade and escorted him to the Yanney’s homestead, waking the family up at 1:00 in the morning with shouting and gunfire. Nicola and Martha rushed from their sod house and fell on their knees, crying tears of joy and praising God. Such devotion and love for the Church and the faith is a powerful thread running through the book.

Apostle to the Plains is an inspiring, well-written book that tells a story of hard work, hardship, loss, and sacrifice. At the same time, it presents a life of love and dedication and service. Readers with an interest in the immigrant experience, and the growth of the Orthodox Church in the United States, will learn much from this book, as will readers who seek to understand the centrality of the Church in the life of the Orthodox faithful. Most importantly, this book makes known the life of an extraordinary servant of God to a wider audience. Father Nicola did not gain a typical American brand of success (ease, prosperity, longevity), but we can see that his service to others was a gift to present and future Orthodox Christians.

[Stacy · Rating 2 out of 5]

This should only get 1 star b/c the writing is so boring throughout the whole middle part. Fr. Yanney, on the other hand deserves all the stars. He was a martyr. What the church (purposely with a small c) did to him makes me weep.

Pray to God for us, Fr. Yanney.

[Megan Leathers · Rating 5 out of 5]

If, as some have said, Orthodoxy is “the best kept secret in America” then it follows that the history of Orthodoxy in America would be little known to many as well. Hence the importance of the book "Apostle to the Plains: The Life of Father Nicola Yanney". Put out by The Saint Raphael Clergy Brotherhood and, for those like me who listened to the audiobook, read by a Brother of the Saint Raphael Clergy Brotherhood. More than just a biography of Fr. Nicola Yanney, it details the life of Greek, Russian, and most of all, Syrian Orthodox who settled in this country and laid the foundation for the faith so many of us converted to or were born into.
A quick note on the audiobook itself. The narration was soothing however the reader misses out on the pictures and maps that accompany the written text of the book. Hence why I am not usually an audiobook listener.

Fr. Nicola hailed from then Greater Syria, which at the time encompassed current day Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, and Jordan. He immigrated with his new wife Martha to Ellis Island in New York in 1892. After a long and arduous journey, from a region many have only read of in Scripture, to this new and strange World, they settled in Omaha, Nebraska. Here Fr. Nicola, aside from being a devoted husband, father, and brother, became a peddler, then farmer, and later, unexpectedly, a priest. He was known throughout the country as a circuit-riding priest as his territory – assigned by then Bishop, now Saint Raphael Halloweeny – stretched across the Midwest including towns in places like Michigan, Iowa, Nebraska among other. Traveling several months of the year he baptized close to a thousand children, married dozens of couples, and buried parishioners as needed in his almost 15 year tenure. Personal loss, weather, politics, and legal and monetary hardship could not stop him from providing the sacraments to his vast flock, who would have had no Priest at all without his visits. If you think we have a shortage of priests today – imagine going months or years without the sacraments or even a service, as many immigrants did.

The chronicle of this life and travels can be at times arduous but it serves to bring the reader into the feeling of what life must have been like for Fr. Nicola.
During his priestly career he faced many unending trials:
- The harsh climate, “Traveling twelve hundred miles from the far southeastern corner of his missionary travels, Father Nicola arrived at its northernmost edge, not far from the Canadian border…When he stepped off the train in North Dakota, he found the weather dramatically different from that in southern Missouri. The temperature had dropped thirty degrees.”
- The deaths of loved ones, “After the services, the congregation and the visitors made a procession to the cemetery…There, with prayers and tears, Father Nicola laid yet another member of his family to rest.
- The politics of the time, “Though grateful for the support of the Russian Church for the past twenty years, most of the communities that father Nicola had served desired to be under the Church of Antioch. Several congregations wanted to remain with the Russian however, and still others were being torn in two by the strife, even individual families were bitterly divided”
He never however lost his faith or failed to turn to God in prayer. It is his strength that was a pillar permitting Orthodoxy to grow and spread in America and hence why this work is and will continue to be a vital piece of our American Orthodox heritage.

Author and Orthodox historian Matthew Namee in the Afterword of the book perfectly encapsulates this historical tribute of Fr. Nicola’s life:

“What, then, is the legacy of Fr. Nicola? It is not merely that of a pioneering priest, a founder of parishes, the first ordination by St. Raphael. No, the legacy of Fr. Nicola is much more than that - it is the legacy of martyrdom. By the choices he made in his life, culminating in his self-emptying death, he bore witness to the reality of the Gospel. No man of little faith could have endured such suffering and accepted such tribulation. No man of little faith could have so disregarded his own self-interest to care for the sick and the dying.”

[Brandi Schreiber · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bearing Much Fruit: A Book Review of
Apostle to the Plains: The Life of Father Nicola Yanney
by The Saint Raphael Clergy Brotherhood

Review by Brandi

In 1904, a Syrian immigrant – newly widowed, deeply grieving, and struggling to raise his four young children alone on his rural Nebraska homestead – became “the first man to be ordained [an Orthodox priest] by the first Orthodox bishop consecrated in the Western Hemisphere [Saint Raphael of Brooklyn]” (p. 5). That man - Fr. Nicola Yanney – had already endured a harrowing immigration to the United States from the small village of Fi’eh al-Koura, located in modern Lebanon. Struggling as many of his fellow Christian Syrians did under the rule of the Turks, Fr. Yanney sought a better life in America and endured weeks of wretched, sickly travel to pass through ubiquitous Ellis Island in 1893 with his young bride. Eventually making his way to Nebraska, he obtained a homestead and a small “soddie” (a mud brick house), which served as the setting and source of a hardworking and faithful life with his young and growing family for a decade.

However, tragedy struck, and Fr. Nicola Yanney entered into a spiritual destiny that would result in the pouring out of his own life while he, in turn, poured life into thousands of others on the Great Plains.

What is the cost of faith in such a life? And more importantly, what is its reward?

So explores a new book from Ancient Faith Publishing: Apostle to the Plains: The Life of Father Nicola Yanney. This biography provides an engaging and emotional narrative of the life and ministry one of America’s most important Orthodox missionary priests whose labors helped form what we now know as the Antiochian Archdiocese of North America. Written by the Saint Raphael Clergy Brotherhood, which researched, translated, and pieced together years of Fr. Yanney’s life (including his handwritten sacramental records he kept while traversing thousands of miles across the Midwest until his untimely death in 1918), Apostle to the Plains captures in inspiring and heartbreaking detail the choices, sacrifices, crosses, and ultimate legacy of a man, nearly forgotten, whose faith brought “the sacraments to Syrian immigrants who otherwise would [have] starve[d] spiritually” on the Great Plains (p. 269).

Reading this biography was deeply personal for me, for I attend and serve, as best I can, my own small parish on the plains. Families who either directly immigrated to the United States or are related to immigrant families also helped establish our small parish on the plains: St. Andrew Greek Orthodox Church. Through their faith, hard work, sacrifice, and vision, these early parishioners, set apart from their brethren on the South Plains and hungry for the spirituality of their homeland, helped form the church in which I would one day become Orthodox.

Without these faithful people – and the traveling and permanent priests who were willing to come to minister to them on the South Plains – Orthodoxy would not be alive right now in West Texas. I was humbly reminded as I read Apostle to the Plains that I, as an Orthodox Christian living in the American Southwest, am indebted to Fr. Nicola Yanney. “Father Nicola was responsible for baptizing almost one thousand souls,” writes the Brotherhood. “Through his constant missionary journeys across the plains, he ministered to many thousands more” (p. 266). Only God knows how the souls Fr. Yanney touched spread their faith and how these early channels of Orthodoxy in America lead to my own encounter with the Church.

This biography presents to a world of modern readers a man almost forgotten in time, but one to whom all Orthodox readers should be immensely grateful. To understand the impact of Fr. Yanney’s life and what his legacy means for Orthodox Christians living in America today means tracing not just my own church’s roots, but also the entire history of the Orthodox faith in America, including early priests, like Fr. Yanney, who sacrificed for others to the point of martyrdom. As this beautiful biography points out, Fr. Yanney was “a worthy model of the Christian life,” for he died as he lived: ministering to those around him. “Having loved his own,” Fr. Yanney, likewise, “loved them to the end” (John 13:1).

I highly, highly recommend this powerful book to anyone interested in Church history in America – in particular, those who live across the Great (and Southern) Plains – or who want to know more about the impact one man can make in so short a life. “Through the daily sacrifice of his priesthood, Father Nicola laid down his life for his friends in imitation of his Master. Truly, ‘unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much fruit’ (John 12:24)” (p. 267).

Fr. Nicola Yanney – and the biography the Saint Raphael Clergy Brotherhood has produced in his honor – bears much fruit, indeed.

Apostle to the Plains: The Life of Fr. Nicola Yanney is available in print and eBook at Ancient Faith Publishing and Amazon. Thank you to Ancient Faith Publishing for providing an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

[Janice · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting historical record of this humble man and his family, and the Orthodox Church in early America.

[Halli · Rating 4 out of 5]

Incredible story. Memory eternal.

[Areti · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was recently graced with an advanced copy of Apostle to the Plains: The Life of Father Nicolas Yanney, written by The Saint Raphael Clergy Brotherhood, in order that I might provide a review of this remarkable and inspiring book. I can’t express enough what a blessing it has been to learn about the life of this most dedicated and pious servant of God. Although I’d previously heard of Father Nicola Yanney, I knew little of his life prior to encountering him in this publication. What immediately struck me (to my delight!) was that this book did not read as a mere biographical sketch or a dry retelling of history- to the contrary! From the get-go, the characters were brought to life through a very personal and unique narrative style. We’re initially treated to the inner workings of the minds and emotions of Father Nicola and his wife Martha, and then later to various other key figures involved in their story. I felt that as a reader I was invited to journey alongside the Yanneys as they left their troubled homeland behind and embarked toward the unknown struggles, poverty, and tragedy awaiting them in America. Later, I felt as though I was personally traveling alongside Father Nicola as he tirelessly traversed the entire Great Plains and Midwest region as a circuit-riding priest entrusted with the spiritual care of thousands.

Apostle to the Plains is a story of a life set ablaze by the Holy Spirit- that of Father Nicolas Yanney. Although a simple, humble man of little means, his self-sacrificial dedication to Christ and to his fellow man served to plant the seeds of Orthodox Christianity here in the United States (many of which continue to bloom today, over a century later). Without a doubt, my absolute favorite part of this book is when the Yanneys are awakened in the middle of the night by the loud noisemaking and rejoicing of their friends announcing the arrival of a certain traveling Orthodox priest (who would later come to be known as Saint Raphael of Brooklyn) to minister to the family, who for years had been cut off from the life of the church due to the extreme isolation in which they lived in 19th century rural Nebraska. The sheer joy of this providential and God ordained meeting (as it sets the stage for Nicola’s eventual ordination and ministry) is absolutely palpable to the reader. At that moment, you can actually see and feel how their prayers had been answered after years of suffering, hardship, and isolation- so incredibly moving! Later, after the death of his wife and his subsequent ordination to the priesthood, we travel tirelessly alongside Father Nicola, whose faithfulness to his duties and calling seems almost superhuman at times as he literally lays aside almost all earthly cares for the spiritual care of his widespread flock. I found such inspiration in witnessing Father Nicola’s bearing of his many heavy and involuntary crosses in life and in his essential “martyrdom” to this world. By the end of his earthly ministry, Father Nicola’s deep and genuine faith is truly made manifest. To me, this book is proof that his message and legacy lives on today. There is power in Father Nicola’s story and this publication conveys that dynamic effectively. It’s a testament to both undying faith and personal integrity, as well as an inspiring witness to Christ’s love through the dedicated life of one man who affected the lives of so many. I truly enjoyed this read and found Father Nicola’s strength so inspiring. The fact that it is so well written made it even more enjoyable. It’s a relatively quick read, but I also felt compelled to really take my time and relish the story. The depth of the characters really drew me in! I highly recommend this work to all who seek to know God, to those interested in learning more about the history of American Orthodoxy and, perhaps above all, to the struggling. May blessed Father Nicola pray to God for us all!

[Radcheri · Rating 5 out of 5]

This autumn I was blessed to meet Father Nicola Yanney through a book written about his life.

This book is a treasure resplendent with stories about the pioneering days of the Eastern Orthodox Church on the Great Plains of America. I hope to inspire others to enjoy reading it too.

An advance review copy of this book was kindly made available to me by Ancient Faith Publishing, and I have been reading these precious pages, glued to history as it unfolded from a village in Syria to the Great Plains of Nebraska and the broader Midwest.

I’m an enthusiast of early American history, having enjoyed reading journals of pioneering women on the westward journey. Being an Orthodox Popadija married to my own Father Nikola who serves at Saint Nikola Serbian Orthodox Church made the topic of this book even more intriguing to me.

It goes without saying that we have great reverence for Saint Nikola and learning about those who bear his name is wonderfully interesting. I was grateful to be able to review this book to learn more about Father Nicola and hear more stories derived from entries captured in family Bibles and personal journals, newspaper articles, etc.

What truly captivated me was the honesty of joys and sorrows that Father Nicola, his family and community experienced. Their ability to persevere with great faith in the midst of so many heartbreaks and setbacks is an inspiration and something to pull from to strengthen our everyday lives.

Father Nicola alone is someone to respect, admire and love for all of his vast missionary journeys conducting Holy Orthodox Sacraments of Baptism, Marriage, Confession, Communion, Funerals both at his established home parish Saint George in Kearney, Nebraska as well as throughout the Midwest (Iowa, Wisconsin,Minnesota, Michigan, Colorado and many more states.) He lost his wife and daughter at young ages, and he mourned and prayed with love and faith, while caring for his surviving three sons. After each challenge Father Nicola glorified God by picking up his cross to continue serving others both near and far.

Reading about the circumstances in those days really drives home what it must have been like. Father Nicola would travel by train for greater than ten-hour journeys, be met by a needful congregation only to travel several more hours by horse and carriage often in open air exposed to heavy rain or freezing blizzards. Then arriving at the parish there would be talks late into the night and a service early the next morning. What perseverance!

I highly recommend reading this book, as it is genuinely engrossing and nurturing to ones own faith and journey through this life.

Thank you, Father Nicola, for meeting us through these written words, and please pray for all of us who learn about your life and faith.

Respectfully submitted,

Popadija Cheri Radovancevic
Milwaukee, Wisconsin

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think I've decided that my favorite type of Orthodox book is the kind that gives as much information as possible about the lives of saints. Whenever I read the paragraph-long lives of saints that appear in places like The Prologue from Ochrid, I always have so many questions! There are so many saints about whom we know just bits and pieces, a few small facts about how they lived and often the most about how they died. I am always hungry for more details, all the elements of a saint's story that added up to a life of becoming more and more like Christ.

Imagine my delight, then, when on the same day I received two such books: an audiobook review copy of Apostle to the Plains: The Life of Fr. Nicola Yanney and, in the mail, a book ordered by my husband just a few days before, The Romanov Royal Martyrs: What Silence Could Not Conceal. We are still reading and loving the second; this review is about the first, which I so enjoyed listening to while doing chores over the course of a week.

Fr. Nicola is a person whom I think every Orthodox Christian in America should know about! His story opened my eyes to many aspects of American Orthodox history that I had never heard about. I didn't know what it was like for a young man living in a small village in Lebanon in the late 1800s, or what he would have experienced immigrating to America in a steamship with his new wife, Martha. Learning about the experience of immigrants made me think about how blessed I am to be born in a country with religious freedom and access to opportunities. As a newly-married nineteen-year-old, Fr. Nicola left his home not because he wanted to, but because he couldn't safely raise a family there. He knew he would probably never be able to return to his beloved homeland. The book describes the difficult two-part sea voyage and the tense wait to see if he and Martha would pass inspection at Ellis Island and be deemed healthy enough to enter America. I felt like I was recovering pieces of American history that I really should have known about.

I was intrigued by how much detail The St. Raphael Clergy Brotherhood was able to compile to tell the story of Fr. Nicola's experience in Nebraska, as a peddler and then a farmer, and finally as a missionary priest with a massive territory (nearly all of the middle third of the contiguous U.S.). His story reminds readers of the gift it is to have a priest and an established parish in our own towns. He and his family spent years without any opportunity to see a priest, to go to confession, to receive Holy Communion, or to have their children baptized. The Yanneys were finally visited by the future bishop and saint, Fr. Raphael, on their remote homestead, when he baptized their children and stayed for a few days to offer church services and give the sacraments to the local Syrian Orthodox community. In the following years, they again had no access to a priest, since Fr. Raphael was based in New York and was traveling all over the U.S. to find the scattered Syrian Orthodox people. When Fr. Nicola's wife, Martha Yanney, tragically fell ill and then died in childbirth, she was not able to receive the sacraments or have an Orthodox funeral, because there was no priest. These experiences of having so little connection to the Church were formative for Fr. Nicola.

When his community all agreed that he was the best candidate to become their priest, Fr. Nicola was ordained by the newly consecrated Bishop Raphael of Brooklyn. In accepting ordination, he assumed a life of incredible self-sacrifice. While a single father with four still-young children, at Bishop Raphael's request Fr. Nicola began serving not only his local community in Kearney, Nebraska, but the Syrian Orthodox people throughout numerous Mid-Western states. After years of pouring himself out, he literally gave his life for his flock when he contracted the Spanish flu while confessing and communing ill parishioners, during the pandemic of 1918.

With the publication of Apostle to the Plains last summer and now its availability as an audiobook, we have the huge blessing of access to an in-depth look at Fr. Nicola's life and ministry. It was a treat to listen to the audiobook, because I love being read to while I work around the house. I'm very picky about narration, and I thought the read-aloud style of this recording was well done. The reader's straightforward manner doesn't distract from the text, allowing it to take center-stage. More importantly, the reader demonstrates an obvious respect for Fr. Nicola.

While I am glad to have the audiobook version and am already listening to it for a second time, I am planning to purchase the hard-copy version of the book, as well: I want to be able to reference it easily, and I want to see how names are spelled and have the full experience that comes with reading a book. As you can see, I highly recommend Apostle to the Plains!

[Erin Caldwell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Audiobook review: Apostle to the Plains: The Life of Father Nicola Yanney

So many parts of the life of Fr. Nicola Yanney as described in Apostle to the Plains sound like an Orthodox version of the stories from the books of Laura Ingalls Wilder. From immigrating to the United States in deplorable conditions on steam ships, to working as a peddler, to farming in the plains of Nebraska and living in a sod house, the accounts of his life are a historical snapshot of the life of immigrants and pioneers in the early 1900s. The sheer fortitude displayed by Fr. Nicola, his family, and his Bishop, St. Raphael of Brooklyn, seems impossible and even super-human at times - a quality many of us associate with those early American trailblazers & missionaries that lived in and traversed much of the new landscapes of a growing country. Apostle to the Plains not only serves as a snapshot of early American pioneers, but it also documents the growth and challenges that the fledging Orthodox Church experienced in America.

Apostle to the Plains was a perfect book to read during the current COVID-19 pandemic of 2020. I found myself moved to tears of solidarity by several accounts in the book. Before he was ordained, Nicola and his wife hadn’t been to church after their arrival in the United States because there simply were no Orthodox churches available to them in the areas of Nebraska where they settled. It is a particularly touching moment when the visiting Bishop Raphael (exhausted and ill from his travels all the way from New York) arrived at the Yanney sod house in the middle of the night and is greeted by Nicola and his wife with much joy and enthusiasm. The Yanneys would finally be able to have their children baptized and would receive Holy Communion after 8 years.

The inability to attend church is not the only parallel to the 2020 pandemic, however. So selfless and relentless was the ministry of Fr. Nicola that it led to his death from the Spanish Flu during the pandemic of 1918. Despite the quarantine measures in Nebraska, Fr. Nicola bravely continued to minister to the sick and perform funerals. It ultimately caused his repose at just 44 years old. He never even got to meet his first grandchild who was born shortly after his death.

This audiobook narrator, an anonymous monk from the St. Raphael Clergy Brotherhood, has a wonderfully soothing voice, just the right speed and never hard to understand. The book was maybe a challenge to narrate because there are lengthy passages that list the itinerary of that Fr. Nicola including the stops he made city after city. Although these passages might seem slightly boring and unnecessary, for me as an Orthodox Christian, I found it fascinating that there were so many pockets of Syrian Orthodox in the US during the early 1900s. It is also important to hear all the stops Fr. Nicola made because the territory he visited year after year was so staggeringly large and varied. He travels (by uncomfortable train and horse and wagon, no less) more than any of us modern readers can claim in our lifetimes.

Apostle to the Plains is a fascinating piece of the life of the Orthodox Church in the United States and of the lives immigrants alike. The legacy of Fr. Nicola lives on to this day - the church he established, St. George in Kearney, Nebraska, is still an active parish and it is estimated that he baptized over 1000 Orthodox Christians from Nebraska, to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, to the rural areas of Tennessee. Fr. Nicola’s Life and work is truly an example of the sacrifices early American Orthodox men and women made to spread the beauty and truth of the Orthodox Faith in North America. May his memory be eternal!

[Jason · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a remarkable book. Father Nicola was an immigrant from Syria when thst country was still under the Ottoman Yoke. The normal persecution was compounded by a particularly bad economy.

He married young and emigrated to America, settling on a farm in Nebraska after having first spent time working as a peddler. His wife dies young after giving birth to their fifth child.

The community, in need of a priest, raises him up as a candidate. He is ordained in New York by Bishop (now Saint) Raphael. This was St Raphael's first ordination- and St Raphael was the first bishop consecrated in the America's, so a double first.

While assigned to the parish in Kearney, Nebraska, he was also given a large mission field to care after the Syrian Diaspora. It was all the territory from the Canadian border to the Mexican, between the Mississippi and the Rockies. And he took this seriously spending months traveling from community to community baptizing, hearing confessions, and praying the Divine Luliturgy.

This is also the Era of the Armenian Genocide. While the Armenians are the most famous victims the Turks also went to work murdering off the Pontic Greeks, Assyrian Christians, and the Syrian Christians. Fr. Nicola raised funds and awareness about these crimes and their victims.

He ends up dying during the Spanish Flu (yes, it was from Kansas but that is what history inaccurately calls it) after ministering to his people who were suffering from it. He was only 45.

You also get a taste of the Syrian Christian confusion between the Maronites, Melkites, and Orthodox, as well as the divisions that cropped up in the Orthodox Community following St Raphael's death.

It is written in an easy narrative style and doesn't lean too heavily into hagiography. A good read.

[Shanda Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Apostle to the plains is a detailed account of the life and times of Father Nicola Yanney, an Orthodox immigrant to the United states in the late 1800’s. I have listened to this audiobook four times and each time I am struck with a new depth of understanding in his continuous work towards the cross. His life was chock full of tragedy, hard work, and an unrelenting schedule.

How does one man almost single-handedly keep Orthodoxy alive in such a vast expanse like the Midwest. From Alabama to North Dakota, Colorado to the Mississippi River, he touched so many lives through the sacraments.

But it was his selflessness that strikes my heart. His willingness to be the chosen man to leave his Nebraska farm to become the great missionary to the Orthodox people. He lived a complicated life of schedules between our naturally complicated church calendar and the logistics of serving so many over an expanse I can barely wrap my head around. He managed to grow many churches among the Orthodox that still stand today in his fourteen years of missionary work.

Every year we take a trip to the western states I have been struck at the number of small Orthodox parishes dotted around the countryside. Now I know this was part of the great work of Father Nicola Yanney and our Father in Heaven providing for His people.

[Valerie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing and inspirational non-fiction about Father Nicola Yanney, an Orthodox missionary priest who immigrated to Nebraska from Lebanon at the end of the 19th century and served Syrian congregations from the Canadian border to the gulf shores of Alabama to the southeast of Colorado. Father Nicola, widowed and father of four after a decade as a peddler and farmer in Kearney, Nebraska humbly answered the call to be not only a priest to his local community of Syrian Orthodox Christians, but also to serve the many Syrian immigrants across the country. His life is one of service, selflessness, and martyrdom to others. His life is one of following Christ and loving others.

[Emiley · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75 out of 5. Parts of this were a little heavy on details of the dates, etc. of Fr. Yanney's missionary travels, but overall it was worth reading and I'm glad I learned of this priest and his hard work and life.

[Gabriel Hamel · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a parishioner of the Diocese of Wichita, it was so amazing to read about the early history and growth of the Antiochian church in America from one priest and dozens of scattered families into a large and thriving archdiocese. Wonderfully written and researched!

[Jillian · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was moving, inspiring, thought-provoking, and TIMELY.

I have so many things to say about it, but I try to write reviews without spoilers. It made me cry, which is rare.

[Jessie Crosby · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. The story was engaging and heart-wrenching at times. I couldn't put it down. I read the whole book in one day.

[Paul Henderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very interesting account of one of the first Antiochian priests in the US. Also an interesting account of life in the west in the early 1900’s

[Jason · Rating 3 out of 5]

The details of his travel could have been condensed or written differently, there is a lot if things like "he went to Iron Mountain, then took a train to Kearney, then to Fargo for a wedding" that gets repetitive