Ivan Popov-Veniaminov (monastic name Innocent) was born on August 26, 1797 at Anginskoye in the Irkutsk Governorate of Siberian Russia. Ordained Russian Orthodox priest in 1821, Ivan volunteered for the missionary work in the Russian America (modern Alaska).
In 1824, Ivan arrived at Unalaska in the Aleutian Islands. For 15 years (1824–1839), Ivan undertook the systematic evangelization of the Aleut, Tlingit, and other native Alaskan peoples — learning multiple native languages, composing the first Aleut alphabet and the first Aleut translation of Scripture and liturgical texts.
In 1840, Ivan (now widowed and tonsured as monk-bishop under the name Innocent) was consecrated Bishop of Kamchatka, the Kurile and Aleutian Islands — the vast Russian Orthodox missionary diocese covering eastern Siberia and Russian America.
In 1868, Innocent was elected Metropolitan of Moscow — the highest office of the Russian Orthodox Church.
He died at Moscow on March 31, 1879. Canonized 1977 by the Russian Orthodox Church. St. Innocent is venerated jointly by the Russian Orthodox Church, the Orthodox Church in America (autocephalous since 1970), and the Eastern Catholic Russian Greek Catholic tradition.