Background
Born to a prominent Cossack family (he was a descendant of Ivan Bohun) in Kryva, Tarascha county, in Kyiv Oblast, Honcharenko was the first Ukrainian political émigré to arrive in the United States.
Born to a prominent Cossack family (he was a descendant of Ivan Bohun) in Kryva, Tarascha county, in Kyiv Oblast, Honcharenko was the first Ukrainian political émigré to arrive in the United States.
He graduated from the Kyiv Theological Seminary and entered the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra.
He was sent to Athens in 1857 to serve as deacon at the embassy"s church, where he began to contribute anonymous articles to Alexander Herzen"s London-based Kolokol that clamored for the emancipation of Russian serfs and denounced his own church for supporting such an unequal system. These articles caused much unrest in Russia, and after months of trying to determine the identity of the mystery writer, Russian authorities discovered and arrested him in 1860. He was able to escape from the Russian prison in Constantinople by disguising himself as a Turk and walking out the front door.
After his escape, he traveled to London to rejoin the Kolokol staff until the newspaper discontinued publication upon the freeing of the serfs, then returned to Athens again.
Afterwards, he traveled extensively to Syria, Jerusalem, Egypt and Turkey. While in Alexandria, he served as confessor to Leo Tolstoy.
Returning to London, he met Italian patriot Giuseppe Mazzini, who advised him to immigrate to the United States, which he did in 1865. In New York City, he established the first Orthodox liturgy in the United States. outside of Alaska.
Before immigrating, he had changed his name to protect his family from persecution for his anti-Russian writings.
A plain-spoken man, Honcharenko was known to openly denounce his own church for corruption, immorality, and other failings, so much so that he was declared a schismatic. While living in San Francisco, he published The Alaska Herald, aimed at Russian residents of Alaska, from 1868 to 1872, which included both Russian and Ukrainian language supplements. The Russian supplement titled Svoboda (Свобода: Freedom) was the first Russian language newspaper in the United States.
After founding a farm, "Ukraina Ranch", located in Hayward, California, in 1873, he continued to publish political literature, which was smuggled into Czarist Russia.
These actions made him a thorn in the side of pro-Tsarist Russians, who called his writings "the drivelling of a half crazy old manitoba".