Alaska is the largest state in the United States. It is also one of the least populated. The state is home to 741,000 people. Among them are Native Alaskans, immigrants, adventure-seekers and oil industry workers from other parts of the country. The state is also home to a community known as the Russian Old Believers. They came to Alaska from Russia nearly 50 years ago. They built a village on Alaska’s Kenai Peninsula. The village is called Nikolaevsk. The Old Believers split from the Russian Orthodox Church in the 17th century. They separated to protest changes in the church imposed by the patriarch. The patriarch is the highest-ranking Bishop in the Russian Orthodox religion. Later, political changes in Russia forced many of them to flee the country.