The inhabitants of the district also came to see Trifon and the chapel, and he began to interest himself in the heathen Lapps, and to instruct them in the Christian religion. But for a long time they would not listen to his preaching. Their wise men and sorcerers very violently opposed him. ‘They pulled him by the hair, threw him on the ground, and threatened to kill him if he did not leave their country. They often contemplated putting their threats into execution, but the Lord protected him.’ When Trifon went to them, and visited them in their huts, they would scarcely give him a night’s shelter. They mixed dirt and filth in the wretched food he obtained, and tormented him in all sorts of ways. But, as a true Christian, he did not grow weary of being ‘long-suffering and of great kindness. He bore all things, believed all things, hoped all things, and endured all things,’ and in the end they came to esteem, honour, and love him, and listened to his preaching. He could not, however, baptize them into the Christian faith, as he was not yet ordained to the priesthood. The Russian fishermen also, who sojourned during the summer in that district, attended the chapel and took part in the services. They made voluntary oblations and gifts, and by this means still more money reached Trifon’s hands. He now realized that something more had to be done, and that he must have assistants for his work. It became necessary for him to enter into communication with the outside world, from which he had been for so many years voluntarily separated. Accordingly, about the year 1530, he undertook a journey to Novgorod, where he obtained from Archbishop Macarius a letter of commendation, or indulgence, for the erection of the church at the Petschenga River. He immediately returned, but this time he was not to be alone. He took with him builders, and with their assistance he erected a handsome wooden church beside the Petschenga River, but much nearer to the fjord, only about a quarter of a mile from the place where the river empties itself into the fjord.