ARussian Orthodox mission, with a small chapel, was initially established on land immediately south of the present-day Edwand Church around 1903, at the same time that a Russian Orthodox mission was started in Smoky Lake. Congregational life was initiated that same year after the death of a local homesteader made a cemetery an urgent necessity. A site for the graveyard was chosen uphill from the first mission (which enjoyed a commanding view of the White Earth valley). Designated trustees were then dispatched to the Pine Creek Land Titles office to file a claim for a forty-acre subdivision of a quarter section, paid for with donations collected from area settlers.
Construction of a log church began the following year, when stones for a foundation, logs and other materials were assembled on the property by local supporters of the church. Volunteers then slowly worked to erect a log structure under the direction of a head carpenter, Todor Billey (Billy) – a native of Borivtsi, Bukovyna, who originally homesteaded in the Pakan district but subsequently moved to the vicinity of Edwand. In 1906 an itinerant monk is said to have held a service in the partially completed sanctuary.
The formal consecration of the church took place on 14 October 1907, the feast day of St. Mary the Protectress. In the early years, priests from the Russian Orthodox mission provided pastoral care to the Bukovynian settlers of the district. During the 1920s and 1930s liturgies were celebrated two or three times a month, drawing large numbers of worshippers to Edwand who came on foot over rough trails or braved the elements and roads in wagons and buggies. Regrettably, the records of these formative years of St. Mary’s congregation were lost in the 1928 fire that destroyed Holy Trinity Russo-Orthodox Church in Smoky Lake.
It appears that between 1936 and 1943 Father Hryhori Wasyliw of the UGOC periodically served at Edwand during his tenure in Smoky Lake. It is possible that he was occasionally called upon when Russian Orthodox priests were unavailable, or at the request of local sympathizers of the UGOC. In 1958 work began on a parish hall, erected in part with donated material and volunteer labour.
However, following the death of the Fr. Cependa at the age of forty-two, the Edwand faithful were left without regular spiritual care and began increasingly to invite priests with the Ukrainian Orthodox Church to minister to their religious needs. This arrangement apparently prevailed for many years, until parishioners decided to officially join the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada – thanks largely to the efforts for Fr. P. Satsevich – at an annual general meeting held on 11 December 1960. Although the UGOC Consistory naturally welcomed this decision and was willing to quickly issue Fr. Satsevich with a document of acceptance, it was suggested that he wait awhile to ensure that the move was not actively opposed by anyone still loyal to the Russian Orthodox Church.
Obviously, the decision to become part of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church had not been a unanimous one. Whereas Edwand had thirty-five members when it resolved to come under the jurisdiction of the Consistory in Winnipeg, a figure that grew to fifty-two the following year (probably thanks to an influx of UGOC supporters from neighbouring communities), by 1965, the congregation reported having just fifteen members according to correspondence relating to its budgetary assessment. Eventually, members who wanted to remain with the Russo-Orthodox church joined Sts. Peter and Paul congregation at Dickiebush, southeast of Bellis.
There is distinctive bell tower with a square ground floor and octagonal second story (the transition being achieved through the use of four tetrahedrons called "sails") immediately west of the church. Topped by a conical roof, the tower was originally graced by sets of porthole-like openings on each of its sides, but these were replaced in 2005 by louvred openings that can be lowered to permit the sound of the bells to be heard more easily. A parish hall is also located between the church and the cemetery.
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The Cemetery
The cemetery is adjacent to the church, having been established in 1903 upon the death of a twenty-two-year-old settler, Wasyl Maskalyk. The builder of the church, Todor Billey (1870-1960), who emigrated to Canada with his wife and two children in 1899, is buried in the cemetery, which is thought to contain close to 700 graves. Unfortunately, some of the burials were never marked, and the wooden crosses on many other early graves have been lost due to fires. The church property and cemetery were enclosed with a fence in 2005.
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GPS Co-ordinates: 54.127093, -112.300339
Affiliation: Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada
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