In 1903 a large group of settlers from Ispas, Bukovyna, took out homesteads in the hilly countryside northwest of the present-day town of Two Hills. A cemetery was established at the site of the future Ispas church in 1906. Two years later area residents formally registered their new parish in the name of the “Orthodox Greek Catholic Congregation of Holy Ascension”. The church property was blessed by Father Jacob Korchinsky of the Russian Orthodox Church. In the meantime, services were held in the homes of parishioners. The construction of a small log church, covered with siding, was completed in 1912, and the sanctuary was then consecrated in the name of the Holy Ascension. Furnishings for the church were donated by members or purchased with donations.
For several decades the church was served by priests with the Russo Orthodox Mission. However, as early as September 11, 1924 Archbishop Ioan Theodorovich celebrated a Divine Liturgy in the Ispas district during a visitation to rural east central Alberta. Subsequently, a number of Ukrainian Orthodox priests also provided occasional pastoral care to the Ispas faithful, among them Rev. T. Horbay in the years 1933-1938. It likewise appears that some of the more national conscious Ispas church members played a role in re-establishing the Holy Ghost parish in nearby Brinsley after their original sanctuary was destroyed by fire in 1920, then rebuilt four years later. The ambiguous confessional orientation of the Ispas congregation was undoubtedly further complicated by the fact that some members identified themselves as Romanians. Regardless, the congregation began to be increasingly served by Ukrainian Orthodox clergy after Fr. A. Chrustawka joined the UGOC in the early 1940s, a practice that continued through the 1950s. In 1960 the congregation finally terminated its relationship with the Russian Orthodox Church, formally joining the Ukrainian Greek Orthodox Church of Canada in 1962.
As the congregation grew, it became necessary to build an addition onto the original sanctuary so as to accommodate all of the worshippers. Later, a porch was also added to create what gradually evolved into a tripartite structure. The modest sanctuary has a choir loft and an icon wall adorned with holy pictures, and it is topped with the three small domes on octagonal bases: one central one and two even smaller domes over the narthex and sanctuary. There are eight icons in the church by Peter Lipinski, done in 1930, though not all of them are signed. Seven are on the iconostasis, and one is in the sanctuary behind the altar.
Over the course of its history, the fortunes of the Holy Ascension congregation fluctuated, enjoying periods when it flourished, and years when it gradually became more difficult to maintain an active membership. In a 1965 note to the Consistory it was indicated that membership had been reduced to just five active members. Nevertheless, in 1967 the congregation purchased the former Ispas school and its three-acre property at NW 34-5613 W4 for use as a parish hall. The sum paid to the County of Two Hills was $250. The sanctuary was renovated sometime after 1972. In the late 1980s, the congregation claimed to have more than twenty members, despite the fact that most of the early residents of the Ispas area had moved from the district. In 2014 the church had 10 members. The current president, Morris Ewanchuk, has records for the cemetery dating back to 1917.
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GPS Co-ordinates: 53.889293, -111.837428
Affiliation: Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada
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