Photographs | Churches
In
the late 1920s and early 1930s there was a major influx of Ukrainian immigrants from Volhynia and Galicia into the Richmond Park area north of the Athabasca River. Within a couple of years of occupying their homesteads, the settlers were confronted with the growing necessity of addressing their spiritual and cultural needs. Infants needed to be baptized and young people educated in the Ukrainian traditions and values of their ancestors. Among these pioneers was a dynamic and nationally conscious individual named Fedor (Fred) Chrusch. In 1930 he was responsible for spearheading the founding of a local enlightenment society, or Prosvita, with a choir and amateur drama group.
In all, there were about 20 Orthodox families in the region, 8 of which were sympathetic to the Ukrainian Greek Orthodox Church, the others having a Russian Orthodox orientation. There were also Ukrainian Catholics in the community. On behalf of the Ukrainian Orthodox families in the district, in 1931 Mr. Chrusch wrote to the Consistory of the UGOC asking them to send a priest to the hard-to-reach settlement. His request was re-directed to Fr. Peter Sametz in Edmonton, after which Fr. Ivan Dmytriw was dispatched to the community. He was then tending to congregations in several outlying districts surrounding the provincial capital.
On 12 July 1931 Fr. Dmytriw celebrated Richmond Park’s first Divine Liturgy in commemoration of the Feast Day of Sts. Peter and Paul. He used this opportunity to christen several children and making a very positive impression on everyone. Although Fr. Dmytriw subsequently returned to officiate at two other services, the following summer he was transferred to Saskatchewan, creating a vacuum that was then filled by clergy with other churches.
In 1933 a situation occurred whereby a Russian Orthodox priest named Fr. Andrew Kokolsky filed for a homestead at SW 35-68-21 in the nearby Laura Park district. He came to work on several times a year with the intention of earning legal title to this property. During these visits, Fr. Kokolsky used the opportunity to hold services for the Orthodox faithful in region. Afterwards he walked to Athabasca and then travelled back to Edmonton to fulfill his pastoral duties with Russian Mission. Because he was too busy working as a priest, in March 1936 Fr. Kokolsky cancelled his application for the homestead. Nevertheless, he continued to come to the north Athabasca settlement on the invitation of local Russian Orthodox adherents to the end of the 1940s. He used the Richmond Park school for services until 1937. After that the services generally took place in the non-denominational Narodnyi Dim that had been built in the community thanks in no small part to the efforts of Fedor Chrusch.
Because of the widespread poverty caused by the Depression, the relatively small number of Ukrainian Orthodox supporters, and the shortage of Ukrainian Orthodox priests during this period, Mr. Chrusch suspended contact with the UGOC for almost two decades. It would have been extremely difficult to establish or maintain a church at Richmond Park. Indeed, although Fr. Kokolsky had established and blessed a common cemetery that was divided into Orthodox and Catholic sections, he was never able to mobilize his followers to build a separate place of worship.
Finally, in 1950 on the initiative of Mr. Chrusch the Ukrainian Orthodox residents invited Fr. Wasyl Melnychuk to begin serving Richmond Park from Boyle. The following year, Fr. Wasyl Senishen, who was then the rector of St. John’s Institute, was asked to come to the community. He did on several occasions in 1951, and 6 times in 1952. Of course, whereas the liturgy had always been sung by Fr. Kokolsky in Church Slavonic, the faithful could now hear it in the Ukrainian language. This meant nothing to those who clung to traditional Russian Orthodox convictions. After a Divine Liturgy that he celebrated on 8 February 1953, Fr. Senishen convened a meeting of everyone who was interested in officially forming a congregation of the Ukrainian Greek Orthodox Church of Canada. At this gathering an executive was elected under the leadership of Paul Krawec, with Fedor Chrusch becoming the secretary-treasurer. It was also decided to charge a membership fee of $2.00 and to pay Fr. Senishen a $20 honorarium for each service.
In 1953 8 liturgies were celebrated by Fr. Senishen at Richmond Park. This number dropped to 5 in 1954, then increased to six in 1955 when Fr. Zubrytsky from Lac La Biche and Fr. Blazuk from Westlock, took over responsibility for the still unnamed congregation. Then, at a general meeting held on 11 November 1956 a discussion took place about the desirability of building even a modest place of worship. Although the Narodni Dim was functional, it was not really an appropriate setting for Divine Liturgies, weddings and funerals. A decision was made to investigate whether or not a timber permit could be obtained from the government for $1, or what it would cost to buy 1,000 feet of board lumber.
Just fourteen days later, a special meeting was held to discuss the mechanics of obtaining a land donation from the Prosvita Association to the Church congregation. Also discussed was what would be involved in purchasing an additional acre from the Bodnar property on the east side of the National Hall’s parcel of land – which was being proposed as the site for the church. The congregation was still comprised of only 8 families and had just $93 in their bank account at this time. They had celebrated fourteen services over the course of 1956 and were obviously feeling confident about the future.
Next, at a meeting on 20 February 1957, it was resolved to proceed with the construction of a church using timber obtained with a government permit. A month later, members helped to harvest the wood, sawed the logs at two local mills, and then hauled the wood to the building site. The dry timber was taken from a forest ravaged by fire in the vicinity of McCullogh Lake. Then, on 15 April the Prosvita Association transferred one acre of land from the northern half of the hall property to the Ukrainian Greek Orthodox congregation. Another acre was bought at the same time from Mike Bodnar for $10. On 20 May the membership assembled yet again and decided to begin erecting the church as soon everyone had finished with their seeding. It was also agreed to adopt the Holy Trinity as the patron of the new sanctuary, though it seems that the Elevation of the Holy Cross might have earlier been given serious consideration.
Construction began at the beginning of June and proceeded throughout the summer, financed with donations and done with the voluntary labour of members. Work progressed on a gradual basis determined by the availability of help and money, continuing through the summer of 1958 when weather conditions and circumstances permitted.
The first six services in 1962 still took place in the Narodnyi Dim, but on 12 August a Divine Liturgy was at last celebrated in Holy Trinity church by Rev. Dr. Sass, appropriately followed by a wedding ceremony. On 2 June 1963 the congregation commemorated their first khram in the new sanctuary. The church was officially consecrated at a Hierarchical Divine Liturgy. This joyous event was officiated by Bishop Andrew on 17 June with the participation of Fr. A. Chomiak from Edmonton, the parish priest, Rev. E. Stefaniuk, as well as with three sub-deacons from St. Andrew’s College in Winnipeg.
Meanwhile, in November 1966 Holy Trinity had been transferred from the Westlock Parish District to the territory of Lac La Biche, having been preceded a short while earlier by Sts. Peter and Paul Church in Athabasca. Although not everyone initially welcomed this move, the congregation quickly adapted to the change.
As the years went by, Holy Trinity experienced many of the same joys and sorrows as other congregations, and had to cope with an aging and declining membership while concomitantly facing the challenges of keeping up their lovingly built sanctuary. The number of services generally ranged between 7-8 annually right until 1987. But as some older members moved into town and young people were became scarce, it was getting difficult to meet the demands made on the congregation. Consequently, in 1988 it was essentially decided to wind down the operations of Holy Trinity and place it under the care of Sts. Peter and Paul church in Athabasca, where many members now belonged after moving from their farms.
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GPS Co-ordinates: 54.907273, -113.207698
Affiliation: Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada
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