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krainians from the Smoky Lake area, originally from Bukovyna and the border regions of Belorus, first began farming in the Wandering River area in 1929. Within a year Fr. Tymofii Horbay, who was based in Smoky Lake, began providing pastoral care to this new settlement. By 24 November 1930 a meeting was held at the home of John and Annie Skoreyko with the goal of establishing a Ukrainian Orthodox church and cemetery. At this inaugural gathering, attended by representatives of six families, Harry Rosychuk was chosen to be the President, and George Strembitsky and Todor Dwernychuk were elected as the trustees. Moving quickly with Fr. Horbay’s assistance, this initiative group applied to the government for a two-acre parcel of land at NW 30-71-16 W4 even before the year was out.
How and when this application was finally processed is unclear, since several years later some confusion arose as to the technical ownership of the land when jurisdiction to it was claimed by a priest with the pro-Soviet Russian Patriarchal Orthodox Church. Be that as it may, a Ukrainian Orthodox congregation was more formally organized at Wandering River following Fr. Horbay’s last church service in the community on 23 April 1933—after which he relocated to Suchava. It seems that it was also decided at this time to adopt St. Elias as the patron of the new congregation.
Subsequently, the Wandering River faithful only received sporadic services, one of these being the 17 March 1934 wedding of William Strembitsky and Alice Ruptash. This took place at the local school. Fr. Ivan Mayba also officiated at a wedding in the community around this time, having taken over pastoral duties at Smoky Lake. In November 1934 circumstances prompted one parishioner to write Fr. Hieronim Hrycyna, pleading for him to come from Edmonton to serve at Wandering River. Fr. Kisiliuk (who was serving outlying centres from the provincial capital) seemed uninterested in doing so.
The correspondent, George Rosychuk, provided a detailed account of how local Catholics were aggressively trying to recruit members among the Ukrainians. An Anglican priest was likewise doing his best to get Orthodox believers to support the church that he was then trying to get built. Indeed, the latter was telling people that the Anglican and Orthodox Churches had an agreement whereby it was permissible for Orthodox believers to be served by Anglican clergymen if their own priests were unavailable. Furthermore, he was said to be distributing children’s clothing among Ukrainians in exchange for their labour on the Anglican church. Expressing concern that the congregation was in danger of being picked apart or that some supporters might lapse into atheism, Rosychuk urged either Fr. Hrycyna or Fr. Kisiliuk to come that December to Wandering River for a Divine Liturgy.
In response to this request, Fr. Hrycyna subsequently made the effort to celebrate a service for the congregation. H consecrated the cemetery site at the same time. During these difficult years, the congregation often gathered to worship at the home of George Strembitsky, since a National Hall was never built in the community. In 1938, Fr. George Tsukornyk also made a pastoral visit to the isolated settlement. By this time work had already begun on the construction of a small, log, house-style church that was then blessed by Fr. Tsukornyk in 1939.
Meanwhile, complications had developed in September 1938 after some members of the congregation informed the Department of Lands and Mines that they should write to Rev. M. N. Cependa of Smoky Lake to obtain the required statutory declaration that the recently completed log structure on the cemetery property “was being used for public worship.” What had happened was that that several of Fr. Cependa’s sympathizers had recently joined the St. Elias congregation because they wanted to have access to the cemetery and gain control over the church. They subsequently succeeded in taking over the executive and were attempting in this manner to get the Patriarchal Orthodox Church recognized by provincial authorities as having jurisdiction over the Wandering River sanctuary. A flurry of correspondence followed, where among other things it was revealed that the provincial government had no record for a “Ukrainian Greek Orthodox Congregation at Plamondon,” a French community 28 miles from Wandering River. This mix-up could be attributable to the fact that the original application for a land title may have been registered at the Plamondon Post Office.
Very few details are known about the life of the congregation from the 1940s to the mid-1950s, beyond the fact that the community was extremely poor and the congregation had to constantly struggle to survive. According to a report submitted to the Consistory in June 1953, until the posting of Fr. Zubrytsky to the Lac La Biche Parish District the previous year, there had only been annual services at Wandering River. However, by 1954 the number of liturgies at St. Elias church had increased to six, thanks to the presence of resident priest in nearby Lac La Biche.
Somewhat ironically given the congregation’s beginnings, in 1965 the Consistory approved a request from the St. Elias congregation that the Anglican Church be allowed to use their cemetery for burials. Of course, with the passing of time, many things were changing, and the Ukrainian community in Wandering River was simultaneously aging and shrinking.
In 1972, just two services were held at St. Elias, and in 1973 the year-end bank balance was a mere $102.40. Later in the decade services ceased altogether for a time. Fr. Kubin was able to somewhat revive the congregation with the help of a couple of younger members who assumed executive positions in 1978 following the death of the long-time president in an accident.
However, as more and more people moved away or died, membership in the congregation gradually declined to the point where it was not possible to properly maintain the sanctuary. The church, while still standing, is no longer used, and its front entryway has been permanently sealed with boards.
Nevertheless, a visit to the site in June 2022 revealed that the church roof had been recently re-shingled and the grass freshly mown. At the same time, when the annual Provody service is held, many families come from near and far to pray for the souls and honour the memory of their ancestors.
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GPS Co-ordinates: 55.177714, -112.467743
Cemetery Co-ordinates: 55.177988, -112.467547
Affiliation: Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada
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