Save as PDFV. Alexandrov. Journey to Canada: A Priest’s Diary
Arrival to Canada
Photo of the first Orthodox Liturgy in Canada
Following the instructions of your Grace, I set out from Seattle in the morning of May 24 (in the old style) on a mission to the Northwest Territories of Canada. Due to the poor conditions of the railways in that part of the country, I arrived to Edmonton, Alberta, some 1,000 miles north of Seattle, only in the evening of the 25th. From Edmonton (since this is the last train station in North America) I had to travel north on horseback in search of the new children of the Orthodoxy…
In Edmonton, I found a great number of Orthodox Bukovinians, who welcomed me with joy, knowing me from the previous years. Many of them had come from the northern settlements, 100 miles or more from Edmonton, arranging the transport and expecting the arrival of their brothers Bukovinians and Galicians, who were about to come for the permanent residence in Canada from their “old country” and who (as I was informed) were experiencing all kinds of misfortunes on their way here.
The following day, on the 26 of May, I visited the local authorities and the government’s state agent, Mr. R Routen, who asked me to inform your Grace about the importance of the earliest possible recognition of the Orthodox Church as a corporation in the Canadian State Legislature. “If this is not to be done in the immediate future, your Orthodox Church will be running the risk of losing all of those very substantial lands, which has been allotted to it and registered as a gift to the Orthodox Church in Canada. The documents, granting possession of the lands to the Church, cannot be submitted to the Estate Department until the said Church has become a corporation. For the two last years the Orthodox Church has been functioning in the territory, assigned to me, but I have not heard of any Parliament Act, recognizing the Orthodox Church in Canada as an institution. It is also of immediate importance to the Orthodox priest who would be permanently residing in the Province of Alberta.”
In view of this statement of Mr. R Routen, I set out to see the State Attorney, Mr. McDonald, asking him to refer this matter at once to the Parliament in Ottawa. I informed him that You, Your Grace, had already written there about this matter, but had received no reply so far. Mr. McDonald immediately wrote to the Parliament and should soon inform Your Grace concerning the present state of affairs.
The Church at Vostok
Holy Trinity Orthodox Church, Wostok – the first Orthodox Church in Canada
I left Edmonton on the same day and in the afternoon of May 27th, on The Trinity Saturday, arrived to the ‘Vostok’ colony, where our main mission was at the house of Theodore Nemirsky. The ride for over sixty wild roadless miles was extremely tiring. However, half a mile before reaching Nemirskiy’s farm – as we were driving closer to the church under construction, – I began to rejoice. The construction of the building had progressed considerably in comparison with the previous year. The basic shape of the church was already visible. The altar and the large round central dome were installed; the building was standing upon a hill and seen from the distance of ten miles. In my thoughts, I turned to the Lord, praying to help these poor people to complete their church that promises to be so good and beautiful.
Having been informed beforehand of my arrival, hundreds of people, especially women and children from the most distant farms, had already come together for the Vigil of the Feast. I immediately baptized 13 infants. Later, at eight o’clock, I served the Vigil and then addressed people with preaching. I was hearing confessions until midnight, but it included not even half of those who wanted to confess, since more and more people had been arriving. From the sheer exhaustion of that day, I could not sleep that night…
Over 2000 participants
The 28th of May. The Trinity Sunday. At 5:30 a.m. I started to take confessions and continued until 11:00 o’clock. After Blessing the water and sprinkling the prepared place with it, I began to serve the Divine Liturgy. It took place next to the new church, in an open place, where a new table, covered with rugs and linen, had been set up next to a large cross. There were many people who were able to sing and they were singing prayers in the same manner, as it is sung in their old country. After reading the Gospel, I spoke to the people about the origin of the Feast (Acts 2). There were more than 400 people, who had received Holy Communion on that day. After the Liturgy I served the Vespers Service. The service, in which took part approximately 2,000 people, ended at four o’clock in the afternoon. After a short rest, I baptized 25 children. From eight in the evening until midnight I have heard more than 150 confessions…
The 29th of May. The Day of the Holy Spirit.
I started to hear confessions at five in the morning and continued until ten o’clock. There were up to 500 people who had received Holy Communion on that Day. After the service, I again baptized children and conducted Sacraments of the Wedding. Upon serving Vespers and Matins, I was talking to the delegation from the North-Western Bukovinian settlement, whom I promised to visit on the first day of June.
30 May. In the morning I blessed water, then heard confessions and celebrated the Liturgy in the house of Nemirsky (because of the poor weather conditions). There were approximately 100 people, who have received Holy Communion. I baptized children, served several funerals, and sealed the graves of those who had died in the course of the year (26 people in the Vostok colony); later during the day I served Vespers and Matins and heard confessions.
31 May. I heard confessions and celebrated the Liturgy. There were up to 80 communicants. I performed one wedding, baptized children, buried and sealed three more graves. In the evening a group, which was to take me to the Northern Bukovinian settlement, 20 miles from Vostok, arrived. I took K. Nemirsky with me as a cantor. The journey was terrible! We reached the house of Ivan Tishpan only at eleven at night, but it barely started to get dark at this time – a usual phenomenon for this season in the Northern Territories: it darkens late at night and dawns already at two in the morning.
Over 3000 participants
On the first day of June it was a beautiful weather, and at four in the morning I started the Matins Service. Then I blessed water and sprinkled the land, prepared for a cemetery and a chapel. From 5:30a.m.until 11:30a.m. I heard confessions and then I started to serve the Liturgy. There were about 3,000 people and more than 200 communicants. After the Liturgy, I baptized 13 children. At five in the morning, I was fetched to go to the “Ignick” cemetery, twenty miles further to the east. Wasting no time and saying farewell to the local Orthodox Christians, we set out, arriving at our destination point at ten o’clock in the evening, to the hospitable and well-to-do Bukovinian, Stephan Shandro.
On June the 2, at 4 o’clock in the morning, I served Matins, after which the confessions started and lasted till 11 o’clock. Following then was blessing of the water and sprinkling with Holy Water the new cemetery and the spot, designated for the Church. Then took place the Divine Liturgy with almost 600 people attending, out of which 380 people, including children, took Holy Communion. The Service ended at 3 p.m., after which the funeral prayers were said over a few dead, whose caskets were then closed and buried. After a short meal, I baptized 19 infants.
The Bukovinian Community
St. Mary’s Dormition Orthodox Church, Shiskovtzi, 1904-1905. In 1965, this original Pioneer Church was donated to the Shandro Museum
On June the 3rd in the morning I took confession and offered Holy Communion to four sick people. At 6 a.m. I was surrounded by well-wishers bidding me happy journey. Many of them had stayed there from the previous day, wanting to see my departure. I left on horses, sent for me by the Bukovinian Colony, some 15 – 20 miles to the west, near ‘Shkrada,’ where I arrived at 3 p.m. The place for the cemetery, near which a church had been planned, was already blessed here last year. By the time of my arrival lumber was all prepared for its construction, according to the plan, sent from the North American Ecclesiastical Headquarters. A tent was put up, since there was nothing around in any way suitable for a Service. Having blessed the water and sprinkled the spot with it, I started taking confessions. There were more than 200 people and the new were still arriving, bringing with them baskets of food and planning to spend the night here, as the homes of some of them were 10 miles and more away. At 7:30 in the evening I started to serve the Vigil and then took confessions again. We spent the night under the open skies, like to a shepherd with his sheep… Yet, I could not sleep because of the bloodthirsty mosquitoes, crying children and all kinds of noises.
Six hours of Confession
On June the 4th at 4 o’clock in the morning, I began again taking confessions and continued till 10 o’clock. There were more than 600 people. We blessed the place, which was prepared for the church. About 400 people received Holy Communion. I also baptized 12 children and sealed 32 graves of those who died during the year. Then I held a Vespers service and served the Akathist to St. Nicholas.
Then we held an assembly for raising money for the construction of the church. After long debates and discussions of different offers – which are quite popular among people here – they accepted the solution that I suggested: that each landowner, after he finishes his work, gives to the church about $10. I also advised them to prepare about 10 acres of land for the church itself, so as to use the profits from this land for the building of the church. At 8:00 in the evening I bid farewell to the people of this village and went to the colony of Victoria, some 12 miles to the west.
I arrived at 10 o’clock in the morning, to the house of a Galician, Simon Marianitch. On June the 5th at 4 a.m., we went to the place, prepared for the cemetery and the chapel. There was a tent ready with a three-barred cross, decorated with beautiful field flowers, and a table. The place, prepared for the worship, was surrounded by beautiful trees and covered with grass and flowers. About 200 people were waiting for me there. Having blessed, after the Matins, the new cemetery and the spot, prepared for the chapel, I started to take confessions. About 300 people, with children, received the Holy Communion. I baptized 4 infants. Only late at night I returned to the Vostok colony.
A Thunderstorm
Spring Valley Church. Sturgis
Men from the colony of Beaver Creek had already been waiting for me there. That colony is 20 miles to the south from Vostok. We hadn’t had any rest during that night, for there was a tremendous thunderstorm, – such as I had not experienced in all my life. Thunder and lightning lasted for more than two hours, provoking panics not only among the people, but also among the animals, which, having surrounded the house, were crying and shouting – each one in its own way… At dawn the housemaster informed me that wolves and bears also came at night and during the thunderstorm killed several animals. We had compassion for the man but couldn’t help. I was told that such thunderstorms were quite frequent in summer…
Very early in the morning I left the colony of Vostok and went to the colony of Beaver Creek, where I arrived at 11 a.m. I was met with great joy by nearly all members of this Orthodox community. In the afternoon I buried the servant of God, Jacob Lopushinsky. He was a true Orthodox man and a great Russian patriot. He was among the first, who together with another patriot, John Sachman, inspired his brother Uniats to leave the Unia and to be reunited with Orthodoxy. I was given a big and clean house for staying and for worshiping in, belonging to Mr. Kinosh. Having blessed the water and sprinkled with Holy Water that place, I served a Vigil and then heard confessions.
On June the 7th I took confessions again and after that celebrated the Divine Liturgy: more than 100 people received the Holy Communion on that day. I baptized four infants and inspected the church building under construction: it is designed in a Russian style and it is quite large. Many times many of these people will be regretting the death of Jacob Lopushinsky, for he was a wonderful architect, a good builder and had promised to build the church free of charge. Now the community must not only supply the materials, but also find a new constructor and pay for his work.
Back to Edmonton
Theodore and Anna Fuhr. Rabbit Hills
Around 5 o’clock in the evening, I left these good people for Edmonton in order to visit from there the colony in Rabbit Hills, some 20 miles to the south. I arrived to Edmonton in the evening of the next day. There I visited Mr. R Routon, whom I was happy to find completely recovered and back again to his Department of the Dominion Land Office. I asked him to donate 40 acres of land, which I had blessed, for the cemeteries and he promised to take this appeal in consideration, and to present it to the Department of Interior in Ottawa.
On June the 10th in the morning I took confessions and then travelled to the colony of The Rabbit Hills, arriving in the evening to the house of Mr. F. Fuhr. Many people, who knew about my visit, were there waiting for me. Having blessed the water and sprinkled with it the new house of Mr. Fuhr, I held The Vigil Service; people sang, and quite well, after which I started taking confessions.
On June the11th in the morning, I heard confessions and then we held a Divine Liturgy – 12 men were reunited to The Orthodoxy, 80 received the Holy Communion. I baptized four children, after which we had Vespers and Akathist, – and then talked on the State and Church affairs. Meanwhile, the people, sent by the local Uniat community, asked me to bless their new chapel but I, having no instructions from Your Eminence, very politely declined this and told them that, first, all of them must be reunited with Orthodoxy as a community and must send to Your Eminence all documents, pertaining to their land and to their chapel, and that also there should be no debts on this property.
The last days of visit
On June the 12th I inspected the land, prepared for the church, which was a subject of quarrel between the Orthodox and the Uniats. I analyzed the whole matter and understood that the Uniats wanted half of that land and that this half would make it impossible for the Orthodox to reach their land without crossing someone else’s property. I informed the government of this and added the plans, which explain how, in my opinion, the land should be divided if this decision will be taken into consideration and how the 40 acres should be divided between the Orthodox and the Uniats.
On June the 13th I left Rabbit Hills, returning home, and, thanks to God, arrived back to Seattle on June 16th in the evening.
Archpriest Vladimir and Matushka Rose Alexandrov // http://orthodoxcanada.ca/Archpriest_Vladimir_and_Matushka_Rose_Alexandrov (October 28, 2017)