The annual St. Tikhon’s Orthodox Bible summer camp for children of the Patriarchal Parishes took place in “Bar-V-Nok”, Pigeon Lake, AB.

From the 3rd to the 9th of August 2014 the St. Tikhon’s Orthodox Bible children summer camp was organized by the Patriarchal Parishes in Canada and took place, as in previous years, in the picturesque place on the shores of Pigeon Lake in the Province of Alberta.

This year the summer camp was planned and prepared by the clergyman of the Patriarchal Parishes: Reverend archpriest father Igor Kisil under benediction of His Grace Job (Iov), Bishop of Kashira, the Administrator of the Patriarchal Parishes in Canada. As usually, we rented the grounds and the buildings of camp “Bar-V-Nok,” belonging to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada.

Every day of the camp started and ended with the prayers in the classic Saint Archangel Michael temple. All young believers, divided in several groups, had chance, in their turn, to read the prayers. They also were allowed and were in charge of lightening of all the candles and icon-lamps during the Services.

The catechistic-educational theme of this camp was: “St. Venerable Sergius, Abbot and Wonderworker of Radonezh and his Legacy” as this year marked 700th Anniversary of his Birthday. This topic was discussed and clarified for the children of two age groups in the Bible classes taught by His Grace Bishop Job (Iov), by the Very Reverend Archpriest Father Sergey Kipriyanovich, by the Very Reverend Father Igor Kisil, by the Reverend Priest Father Aleksii Suraev, and by Connie Hargreaves.

Every day after the lunch, father Feofanios (Seraphim W. Constantine), a monk from Holy Mount Athos, Greece, who spend there over 30 years, gave a very informative and very interesting lectures on the different topics including: life of Elder Paisios of Holy Mount, who is famous for his spiritual teachings and whom many people worldwide, especially in Greece and in Russia, highly venerate and anticipate his formal canonization as a saint in the near future; monastic life on the Holy Mount Athos; Relics of the Saints kept in monasteries of the Holy Mount; and on the making and use of incense in the church.

Our camp was blessed by the assistance of several kitchen volunteers, including: Larissa Batyzhin (chef), Alexandra Dirda, Alla Vashek, matushka Vera Kipriyanovich, Deanne Lopushinsky, Connie Wasieczko, Vera Kuhn, Gloria McLennan, Melanie Borys, Simone Franks, Nadezda Vasilyeva, Pat Ursuliak and matushka Natalia Kisil, who provided us with wonderful meals and snacks; enthusiastic camp counsellors – Andriy Ghayevoy, matushka Anastasiia Radochina, Maksym Medvedyev, Sofia Lavrinenko and Nikita Batuzhin and other assistants like Roman Lopushinsky, Victor Batyzhin, Phillip Pawlyk, Igor & Victoria Kaliberov and Vladimir & Oksana Medvedyev.

During the camp, a considerable amount of time was dedicated to the art and craft classes, in which the young Christians were making special souvenirs and to choir practice where the children had a chance to practice different troparions of the Saints and liturgical singing. The sport program and competitions for the children was a must, as well as the daily cleaning of all buildings and chopping of wood for the evening campfire (for the older children).

According to the tradition, every evening ended by singing songs and playing games around the campfire on the shore of the lake. All the crafts, sporting activities and games for the children were prepared and organized very well by talented young people including: Kim Cochrane, Andriy Ghayevoy, matushka Anastasiia Radochina, Maksym Medvedyev, Sofia Lavrinenko and Nikita Batuzhin.

The most happy day for our campers was when Phillip Pawlyk, President of Whitsuntide (Holy Trinity Church) of Thorsby and Vice-President of “Orthodox-9” Association gave the ride on his motor bout cruise on the Pigeon Lake for the kids as well as the adults. Everybody enjoyed it very much.

In the big farewell party the four groups of children, guided by their counselors, staged and performed short, but spiritually edifying plays, devoted to the live of the St. Sergius of Radonezh as the main educational theme of this y year was dedicated to this saint.

On the first day of our camp, the 4th of August, the day on which we commemorated St. Mary Magdalene, the Divine Liturgy was served by His Grace Bishop Job (Iov), the Very Reverend Father Igor Kisil, parish priest of “Orthodox 9 Parishes“, Camp Director and the Reverend Father Aleksii Suraev, parish priest of “Orthodox 5 Parishes“. At the end of the Liturgy His Grace, Vladika Job greeted all the campers and the staff with the first day of the Bible Camp, wished them to have good time and learned something from the bible classes and invoked his archpastoral blessing upon all participants of St Tikhon‘s Orthodox Bible summer camp of 2014.

On the last day, the 9th of August, the Divine Liturgy was served by the Very Reverend Father Archpriest Sergey Kipriyanovich, the rector of Saint Barbara’s Cathedral in Edmonton, and the Very Reverend Father Igor Kisil, parish priest of “Orthodox 9 Parishes“, Camp Director. The children during the service were singing, reading the Epistle, and helping in the Altar. After confession, all campers, staff and many parents received Holy Communion.

In finale the picture of all campers was taken in front of the Church and then everybody was invited to participate in the farewell brunch… There were 20 kids in the camp this year – all from the families that have recently immigrated to Canada, – and there were 12 volunteers working at the camp – all from the congregations of the Patriarchal Parishes in Canada and from the nearby Parish of All Saints of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad in Calgary.

I would like to express my special thanks to the staff, teachers, counsellors, those individuals who organized the crafts and sporting activities, and to those people who donated money, food and time and came out to help and make our camp successful. Without all of these people mentioned above, our Children’s Bible Camp would not have taken place and would not have had such success. THANK YOU!!!

Also, we welcome more volunteers for the 2015 camp which is scheduled for August 2nd to 8th. We look forward to seeing you there.

Very Reverend Father Igor Kisil, Camp Director.

Camp Pictures -2014