Christ is risen!

On the 20^th of May the Patriarchal Parishes conducted a service of the Divine Liturgy at St. Nicholas Church in Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Village which is East of Edmonton.

This is our annual celebration of the Patronal Feast of the church that was moved to this site from the Vegreville area (Warwick) in 1971, to preserve the building and provide the services in the holy temple. Since then, it has been a special spring event that would gather all the faithful and even very often is blessed by the Archpastoral Liturgy, and with a friendly picnic thereafter.

Once again, we had a very good church singing with St. Barbara’s Cathedral’s choir with Irina Trutneva leading, and the altar was filled with numerous altar helpers!

Though it was not the warmest celebration there, the old oven in the church kindly lit by the Ukrainian museum staff created an atmosphere of the home farmers’ church of old. People were also grateful to the museum servants for delivering us to the church site through the rural streets with their after-the-rain charm.

Again, we could see the trees of the groves and orchards, the farmers’ fields and the lakes right out of the window during our church gathering, like it used to be in the life of our righteous ancestors.

The Life of the great saint and Wonderworker Nicholas was read during the service,  and we had partakers of the Holy Communion of the Lord, and the Paschal hymns and songs were sung in many languages during the concert.

At the end of the Liturgy, the dean and rector of St. Barbara’s Cathedral, Father Igor Kisil greeted the faithful with the fourth week after the Holy Pascha, and the eve of the celebration of the Great Saint Nicholas of Myrra of Likia, whose help and protection he prayfully called upon all the people present!

The President of the St. Barbara’s Russian Orthodox Cathedral Roman Lopushinsky also addressed the people, and congratulated everyone with both statutory and church feasts, and invited the congregation to the festive picnic dinner outside in the greenery and the comfortable tables, which they always prepare for all the people.

May the Lord, through the prayers of his Saint – Nicholas the Wonderworker, remember us, help and protect, saving us for the spiritual life in Him! Amen