Christ is risen!

One of the good and old traditions of Patriarchal Parishes of Russian Orthodox Church in Canada is a combination of Canadian statutory holiday – Viktoria Day, and our very revered church feast of the Translation of the Relics of Saint Nicholas from the city of Myrr, Liscia, of Asia Minor to Barri, Italy, the event that took place in 1087.

In this year of 2022, by God’s grace, we again celebrated the Divine Liturgy in the temple dedicated to the great God-pleaser, that now is situated at Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Village.

The liturgy was arranged and lead by the dean of Patriarchal Parishes and the rector of St. Barbara Cathedral Right Reverend Igor Kisil in co-celebration of the rector of Orthodox IX Parishes Reverend Yevheniy Protsenko, with the support of the Parish Council of St. Barbara Cathedral, the altar helpers from the cathedral – Alexander, Nikita, Alexander and Lazar, and a lot of people – the parishioners from the cathedral and the churches of Parishes, with the choir director – Sergey Kuflevskiy, and the reader – Alexander Ryabov.

Traditionally we were granted free admission to the Village, and also given a ride by the local “commuter” – the spacious horse carriage by the Cultural Heritage authority.

During the liturgy we read both the Gospel of the day and the Gospel for St. Nicholas, the Wonderworker, and right after the Gospel, f. Yevheniy gave a short account of the great saint’s life, why he is so significant for the Orthodox world, and what kind of event we celebrate when we commemorate St. Nicholas in summer.

The celebration was not fruitless as there were people willing to partake of the Holy Gifts of the Lord Jesus Christ.

At the end of the liturgy father Igor addressed the parishioners with speech of welcome and gratitude, and gave a sermon related to the history of St. Nicholas church. He reminded the participants, that the holy temple was built one hundred and fourteen years ago – in 1908, was a home of prayer and Holy Communion for a number of years at the village (community) of Warwick, and in 1970, in order to preserve the church, it was transferred to the territory of Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Village, which is about an half an hour drive from Edmonton.

Since then, the temple, being the only dedicated to St. Nicholas among our churches, was never disregarded. Every year, except the two past years of pandemic, there were Archpastroral celebrations, with the last one in 2019 with His Grace Matthew, bishop of Sourouzh. Before that Bishops Jove and Mark would always gladly pay a visit to lead the celebration for this event at St. Nicholas church at the Ukrainian Village.

Father Igor also congratulated the parishioners with an upcoming anniversary of the First Liturgy in Canada, that took place and is now annually celebrated at Old Wostok. This year it is 125 years since that historic event.

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. For that Roman and Deanna traditionally brought a recreation vehicle with a lot of treats onboard.

People contributed their own dishes and treats for the dinner, and were having a good time of joy and communication.

The weather was favourable, and we also enjoyed the Celebration of Dance (that is held at every beginning of the new season at the Ukrainian Village) that was not far from our usual site “at the red barn”.

Through the prayers of the great God-pleaser and wonder-worker St. Nicholas may the Lord God remember all the participants and all the parishioners of the Patriarchal Parishes!

Truly Christ is Risen!

Archpriest Yevheniy Protsenko

Photos by Olga Kohno