« Bishop Matthew of Sourozh visited the Holy Trinity Church in Thorsby and the Ascension Church in Calmar, Alberta »

June 17, 2025, the visitation of His Grace Bishop Matthew of Sourozh, temporary Administrator of the Patriarchal parishes in the USA and Canada of the Holy Trinity Church at Thorsby and the Holy Ascension Church at Calmar, Alberta, Canada took place. With moleben services and meetings with the Parish Presidents and some Parish council members.

The history of the Thorsby church dates back to the years 1917 to 1918 when the residents of the area gathered at homes to worship in the orthodox faith of their forefathers.

As the area settled, a church was built with the efforts of the people of the area both orthodox and other faiths. The building was shared for the purpose of worship.

In the fall of 1919, the first Thanksgiving service was held, with the church not quite finished.

The church, known as a little church on a hill, stands on the 5th meridian, and is the only one to have the old English name – Whitsuntide – for the Holy Trinity celebration period (‘tide’) of the ‘white sun’.

In 2015 there was a sign of God’s mercy for the church, when the lightning struck the church very strongly, hit the dome through and after aiming the memorial table with an old article about the church and photos – it never went any further leaving only the mark of burning on that table.

In 2019 His Grace Bishop Matthew of Sourozh, temporary Administrator of the Patriarchal parishes in the USA and Canada, visited Patriarchal Parishes in Edmonton and also presided over the church’s 100 Years Anniversary celebration, which is still dearly remembered and cherished by the parishioners.

The current state of affairs was discussed in a friendly discussion. The life of the parishioners and their input into the community; the safety challenges that the area and its churches used to face during the last several years.

Especially, the President of the parish was glad to share with Vladyka his efforts in renovating the Church Hall, a very old building that he cleaned, repaired, painted, furnished, and decorated with the icons painted by the local artists, and a multitude of the historical Gramotas (Certificates of Merit) and Gratitude Letters.

According to the righteous Christian tradition, there is a cemetery at the same plot with the church, with the oldest grave that was shown by the President Phillip Pawlik, dated by 1921 (just a year after the church was built). A lot of prominent people of the Holy Trinity Parish have found their rest here, and many of them were mentioned to Vladyka by Phillip. A memorial litia was sung for them by His Grace and the priesthood.

Nowadays we celebrate the major Christian feasts and parish dates, with the President Phillip Pawlik with the Parish Council keeping the church and the cemetery functional and tidy for the younger generations, and archpriest Yevheniy Protsenko serving here as a parish priest for almost seven years.

The brotherly Holy Ascension church is situated to the North-East of there, and it takes about half an hour to get there.

As well as the Thorsby church, it stands right in the fields, where the farmers used to live around it and have their spiritual life guided by the parishes and priests assigned by the Moscow Patriarchate.

The history of the Holy Ascension church says: “The first Church meeting was held on January 10, 1927. Anton Mankow donated two acres of land to be used for the purpose of building a Russian Orthodox Church. A part of this parcel of land was to be used as a church cemetery. At a parish meeting held on February 15, 1927, the following were elected to the church board: Kost Dobko, chairman; Fred Popowich, secretary-treasurer; and trustees Mike Workun and Mike Chimera. A constitution was drawn up and approved by members of the board.”

So, it is very soon that we are going to celebrate 100 Anniversary of the shrine!

There His Grace and the priesthood were warmly greeted by the President Doyle Fedor and the Secretary Treasurer Robert Dobko, and also served a moleben at the church, and then discussed the state of things. This church suffered more from the intrusion of the thieves, and for some time it felt like almost all the shrines (the holy cup and plate, the candle holders, old crosses, etc.) were lost forever. But due to the sense of communion with the other churches and people, they were blessed to get the majority of the stolen holy things back, and then replenished the rest of them.

This is why both churches do not keep most of the shrines inside and bring them every time for the services, which though not very much numerous, but again cover the most Holy Feasts and Parish events, and still bring people of all ages to the church.

There is also a cemetery at the church, and also it is (as well as the vast territory around it and the church) kept in very tidy manner with grass cut in summer and snow removed in winter.

There we went and His Grace Bishop Matthew served a memorial litia for the grandparents, parents, brothers and sister, and children who lie there asleep in the Lord.

After the visitation the Parish Council of the Calmar church were so kind as to invite us to lunch at the café in Calmar which they call their “parish hall”, as it always hosts the parishioners after every significant event.

There His Grace and the priesthood continued discussing the vital parish affairs and future events.

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