During the winter of 1896–1897, settlers in the recently established Star colony began meeting to discuss the need to obtain a priest. A farmer named Anton Sawka was urged by some of his neighbours to write to the bishop overseeing the Russian Orthodox Mission in San Francisco with a request that he provide pastoral care for the young immigrant community. In response to this petition, two Russian Orthodox clerics were dispatched to the settlement from Seattle the following summer – Reverend Dimitri Kamnev and Deacon Vladimir Alexandroff.
On July 18, 1897, they celebrated the first Orthodox liturgy sung on Canadian soil for some 380 settlers who gathered at the homestead of Theodore Nemirsky. The location was opposite the site of the present Holy Trinity Russo Orthodox Church. A stand of trees still marks the spot in the field where the historic service was held. Inspired and encouraged by a follow-up visit made the next spring by the same missionaries, a group of settlers north-east of Star secured a forty-acre land grant at the location of the present Holy Trinity church. In 1899 they completed a log sanctuary and set aside space for a cemetery. This was the foundation of the first Orthodox Church in Canada. That same year this district became known as Wostok, after the Old Church Slavonic word for “east”, Vostok. Tragically, the first Wostok Church caught fire following a memorial service in 1907 and was completely destroyed.
As the structure was insured the congregation was able to rebound quickly from their loss. However, a decision was made to build the replacement church approximately one mile south of the original place of worship, much to the chagrin of some members of the congregation. Nevertheless, everyone united behind the effort to build the new church, which was larger and more impressive than its humble predecessor. This second Holy Trinity Church served the Wostok community until 1932, when it too was consumed by fire.
Now in the Great Depression years, it took longer for the congregation to recover from the blow of losing their church. The Orthodox faithful of the area (which in 1928 became known as “Old Wostok” after the relocation of local businesses further east, on the new rail-way line) gradually rallied to the difficult task at hand, and in 1938 resolved to rebuild their church on the site of the original sanctuary, where it today serves as a memorial to the founders of the congregation.
See HERE for more information and detailed history of this parish.
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GPS Co-ordinates: 53.850151, -112.578245
Affiliation: Patriarchial Parishes of Russian Orthodox Church in Canada
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