FOUNDATIONS OF FAITH: 100TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE FOUNDING OF THE UKRAINIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH OF CANADA
Tanya Mykytiuk &
Tamara Ivanochko
Ukrainians began immigrating to Canada as early as the 1880s from a society where the Church was an integral part of daily life. Out of necessity, the initial years in Canada were devoted to basic survival. By 1918, after almost 25 years of Ukrainian settlement in Canada, the Ukrainian Canadian community had become strong enough financially and organizationally to respond to the spiritual, social and cultural needs of the community by establishing the Church of their forefathers in their new homeland, thereby contributing to Canada’s developing cultural fabric.
To mark the culmination of the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada, the Ukrainian Museum of Canada, Ontario Branch has mounted an exhibit featuring the churches of the Eastern Eparchy titled FOUNDATIONS OF FAITH / ОСНОВИ ВІРИ. Each of these churches, located in the provinces of Ontario and Quebec, are presented in photographic form along with a brief history of the parish, the current, former and visiting pastors and how each made significant contributions to their own communities as well as to Canada’s multicultural history.
The Museum was fortunate to make the acquaintance of photographer Sterling Demchinsky, whose photographs illustrate this exhibit. Since the mid-1990s, Sterling as photographed over 600 Ukrainian churches for his Ukrainian Churches in Canada project, which began when he felt inexplicably drawn to photograph Ukrainian churches. Feeling that he was being called by God to begin a new phase of his life, Sterling started attending church again and today he is an active member of Christ the Saviour Orthodox Church in Ottawa (a church in the diocese of the America Carpatho-Rusyn Orthodox Church, under the Patriarch of Constantinople). Additionally, he is also a member of Assumption (Dormition) Ukrainian Orthodox Sobor in Ottawa.
Sterling Demchinsky is a third generation Ukrainian-Canadian whose great-grandparents on both sides of his family homesteaded in settlement areas northeast of Yorkton, Saskatchewan (at that time part of the Northwest Territories).He has a strong sense of connection to his roots and he remains grateful for the sacrifices of those first pioneers who cleared the land and broke the soil at the end of the nineteenth century.
When FOUNDATIONS OF FAITH opened on December 6, 2018, Sterling treated Museum members and guests to a wonderfully informative talk and visual presentation, “The Art and Architecture of Ukrainian Orthodox Churches of the Eastern Eparchy.” Discussion was lively and a great number of ideas were exchanged.
While he has many other interests, the photography of Ukrainian churches has become Sterling’s greatest passion. Thousands of his photographs have been donated to both the Ukrainian Catholic Church and the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Winnipeg. Library and Archives Canada also receives donations of his photographs. As Sterling states on his website Ukrainian Churches of Canada, “So many churches are in danger of closing. They deserve to be documented as a symbol of our heritage and as a monument to our pioneer ancestors. Of course, when there are vibrant new Ukrainian churches in Canada, they deserve to be documented too — if for no other reason than we need to see examples of success more than ever now.”Sterling Demchinsky is determined to continue photographing Ukrainian churches well into the future. Every year he finds subjects to photograph that are in danger of disappearing.
The main focal point of FOUNDATIONS OF FAITH is the “chapel” re-created in our Museum space. Using liturgical objects borrowed from the Ukrainian Orthodox Sobor of St. Demetrius, Toronto, Ontario, from the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Holy Trinity, London, Ontario and from the chapel of St. Vladimir Institute, we have brought to light some of the mysteries from behind the iconostasis or icon-screen which separates the Sanctuary (Altar area) from the Nave, symbolizing the Mystery of God, and of His Kingdom. The iconostasis itself is represented by two “pop-up” Demchinsky photographs of the Deacon’s Doors from St. Anne’s Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Scarborough, Ontario. High on the wall behind the Holy Table is another of Sterling’s photographs – this one of the Lord God Sabaoth Icon from the St. Volodymyr Cathedral in Toronto, Ontario.
Also featured are four sets of vestments, those of an altar server (on loan from the Ukrainian Orthodox Sobor of St. Demetrius), a set of deacon’s vestments that belonged to the late Fr. Deacon Myron Bodnarchuk (on loan from his daughter Sonya Bodnarchuk), hand-embroidered vestments that belonged to the late Very Reverend Michael Bodnarchuk (on loan from his son and daughter-in-law Evan and Bernice Bodnarchuk) and bishop’s vestments (on loan from His Grace, The Right Reverend Bishop Andriy). On display are many precious and rare publications and hand-illuminated musical scores generously loaned to the Museum for this exhibit.
Running in conjunction with FOUNDATIONS OF FAITH is a speaker series:
June 6 A Taste of Liturgical Music with St. Demetrius Orthodox Church Quartet
June 20 Ukrainian Orthodox and Catholics
Afterthe Tomos: Searching for Unity
Locally and Worldwide with Fr. Peter Galadza and the Very Rev. Archpriest Dr. Jaroslaw Buciora
June 27 Sisters, Frenemies or What?
The Ukrainian Orthodox and Ukrainian Catholic Churches Compared and Contrasted with Fr. Bohdan Hladio and Brian A. Butcher, PhD
All lectures will begin at 7:00 pm at St. Vladimir Institute, 620 Spadina Ave., Toronto, Ontario.
Admission: $20 per lecture
Student admission: $10.00 per lecture with valid ID.
Tickets may be purchased in advance by calling 416-923-9861.
For more information: www.umcontario.com.
FOUNDATIONS OF FAITH – ОСНОВИ ВІРИ runs until August 17, 2019
