Although we might not have ever considered it, those departed founders of the Holy Trinity Ukrainian Orthodox Church, buried in the adjacent cemetery, have offered our community something profound and beautiful – a home to serve in on Sunday morning (even if it feels temporary, and despite the fact that we already have a beautiful home at St. Nicholas just down the road).
This situation was beautifully articulated a few weeks ago by Fr. Teodosy (Kraychuck) who is a Ukrainian Catholic Hieromonk – and dear friend. To my surprise he told me that Holy Trinity was the parish that his grandparents and parents grew up in – it was in many respects his home parish. He related to me that he was genuinely worried about what the future held for the Church his family had helped build (his father was the one who put up the cross over the front door when Holy Trinity was rebuilt in the 50’s!). He would wonder if all the work done by his family and others, might just be reduced to become another abandoned roadside Church that dot the prairies. Yet when he found out that we were serving there, those fears were replaced with thanksgiving to God! To be sure, having Orthodox services at Holy Trinity would have been the last thing many of them might have ever imagined or wanted (this might even be an understatement), yet they laboured to build and support a building that had no other purpose but to be worshipped and prayed in. The fact that every Sunday there is a vibrant and joyful liturgy at Holy Trinity, all those sacrifices, made by his family and those who founded this community, were not in vain, or consigned to be forgotten.
This indeed is something to consider, as in a “kind of way” it aligns Fr. Teodosy’s family, and the departed members of Holy Trinity with the “founders and benefactors” of our Church. It also in a broader way, compels us to consider how we remember those outside our Church in general, and in specific the departed family’s of those who have become Orthodox.
This is something I think about when we offer the petition “for all our departed founders and benefactors” during the Augmented Litany. Of course when this petition is chanted, it specifically brings to mind the founders of St. Nicholas; people like (saint) Archbishop Arseny, Fr. Bob, Mother Magdalen, Matushka Susan, or the Barchyns, Evaschuks, Prigroskis (and many more). Some might say these are the only ones that this petition is intended for and I suppose there is some merit to this, (after all I’m pretty sure that Christians in antiquity would have ever aligned the pagan founders of temples – now become Churches – with their “founders and benefactors” – the martyrs). This being said, over the years, I have grown to understand this petition in the broader context of God’s saving love, and the recognition of the endless work of the Holy Spirit, who will “guide you into all truth” (Jn. 16:13) – and especially outside of a traditional and historic Orthodox milieu. As well we should note that the founders of Holy Trinity were not pagans, let alone many of the departed family members of those who have become Orthodox Christians.
Our Church is experiencing remarkable growth, and many of those coming to Orthodoxy have expressed that they previously encountered the love of Jesus Christ first at home, with in the context of Christian families – granted they were not Orthodox families. Although I would not say, that those experiences alone, are a qualification for membership in the Orthodox Church and the participation in its sacramental life; I nonetheless recognise that without that inheritance of faith encountered at home and witnessed by generations of family members, many might have never sought out the Lord in Orthodoxy, “like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls, who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it”. (Mt. 13:45-46). The same could be said about those departed founders of Holy Trinity, who although were not Orthodox, nonetheless were “not against us” (Mk. 9:40). The witness of this is that they have shared with us a beautiful inheritance – a Church that we can serve in.
Truly “we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose” (Rm. 8:28). This is certainly true, regardless if it is seen in the faith of those non Orthodox families who cultivated an encounter with the love of God, as a foundation for the reception of many people in the Orthodox Church; or seen in the labours and sacrifices of those departed founders and benefactors of Holy Trinity who have provided an answer to accommodate our ever growing community.
Regardless of whether one thinks that the petition “for all our departed founders and benefactors” has a broader interpretation or not, the fact remains that the reason many of us are here, both in the Orthodox Church, and serving at Holy Trinity, is because something precious and holy was built, cultivated and cared for. Indeed assistance in our struggle to bear witness to the saving love of God, and a foundation to build upon until the end of the age. How could we not give thanks to God for them all!
May all their memories be eternal! Вічна пам’ять!