Refurbished church marks 100 years

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This article was published 24/06/2024 (470 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A Brandon Ukrainian Orthodox church may be 100 years old, but the average age of the congregation is half that number, says Jerry Belinsky, parish president of The Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Holy Ghost on the corner of Stickney Avenue and 11th Street North.

“There’s maybe three people over 70, maybe even over 80 years old, and the rest are average age of 40 to 50 and under,” said Belinsky.

“Are young people finding religion?” Belinsky wondered aloud. “Are they turning to something other than Facebook? It’s nice to see, that’s for sure because growing up, religion wasn’t that popular for us, for me. We went because we had to.”

The church at 55 11th Street North was built in 1924 by volunteers who immigrated from Europe to Brandon after the First World War ended in 1918.

Originally, the congregation worshipped at the Greek Cathedral, which was located at First Street and Lorne Ave.

Now, in its 100th year, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Holy Ghost has been recognized as a provincial historic site.

After service on Sunday afternoon, about 80 parishioners spilled into the sunshine as they celebrated a century of worship.

Seventeen-year-old Andrew Badea said the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Brandon is a very tight community that is always welcoming with the attitude of “the more people the merrier.” Badea helps the priest and altar boys during the service and said leading the church is a calling, and one that runs in his family.

“My grandfather, his father, and his father and his father were all priests back in the old country. And now it just feels good to be serving, but I’m not sure yet about following in their footsteps,” Badea said.

Badea added he has been following the faith and welcoming the spirit of the Orthodox religion — along with his family — since he was seven years old, in the church that is now 100.

“One hundred years, I can’t believe it. I’ve spent one-tenth of a century here, a decade, and I can’t believe it. It’s changed a little bit in the past you know, due to COVID and other things, but it’s always stayed true to what it is, it’s very easy to fit in,” Badea said.

Khrystyna Khomenko is 15 years old and has been in Brandon since she was three. She is fluent in Ukrainian and speaks the language with her parents, which she said comes in handy because most of the service is in Ukrainian.

“Everyone’s welcome,” Khomenko said. “Not just Ukrainians but everyone. We have people who are not Ukrainian coming in and that’s why we make sure to have some English every now and then.

“And even though we don’t have the biggest church, we don’t have the most amount of people or the most amount of space, this church has so much history behind it,” she said.

“You walk in and there’s the incense and the feeling of community, it’s something that does make you emotional every now and then and you’re like, ‘Wow, this is a beautiful church.’ And that’s what matters,” said Khomenko.

While Father Mel Slashinsky was preparing for the 100th anniversary service, he said he approached a fellow priest from Winnipeg, Taras Udod to see if he was available to come to Brandon.

“Well at first he said he didn’t think so, but then he phoned me a week or so ago saying, ‘I guess I’m coming,’ so prayers can be answered, prayers were answered,” said Slashinsky with a chuckle.

Standing on the steps of the church, Slashinsky said it was “perseverance, a lot of labour and a lot of love” from the current and past congregation that has enabled the church to keep its doors open.

About 15 years ago, the interior was refurbished. And within the last 10 days, the roof was re-done, including new shingles on the three domes, or cupolas. And on top of the cupolas, the crosses received a new coat of primer.

“The renovations also take finances,” said Slashinsky, “Which, unfortunately are hard to come by sometimes. And it’s unfortunate that we can’t get more government grants or anything else. But it is what it is, you work at it the best you can.

“The good Lord gives you strength you know, he’ll make it work, you just have to have faith and hope.”

The money to pay for the renovations came from parishioners, Belinsky told the Sun. The congregation raised about $22,000 to make sure the church had a new roof and a new look.

A relatively new parishioner, Lucas Schulz, said he joined the church in the fall of 2022 after watching a few Orthodox lectures online.

“After I watched I thought, I need to learn more about what the Orthodox faith is, so I just looked up Orthodox churches in the area and this was one of them. I started coming and have been coming ever since,” said Schulz.

Jason Bryan said he found the 100-year-old church last fall in the same way, online. “They’re just beautiful, the people are welcoming and there’s just such fullness in it. I just can’t really express it in words that are worthy of it,” he said.

Belinsky added that church members from the younger generation have been eager to help, donate money and want to be involved. It’s a spirit he said that he’s never seen.

“And we can always learn from young people, that’s what I’m finding. Learning from the younger generation renews your spirituality and your own faith.”

» mmcdougall@brandonsun.com

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