The Temples (Country Churches of the Prairies, 1897-1906 Cont.)

Churches were built by community effort. There were some skilled craftsmen among them, such as Dymetro Skutar of Rhein, who had helped to build churches in Bukovina before coming to Canada. Sometimes local builders could be found: in one case, Doukhobor carpenters were hired. Churches could take years to complete as the settlers cut the logs, hand-planed them and constructed the temple. They were built in various styles: the single dome, three-dome (a particular style from Lviv), sometimes in the shape of a ship (the ark of salvation) and in many instances Bukovinian styles were replicated with squared logs. Trees had to be cut, peeled and in some cases, squared, and chinked with a mixture of straw and clay. Sometimes they were covered with tar paper and siding; others used plaster and whitewash. Inside, V-joint (long and narrow wood board finishing) was used.

Icons were few, and iconostases were home-made. Sometimes icons were surrounded by embroidery brought from Ukraine. Icons were sometimes decorated with beads, as well as embroidery. A wood stove in the centre with stove-pipes running the length of the building was common. Candle holders, icons stands, wooden crosses, and palls for carrying the dead were made from local wood, often carved. In Stuartburn, V. Shidlovsky, a Bukovinian, bought a 50-pound bell rung every Sunday and feast-day across the prairie. Crosses were sometimes made of wood or moulded cement, inscribed with the traditional inscription, "Tut spochivae Rab Bozhii (Raba Bozhia) here reposes the servant of God…."

In the services, besides the English king, often the Austrian emperor and the Russian Emperor would be remembered. With the encroachments of Protestant missionaries and other religious groups, priests also gave Orthodox teachings on Holy Scripture and holy tradition to protect their flock.

In 1904 Father M. Skibinsky arrived in the Wostok settlement and two years later, two more priests, Father Krashitsky and Father Varkhol came to Alberta. The priests lived in the homes of settlers as they visited young parishes. There was so little cash available that parishioners brought seneca root as an offering to the church. That was the wild cash crop of those years, gathered by settlers and sold in the East for medicinal purposes. Sometimes the priests were given livestock (e.g. a calf) for performing a baptism.

By 1905 churches were built, and in some places partially underway at Wasel, Mundare, Stenen, Chahor, Kyselew and Pakan, and the hubs of the West, Edmonton and Winnipeg. Bell-towers tended to be added later, when parishes were more developed.

In this period stately temples were built, such as Ss. Peter and Paul Church at Dickie Bush, remaining even until today the highest church in the Archdiocese.