Cranbrook BC Saint Aidan of Lindisfarne Orthodox Church 2006

Cranbrook, British Columbia, Saint Aidan of Lindisfarne Orthodox Church, 2006

Prehistory

The parish of Saint Aidan of Lindisfarne in Cranbrook, British Columbia, Canada,came into being as a diverse collection of individuals scattered throughout the East and West Kootenays region of British Columbia, who met occasionally when a priest was available.

From the beginning, an important element has been observed about this particular community. That element is its 2 foci. The 2 cities of Cranbrook and Creston (80 km (50 mi) distant to the west, and over the mountains) contribute to the membership of this mission. Travel along a sometimes dangerous highway (weather) add to the challenge of nurturing all the faithful involved in this community. This travel also presents difficulties to the faithful regarding their sense of being a cohesive community and regarding their witness to their neighbours. Despite the challenges, the faithful parishioners have been perseverant. In the early years, there were difficulties in securing a stable location for worship-services. Eventually, there would be an agreement with the Ukrainian Catholic bishop of New Westminster and British Columbia, regarding a building which they were no longer using in Cranbrook.

Organising the community, 2004

In 2004, and through the following 2 years, there were initial meetings amongst some of the Orthodox faithful people in Creston and Cranbrook. They were exploring the feasibility of starting an Orthodox Christian mission parish in the East Kootenays.

 The founding families included were the Bartletts, the Bassarabas, the Deardens, the Felthams, and the Viers.

At first, some initial services were provided by the Priest Gregory Horton of the Antiochian Archdiocese in nearby Post Falls, Idaho. This included the bringing in the well-known Archpriest Peter Gilchrist for a meeting and public speaking event. During this period, for 2 years, Father Taras Krochak of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada would travel from Calgary every month or so until health troubles forced him to stop travelling. He then asked the Archpriest Larry Reinheimer (of the Holy Martyr Peter parish in Calgary, Alberta) to try to continue this work. As a result, Father Reinheimer began travelling to Cranbrook and Creston. For about a year, he travelled every 6 weeks from Calgary. He travelled along with some parishioners of Saint Peter’s on a rotating basis. In order to encourage stability and continuity, he encouraged the Cranbrook-Creston faithful to gather together on Sundays when he was not able to be present, and to pray together the service of the Typical Psalms.

In 2005, the Archpriest Larry Reinheimer and the Priest Richard René began to serve the community monthly. They would each drive from Calgary, Alberta, to do this (alternating with one another), and there was some support for this work from the parish of the Holy Martyr Peter the Aleut there. The result of these visits was an increasing sense of cohesion and purpose.

In 2006, the community was officially established as a Kootenay mission station in the Archdiocese of Canada, and the first official services were in January for the Feast of Theophany (6-8 January). On 6 February, there was an official meeting led by Father Larry Reinheimer, in which the community chose its heavenly intercessor. This choice made the mission the second Saint Aidan Orthodox Church in the world (the first is in England). In November, a "mission board" was chosen and established, and the number of services of the Typical Psalms was increased.

On 1 January, 2007, one of the members of the community took an official letter to Bishop Seraphim (Storheim) in Calgary (where he was serving at the time). The letter requested that the community be recognised officially as a mission, and that a priest be assigned to the mission. The request for mission status was blessed. At about the same time, the community decided to offer weekly services of the Typical Psalms. In October of that year, the Priest Richard René was assigned to be the priest-in-charge of the new Mission of Saint Aidan.

Renting and renovating a Temple, 2008

On 2 February, 2008, as a result of Father René's work, the mission entered into an agreement to rent the Ukrainian Catholic church of Saint Mary. This agreement was blessed by the Ukrainian Catholic Bishop of New Westminster, Kenneth Nowakowski.

On 26-27 April, 2008 (the Feast of Pascha), the first services were offered in the new Temple. This building had been constructed by the Ukrainian Catholic parishioners in 1952, and it had suffered from a fire during the 1970s.

On 3 May, 2008, the Priest Richard René was assigned to be the full-time priest of the mission.

On 31 August, 2008, Archbishop Seraphim and the chancellor, the Archpriest Dennis Pihach, arrived and served for the feast-day of the mission.

Priest Richard René served the community at first for 8 months by travelling from and Calgary, and then for 4 years as the resident priest in Cranbrook. He and his family lived in the house adjacent to the Temple.

In May, 2012, Priest Richard René and his family moved to Vancouver, British Columbia, where Father Richard became a chaplain.

From that time, and for more than a year, the mission was served periodically by the Priest Kaleeg J Hainsworth, and by the Dean of British Columbia, the Mitred Archpriest Michael Fourik. However, since they travelled from Vancouver, the Divine Liturgy could be offered only monthly. The community accepted the responsibility of gathering again to serve the Typical Psalms every week during the intervals.

In September of 2013, the newly-ordained Priest Andrew Applegate, remaining attached to Saint Peter's, was assigned to serve the mission as priest-in-charge. He then travelled from Calgary to serve the mission approximately every 3 weeks.

In December of 2014, Archbishop Irénée (Rochon) visited the mission. He ordained Paul Bartlett to be a subdeacon, and David Pasivirta to be a reader. He also gave a blessed gramota (certificate) to Ellen Dearden.

On 18 March, 2015, Priest Andrew Applegate was assigned to serve the mission as its rector. He and Matushka Sonia moved to Cranbrook. After 28 trips, the commuting had ended. Then, on 31 August, 2015, Archbishop Irénée came to serve on the patronal feast-day.

The Priest Andrew and Matushka Sonia Applegate, 2016

The next steps in development occurred first, when Father Andrew and Matushka Sonia purchased their own house in Cranbrook, and they took up residence there in March of 2016. Next, at the annual meeting of the mission parish, the parish by-laws were reworked, and the lawyer Donald Paolini was asked to incorporate the parish for the coming autumn. Then also, Father Andrew began to be available 2 days a week at published office-hours times.

Archpastoral visit of Vladyka Irénée (Rochon)

Thus, the community has continued to persevere in Christ, and in the same manner they will in Christ continue.

From mission to parish

The mission was elevated to the status of a church/parish.

On 13-15 October, 2016, an Orthodox Christian conference, "Healing Earth", was held in Cranbrook. The conference considered Orthodox Christian perspectives on ecology and climate change. The speakers included Archpriest Michael Oleksa, Priest John Kaleeg Hainsworth, Mark Sandford and Priest Nilos Nellis.

In January, 2017, Deacon Dr. Kurt Edward Jordan (who had served earlier in the Vancouver region, and then in New Brunswick, and in Halifax, Nova Scotia) moved to Creston, British Columbia, where he joined a medical clinic and, and where he began his medical practice on 6 February. He was, therefore, attached to Saint Aidan's Church in Cranbrook.

Theophany water blessing, January, 2016

On 6 January, 2016, after the serving of the Festal Divine Liturgy for the Feast of Theophany, Father Andrew Applegate and some parishioners went to the Kootenay River (Cranbrook is situated at the confluence of the Kootenay and Saint Mary rivers) in order to do the out-of-doors blessing of water (at -20 degrees Celsius).

Theophany water-blessing

New iconostas and icons, 2016

At this time, the parish installed an improved iconostas which included icons of the Archangels Michael and Gabriel ; new deacon doors and a sanctuary curtain at the holy doors. Priestmonk Vladimir (Lysak) had completed the 2 most recent icons for the deacon doors in time for the Theophany water blessing. They matched the other 4 icons he had originally done about 6 years previously. The parishioners were very grateful for the $1,000 donation received from the Archdiocesan Mission Fund to help with the project of upgrading the icons and the iconostas. These improvements were done for $3,600 plus much volunteer help from Deacon Paul Bartlett and his Matka Anastasia, as well as Father Andrew.

The 6 icons of the iconostas

Archangel Michael is on the left deacon-door ; Archangel Gabriel is on the right deacon-door.

The central icon of Saint Aidan and the iconostas

Purchase of the Temple ; restoration of the Temple, 2017

On 31 March, 2017, the parish was able to purchase the building in which they had been worshipping for 9 years. The previous owner was the Ukrainian Catholic Bishop Kenneth Nowakowski and the Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy of New Westminster.

Bishop Kenneth Nowakowski had approached the parishioners and asked whether they would consider buying the building from them if they were to give the parishioners a mortgage for the entire purchase price of $250,000 (including the church and the 3 bedroom 2-story house next door at 1% interest. This made the mortgage payments about the same as the previous lease payments to them. It was a God-sent opportunity and an easy decision. The mission parish was now the owner of a classical historical building.

Within 2 weeks of purchase, by the Lord's blessing, Columbia Basin Trust/Heritage BC and their Built Heritage Grant programme announced a grant programme which seemed tailor-made for the situation of the parish. Upon applying for and receiving a $70,000 grant to do the needed restoration work, the parishioners spent the autumn completely restoring the exterior of the building for a total cost of around $100,000. The building was 65 years old, and it badly needed restoration work done. The work enabled by the grant included new rafters ; a properly double-ventilated “cold roof” system ; extended new cedar soffits and fascia ; completely restored stucco repairs with a new stucco top coat on the entire building ; new cedar front stairs ; a new timber-framed entrance roof. All this was crowned by a beautiful 24-gauge hidden-fastener steel roof with state-of-the-art snow fence system. This means that the building will be “icicle free”.

There had been a fire in 1979. Although the interior of the building had been repaired, some of the rafters had been charred, and the structural strength of the roof system was in question. Immediately upon purchasing the building, the parish hired a local structural engineering expert, and he confirmed that there were substantial and very expensive repairs to be done. In addition, the stucco was original and needed restoration ; the front stairs needed repairs ; the roof ventilation system was defective (thus faithfully producing huge icicles each winter.

Since the restoration work was completed, Father Andrew Applegate has been stopped countless times in the city and congratulated about the amazing restoration of the Temple with the large distinctive silver Cupola (dome). It is one of Cranbrook's treasured historical buildings.

Hierarchical visitation of Archbishop Irénée (Rochon), 2017

On 19 April, 2017, Archbishop Irénée (Rochon) visited the parish. He served the Divine Liturgy, and he baptised 10 persons (from infants to adults).

Archbishop Irénée (Rochon) and baptisands, 2017

Parishioners with Archbishop Irénée (Rochon), 2017

In June, 2017, the Archpriest Larry Reinheimer, who had the blessing to reduce his pastoral activities, moved from Victoria to Wynndel, British Columbia. He was assigned to assist in the parish of Saint Aidan (Wynndel is 112 km/70 mi west of Cranbrook).

Fires in British Columbia forests, July, 2017

During the summer of 2017, a year with little rain, there were very many forest-fires in British Columbia. One of the very serious fires was the "Ashcroft fire", which seriously threatened Holy Transfiguration Hermitage at Lone Butte, Bridge Lake, British Columbia.

With forest fires threatening, Schema-Archimandrite Gregory (Papazian), Hieroschemamonk Samuel (Panchuk) and Schemamonk Moses evacuated Holy Transfiguration Hermitage at Bridge Lake on Saturday night, headed southeast, and they arrived safely but very exhausted (they had driven 746 km/463.48 mi) in Cranbrook on Sunday afternoon, 16 July.

The winds had tripled the size of the Ashcroft fire over the previous days, and it was moving towards the hermitage. They then travelled further in order to stay with Father Larry Reinheimer and his wife Mother Myra at their new and commodious home in Wynndel.

By 28 July, Fathers Samuel and Moses had been able to return to the hermitage, which had thus far been spared incineration. Father Gregory had remained in Wynndel because of his fragile health. They returned to their usual obediences of candle-making and other work. However, the fire warnings continued past the end of the month, and it was some time before the danger had past. At that time, the monks returned to bring Archimandrite Gregory back to the hermitage. There, with hearts grateful to God, they returned to their usual life of prayer, worship, fasting and labour.

Holy Transfiguration Hermitage

Continued renovation and restoration work

Most of the restoration work in the autumn of 2017 was accomplished by an Orthodox contractor and his team from the Saint John in the Wilderness mission parish at Birchdale, British Columbia.

Saint Aidan of Lindisfarne Orthodox Church restored entrance

Saint Aidan Temple, restored side

Renovations continued in 2018 with the replacement of the former cupola with a new one. During the exterior restoration project, the existing cupola was found to be in much worse condition than was anticipated. It was discovered that it was built with a very basic skeleton framing structure that had thin tin bent around the frame. The tin had many holes and wear from hail and wind over the years ; nails had fallen out, and the caulking had failed. It had far exceeded its useful “service life”. Since there was no structure with which to work, a complete reconstruction of the cupola was required, together with an improvement in the structure and sheathing of the tower so as support the new cupola that was required. Andrei Botezatu and his company “High Standard Installations” in Calgary was commissioned to design, build and install the needed replacement cupola. Andrei is a highly-skilled architect from Moldova who now lives in Canada.

Andrei first carefully designed the perfect shape. He then built the main “onion” dome, sheathed it completely with ¾ in. planking and then smoothed it over with molded ¼ in. plywood. He added 6-sided soffits under the dome to allow for proper drainage and to improve the aesthetics. He then added a beautiful bell-house, topped with a matching roof over it to house the parish's 2 new bells. In keeping with the natural resources of the region (the Sullivan zinc mine), he purchased thick 22-gauge pure zinc sheets, and then he hand-cut and formed the individual diamond shingles to cover the main dome. He hammered out by hand the 10 ft. zinc cap sections between the diamond shingle sections. The 3 roofs over the soffit, the “onion” dome, and the bell-house are also clad in 22-gauge pure zinc. The soffits themselves are done in ¾ in. tongue-and-groove cedar to match the rest of the new cedar soffits, and to keep to the theme of using locally-sourced materials. The crowning touch is a pure aluminum 7-ft.-tall 3-bar Orthodox Cross, re-proportioned from the Cross that used to grace the parish's Mother Church in Calgary, Saint Peter the Aleut, at their original building.

The Cross was very appropriately installed on Saturday evening, 10 March, just as Vespers ended and the 3rd Sunday of Great Lent, “The Veneration of the Cross” began. After Vespers, the parishioners went out and sang “O Lord, save Your people…”. After the Divine Liturgy of the Sunday of the Cross, they again went out, again to sing, and to bless the Cross from the "manlift".

East view of the new cupola from the roof

Conference with Archpriest Michael Oleksa, 2019

On 29-31 March, 2019, Archpriest Michael Oleksa of the Diocese of Alaska was present at Saint Aidan's Church in Cranbrook, where he presented an engaging analysis of Alaskan indigenous spirituality and the connections with the Orthodox Church.

The four sessions were entitled :

• “The Spiritual World of Traditional Cultures”

• “The Orthodox Church as the Fulfilment of Indigenous Spirituality”

• “The Legacy of Saint Innocent (Veniaminov) and Saint Jacob Netsvetov”

• “Matushka Olga and Today’s Alaskan Indigenous Orthodox Culture”

He spoke on how the indigenous people for thousands of years have embraced the environment and derived most of their spirituality from this experience ; and how the Orthodox missionaries of the late 1700s and early 1800s celebrated this spirituality and presented the Christian gospel as the fulfillment of this world view. They partnered with rather than denigrating the native culture and spirituality they encountered.

Father Michael shared many traditional stories from the indigenous people of Alaska, and he demonstrated how God had prepared them with their traditional stories and understanding for the message of the gospel of Christ in their “pre-contact” spirituality. When the Orthodox missionaries arrived in Alaska in the late 1700s, Christianity was presented as the fulfilment of this spirituality, rather than the replacement of it. Indeed, the frontiersmen that had preceded the missionaries by 50 years had already done much to introduce Orthodox Christianity into the culture. The Alaskan indigenous culture was celebrated and accepted and there was no requirement to assimilate into a foreign culture to become Christians. Father Michael presented some amazing encounters with wise Shaman Elders and demonstrated how the local population embraced education and literacy and became leaders in their communities in all areas. This was in the early 1800s, before the sale of Alaska to the Americans and the disaster of the residential school system and associated cultural destruction that came with it. The pre-sale Alaskan people soon had their own indigenous Orthodox priests, and now have recognised indigenous Christian holy people and saints such as Saint Peter the Aleut, Saint Jacob Netsvetov, and Matushka Olga Michael.

In his 4 lectures, Father Michael developed his message of seeing the presence of God in all creation, and that we can learn from the respect the deep love each indigenous group has for their land, and join in supporting their strong determination to protect it.

Father Michael blessed the parish with icons of some of the Alaskan saints, and he brought for veneration his beautiful enamel icon Cross with the Holy Relics of 4 of the saints enclosed within it.

Some participants

Icon Cross with Holy Relics

New Holy Table for the Holy Altar, 2019

On 26 August, 2019, Saint Aidan’s Orthodox Church in Cranbrook was presented with a new Holy Table to stand within the Holy Altar. It was meticulously carved from wood over a 3-month period by Schemamonk Moses (Schneider) from the Holy Transfiguration Hermitage at Lone Butte, British Columbia.

Father Moses was joined by Hieroschemamonk Samuel (Panchuk) on the long drive to Cranbrook to present Father Andrew Applegate and Father Deacon Paul Bartlett of Saint Aidan’s with the Holy Table.

On this day, the new Holy Table was blessed. During the service, the monks led the singing according to their setting of very early modes of Gregorian chant.

Father Andrew Applegate commented that the hermits at Holy Transfiguration Hermitage pray in deep harmony in Christ, and that not only this community depends on the support of their prayers in order to survive.

The Holy Table has a carving on the front which presents the icon of “The Hospitality of Abraham” — a painting of the same icon hangs in the Temple. It had been commissioned by a friend of the parish 20 years previously and painted by Archimandrite Gregory (Papazian), and recently donated to the parish.

The carving completed by Father Moses was actually based upon the very same template drawing used to paint the icon 20 years ago.

The Hospitality of Abraham, first painted in the early 15th century by celebrated painter of Orthodox icons Saint Andrei Rublev. It refers to the story from the book of Genesis and depicts an icon of the Trinity. Father Moses explained that this is a different category of icon from one we would see representing Christ or the Mother of God.

“These are icons representing the incarnation of Christ, whereas this icon is an allegorical icon”, he said. “The subject matter is the appearance of three angelic beings to Abraham in the Old Testament (see Genesis 18: 1-15) , and he receives them at the Oak of Mamre and offers them hospitality”.

He further explained that Saint Andrei Rublev had an inspired vision of how to portray this event, which allegorically refers to what’s known as the “economy of the Trinity,” with the angels depicting God the Father on the right, with Jesus and the Holy Spirit in the centre and on the right, respectively.

“We receive Grace through the image (representing physical manifestations) and we offer worship through the image”, he said.

“But this particular theme here is allegorical, it’s not of the same sort. It’s not intended to portray in a physical sense the persons of God the Father and the Holy Spirt because they have never been incarnate. It is an important feature, because some people, if they’re familiar with the Scriptures, will rightly ask the question of how is it possible we can do this”.

Holy Table : side view ; front view

Deacon Paul Bartlett, Hieroschemamonk Samuel, Archpriest Andrew Applegate, Schemamonk Moses

2020-2021 Coronavirus-19 virus restrictions on parishes

In early 2020, the Covid-19 virus made its appearance in Canada, and it quickly became a world-wide pandemic. Because of the rules governing gatherings that were laid down by the provincial and city governments, the parish stopped any further services after 8 March, 2020. Including the rules regarding social distancing, the decreasing numbers permitted for any gathering, and the considerations regarding the health of all concerned, this and other parishes were required to close for a time.

As elsewhere, there was some controversy about the legal requirements.

Hierarchical visit, September, 2023

Finally, after more than 1½ years of work, Saint Aidan Orthodox Church completed their large addition/renovation/construction project, and re-opened on Saturday, 23 September, 2023. The celebration took more than 3 hours.

Archbishop Irénée (Rochon) , bishop of Ottawa and all Canada, along with 7 Priests, 5 Deacons and many guests from British Columbia and Alberta (and of course Cranbrook) came to celebrate and bless the new/old Church. The Hierarchical Liturgy included the Blessing of the Waters ; the ordination of Subdeacon Pavel (a recently arrived Ukrainian from Kiev) to the Holy Diaconate ; a procession blessing the exterior walls and also blessing the many people in attendance with Holy Water, and a wonderful celebration meal prepared by the talented ladies (and a couple of the men) of Saint Aidan’s parish family.

The typical Sunday service congregation of about 40 people was trebled to more than 120, and they had no difficulty fitting into the new space with the new balcony. However, the basement eating area was a little over-crowded with a nice chaotic atmosphere.

Beginning of the Hierarchical Divine Liturgy

The Entrance of the Holy Gospel

Group photo of the serving clergy

The historic church building was completely renovated and restored. Stripped down to the framing on the inside, the Church was given new life with completely new plumbing, heating, electrical, drywall, and flooring. In particular, there was a beautiful new Altar area (now on the east end) with arches, a barrel ceiling and some beautiful new hand-painted Icons. The entire west wall was removed to properly tie into the new addition and half of the old west basement cement wall was removed in order to give a seamless flow through the old church building into the new addition.

Temple extension

Nave reconstruction

New entrance

Renovated Altar and Iconostas

Sanctification procession

New mission in Lethbridge, Alberta, 2025

In September, 2025, the Mission Station of Saint Silouan the Athonite was inaugurated in Lethbridge, Alberta, at the University of Lethbridge. This occurred with the express blessing of Archbishop Irénée (Rochon), which made it an official missionary outreach of the Archdiocese of Canada.

Reader Patrick McLean (who lives in that region with his wife Donna) had been ordained to the Holy Diaconate and to the Holy Priesthood in July, 2025, by Vladyka Irénée, with this missionary development in mind and heart.

Father Patrick McLean (who had been travelling to Cranbrook for services at Saint Aidan's) was attached to the Church of Saint Aidan, since it was under the nurture of this parish and its clergy that this outreach could be established. The Mission of Saint Silouan will continue to be nurtured by the clergy and parishioners of Saint Aidan's as the community, already growing, continues to offer services in the region in the English language.

Particular parish information

This parish is a part of the Deanery of Alberta & Northwest Territories, of the Archdiocese of Canada, of The Orthodox Church in America. The dean is Archpriest Vincent Lehr. The bishop is Archbishop Irénée (Rochon).

The community follows the New (Revised Julian) Calendar.

The Altar Feast-day of this parish is the Feast of Saint Aidan of Lindisfarne, 31 August.

In 2025, the rector of the parish is the Priest Andrew Applegate.

Archpriest Kurt Edward Jordan is attached.

Priest Patrick McLean is attached.

Retired Archpriest Lawrence Reinheimer is attached.

The first deacon is Deacon Paul Bartlett.

The second deacon is Deacon David Pasivirta.

Address :

Aidan of Lindisfarne's Orthodox Church

201-7th Avenue South

Cranbrook, British Columbia

V1C 2J6

Telephone : 250-420-1582

Web-site : http://www.saintaidan.ca

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Directions :

By car :

Cranbrook is 846 km (525 mi) east of Vancouver. Follow the Trans-Canada Highway #1 and BC Highway #3/95 east to Cranbrook. This drive takes approximately 9 hours.

Exit Highway #95 at 2nd Street South and drive to 7th Avenue. The Temple is situated at the corner of 7th Avenue South and 2nd Street South, about 4 blocks from Highway #95 (Van Horne Street South).

Cranbrook is 403 km (240 mi) southwest of Calgary through the Kicking Horse Pass. Drive westwards on the Trans-Canada Highway #1 from Calgary. Follow the Trans-Canada Highway westwards through the pass. At Castle Junction, turn onto BC Highway #93 towards Radium Hot Springs. At Radium Hot Springs, follow BC Highway #95 south to Cranbrook. The drive takes approximately 4 hours and 30 minutes.

Exit Highway #95 at 2nd Street South and drive to 7th Avenue. The Temple is situated at the corner of 7th Avenue South and 2nd Street South, about 4 blocks from Highway #95 (Van Horne Street South).

By bus :

Consult Cranbrook Transit. There is bus service in the city.

Priest Andrew Brent Applegate

912-12th Street South

Cranbrook, British Columbia

V1C 1W7

Telephone : 250-420-1582

E-mails : frandrewapplegate@gmail.com ; fatherandrew@saintaidan.ca

Archpriest Kurt Edward Jordan

c/o 201 - 7th Avenue South

Cranbrook, BC V1C 2J6

Priest Patrick McLean