Alexander and Tatiana Kaminski

Alexander Alexandrovitch and his sister Tatiana Alexandrovna in Riga, 1943

Alexander Alexandrovitch Kaminski (1924-2003)

and

Tatiana Alexandrovna (Kaminskaya) Ekholm (1921-2020)

Alexander may be spelt Alexandr, Alexandre, Aleksander, Aleksandr.

Kaminski may be spelt Kaminsky, Kaminskiy, and also Kaminskaya.

Alexandrovna may be spelt Aleksandrovna.

Alexandrovitch may be spelt Alexandrovich, Aleksandrovich, Aleksandrovitch.

Tatiana may be spelt Tania.

— Edited and expanded from the article by Mother Sophia (Zion) in the “Canadian Orthodox Messenger” (Autumn, 1996, and Spring, 1997).

Introduction

“A True Tale of Struggle, Courage and Talent : The Kaminskis”

They came to Canada, brother and sister, from war-ravaged Europe to start a new life, bringing with them that which was most precious in their lives – their Orthodox Christian Faith, their love of the Church, and their dedication to Russian Church music.

Their lives were never easy.

Early life of Tatiana Alexandrovna and of Alexander Alexandrovitch

Of Russian parents (Aleksandr Mikhaylovich Kaminski and Olga Konstantinovna Postovskaya), Tatiana Alexandrovna Kaminskaya was born in 1921, and her younger brother Alexander Alexandrovich Kaminski was born in 1924, both near Klaipėda (Memel). This was a Teutonic city on the eastern coast of the Baltic Sea, which is now a part of Lithuania (south of Latvia).

Their father practiced law. Their estate, which bordered Poland, had lost the greater part of its land to that country after World War I. However, the parents did retain their home, and there was still some land for farming.

Tatiana was only 7 years old, and Alexander was only 4 years old when their mother fell asleep in the Lord (1929) in Kaunas, Kauno apskritis, Lithuania, as a result of having contracted meningitis.

Both Tatiana and Alexander (and their other siblings Yuri and Natalia) were brought up in the bosom of the Russian Orthodox Church, and their Orthodox Christian Faith was a part of their early personal formation. It was a part of their later formation as well, but in different contexts.

Going to school ; changing countries, 1932

In the year of her mother’s death, Tatiana Alexandrovna left their home. There were no suitable schools where they lived ; therefore, she had been sent to Riga, Latvia. There, their mother’s aunt was the Abbess Evgenia (or “Igumenia” Evgenia) of the Holy Trinity-Saint Sergius Women's Monastery. In the familiar, she would be called “Matushka Evgenia” (many nuns are referred to as “matushka”, meaning “mother”).

The monastery maintained both an orphanage and a Russian elementary school, where their 2 older siblings, Vladimir and Oleg, were already students.

Holy Trinity-Saint Sergius Women's Monastery, Riga

Abbess Evgenia

Alexander was left at home in the care of a very loving nanny ; but with his father away in the city, his mother dead, and his sister away in Riga, the big house felt empty and silent. When Alexander came to the age of 8, he also left for Riga’s Holy Trinity-Saint Sergius Women’s Monastery school. The monastery had been founded in 1894.

Elena Adamovna Yushkevich (17 May 1890-22 June 1971) was one of the teachers. She had graduated from the Smolny Institute in Saint Petersburg. Because of the orphanage, there were also rooms for boarding students. This was to become Alexander’s second home, and the place which gave him his lifelong love of the Church and of traditional Russian church music. It was in this school that they both met the orphaned Dia Lazis (who later, after raising her family, became the nun Dorofea, sometimes spelt Dorothea). In time, she became like a sister to Alexander and Tatiana. Alexander was familiarly called “Sanya”.

Elena Adamovna and some pupils, 1936

Alexander’s studies went smoothly, first at the monastery’s primary school, then at the Russian secondary “gymnasium” which he finished in 1944, just as had his siblings who had preceded him.

World War II, 1939-1945

During this time, with the beginning of World War II, Latvia had been taken over first by the Soviet Union (in 1940) and then by the Nazi Germans (in 1941). Life all round was in turmoil.

In 1940, with the arrival of the Soviets, Metropolitan Sergiy (Voskresensky) of Vilnius and Lithuania, was sent from Moscow by Metropolitan Sergiy (Stragorodsky) of the Moscow Patriarchate to be the head of the Baltic Orthodox Churches (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania) as Exarch, and he took up residence at the monastery. In a world composed mostly of women, and of nuns in particular, this bishop’s presence had a great influence on the young Alexander.

Metropolitan Sergiy (Voskresensky) Bishop John (Garklavs)

Departures from the Baltics of people with German ancestry, 1939

In 1939, as a result of the secret Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, there began the so-called repatriation of Baltic Germans to Germany. The very great majority of such persons with German ancestry had no concrete or recent relationship with the land from which their ancestors had come to the Baltic States. These Teutonic Germans had begun to appear there in the 12th to the 14th centuries during the establishment of the trading confederation, the Hanseatic League. Others migrated there at other times. Now, their descendants were pressured to go to Germany. Hundreds of thousands of people were moved, most of them to the “Polish Corridor”, the Province of Posen, from which they were later displaced again. This transfer of population was accelerated in 1940.

By 1945, it could be said that the entity “Baltic Germans” had become extinct, and that the character of the Baltic States had been changed. It was a time of many disturbances and changes.

War-time ; Pskov Mission, 1939-1945

After the German occupation began, Metropolitan Sergiy not only stayed in the occupied zone, but he also organised Orthodox priests to go on a mission into occupied parts of Russia near Pskov, where they re-opened churches, conducted services, baptised, and liturgised.

One of the significant priests who was active in the mission was the young priest, Father George Benigsen, with his wife Matushka Helen. A dramatised film was recently produced in Russian (with English sub-titles) about this mission. The young Alexander went on several of the missionary trips to the Pskov region, which made a profound impression on him.

At this time, Alexander Alexandrovich, who was also personally involved in the missionary work, had some contact (with regard to general life, and with regard to the “Pskov Mission”) with 2 bishops. The first was Bishop Daniel (Yuzvyuk), who was ordained by Metropolitan Sergiy (Voskresensky) on 26 April, 1942, to be the Bishop of Kovno (Kaunas), Vicar-Bishop of the Lithuanian Diocese.

The second was Bishop John (Garklavs), who was ordained by Metropolitan Sergiy on 13 March, 1943, to be the Bishop of Riga, Latvia. Bishop John had also been involved in the “Pskov Mission”, in which Alexander was also active. Moreover, the school which he attended was in Riga itself, and it was amongst the destinations of Bishop John's pastoral visitations. They met on occasion later on after they had both emigrated to North America.

Then Metropolitan Sergiy was fatally shot on 28 April, 1944, while he was on his way to Riga from Vilnius. The vehicle was fired upon while on the highway near Kovno (Kaunas), by people that were observed to have been wearing German uniforms.

Riga and the Baltic States went into profound mourning, for he was almost universally beloved. The assassination affected Alexander deeply.

The School

Exile : Germany, 1944

In later 1944, the German occupation was coming to an end, and there began a great exodus of those who were not prepared to live under Soviet rule. Many left by ship, some by rail or automobile, and some walked. In October, 1944, just a few days before Riga’s fall to Soviet troops, Alexander walked to Germany. He did not walk alone, however. This harrowing journey was undertaken together with his sister Tatiana and a large number of children from the orphanage and school. One of them was Dia Lazis (later the Nun Dorofea), who in this year was 9 years old. They were led by the very intrepid Elena Adamovna Yushenko, who had been one of the leaders of the school, and who took under her wing all the children who were now bereft of parents. Elena Adamovna did not leave the children at any time or place.

In 1944, at the age of 19, Alexander arrived in Freiburg in southwestern Germany, by the Black Forest, and he arrived with great spiritual riches : his musical talent and his musical education. His involvement in music had begun as soon as he had arrived in Riga as an 8-year-old. Over the years there, he learned to play the piano, he sang in the school choir, he played in the school orchestra, and he eventually conducted the school choir. One of his music teachers was Mr. Konstantin Evgenievich Klimov. Mr. Klimov later emigrated and lived with his wife in Québec City, Québec, Canada, where he taught in the Conservatoire de musique du Québec (Québec Music Conservatory). When he reposed in the Lord (in 1974), his body was interred in the Saint Nicholas (Russian) Cemetery section of the Pinecrest Cemetery in Ottawa, Ontario as were his brothers Georgiy and Evgeniy.

In Germany, where they entered a camp, Alexander sang in the choir of Mikhail S Konstantinov, who later became the choir-director of the Holy Virgin Protection Russian Cathedral in San Francisco, California, USA, and who became very well-known in the USA as well. Mr. Konstantinov had fled from Kyiv, Ukraine, where he had previously had a brilliant career in the opera and the symphony, and where he had conducted the cathedral choir in the Kyiv Caves Lavra Monastery. He was an excellent teacher. Alexander was now 21 years old, and he was ready to become a choir-conductor himself.

Alexander Alexandrovich

Exile : Paris, 1947 ; move to Canada, 1950

In 1947, Alexander, now married to his wife, Vera Alexandrovna, moved to Paris, France, and to a life of intense hardship and poverty. Vera Alexandrovna had had to endure for some time the lot of an “ostarbeiter” (an “eastern worker”) in Germany, along with many other young people who had been forcibly removed from Eastern Europe as they were. This experience had strengthened her in ways that would help her over the many coming decades. However, the move to Paris was also to Alexander’s first conducting position, in the parish The Joy of All who Sorrow, which was served by Father Sylvester (Haruns), the future archbishop of Canada. Even so, life continued to be one of extreme poverty. Alexander had no actual trade or profession, and he tried his hand at almost everything in order to support his wife, Vera, and their newborn son, Serge. The parish in Paris could provide him with 2 tiny rooms under the roof of a building, but with nothing else.

Alexander and Vera visiting a baby

Therefore, when Father Oleg Boldireff (who had known him in Paris) offered him the position of choir-conductor at Saints Peter and Paul’s Cathedral in Montréal, Québec, Canada, he accepted ; and in 1950, he moved to Canada with his family.

Alexander regretted only one thing as he made this move : he was leaving behind the courses at the Russian Conservatory in Paris. He understood that in the new country, he would not have an opportunity to continue his musical formation.

It was a year later, in 1951, that Elena Adamovna followed Alexander and his wife to Montréal. Her move included the now adult Tatiana Alexandrovna and the still young Dia, who accompanied her. Elena had effectively adopted the children, and they all felt as siblings to one another.

Saints Peter and Paul Sobor

Montréal : choir-leader ; “starosta” ; builder

Alexander had arrived in Montréal (in 1950) at a time when the city was swelling with immigrants from Eastern Europe, including Russian-speakers from all the countries which had suddenly become communist. It was a truly cosmopolitan centre. The Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul was packed for almost every service, and it was generally the centre of the Russian community, which, by this time, had both energy and a sense of purpose. However, their personal lives (including those of Alexander and his family) were still on shaky ground.

After the birth of their second son (another Alexander), Alexander and Vera Kaminski moved to their first apartment, a double room with a kitchenette on the fourth floor of a building without an elevator. Yet, it was a triumph : their own place. Financially, it was still a disaster ; but Alexander was then able to take a drafting course. As a result, he finally had a profession and a chance to find a decent job. Life became more stable. After a rather short term of employment with the Aluminum Company of Canada, he secured a position with the Canadian National Railway, first as a draftsman and then as a designer, and he stayed with that company for 29 years, until his retirement.

During all those years, however, it was the Church which remained the primary focus of his life. In the 1960s, Alexander designed the Saint Seraphim Summer Temple in Rawdon, Québec, and later its bell-house of which he was especially proud. The Temple is a wooden structure, very light and simple, which blends harmoniously with the surrounding trees, and with the cemetery in the background. In Rawdon, he was also instrumental in the purchase of a house for use as the bishop’s summer residence. The “bishop’s datcha”, as it came to be known (or sometimes “the white house”), is located across the street from the Temple and from the Saint Seraphim Skete next to it, on 15th Avenue. All these properties are owned by Saints Peter and Paul’s Cathedral in Montréal.

Saint Seraphim Summer Temple and bell-house

Above all, however, it was the choir of the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul in Montréal that was the true heart of his life, both musically and spiritually. One of his singers once said that it was at A A Kaminski’s practices that he had learned to pray. Alexander Kaminski would tell them :

 Listen to the words.  Mean what you are saying.  Leave your own emotions out ; the choir is one voice which 
 speaks for all who are present, and for all the Church.  

He was demanding, and the choir-members loved it.

Because of his own love for Russian church music, Alexander wanted everyone to appreciate it, both Orthodox people and Canadians at large. For this reason, he and his choir gladly gave many concerts, most often at Anglican churches. However, he also loved Russian secular music, both the folk variety, and what one might call “Russian pop”. Performing some of this music too, his male chorus appeared on several television programmes which were both colourful and amusing.

The Reader Alexander Alexandrovitch Kaminski served as the choir-leader in Saints Peter and Paul Cathedral from 1951 until 1991.

In 1963, Bishop Sylvester (Haruns) (later archbishop) arrived in Montréal from Paris, France, and he became both the Bishop of the Archdiocese of Canada, and the rector of the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul. Vladyka Sylvester had been born in Latvia, although he had gone to Paris to study before the beginning of World War II. From this time, they worked together. Sometimes, Alexander Alexandrovitch was the choir-leader, and sometimes he was also the “starosta” (parish council president).

Archbishop Sylvester (Haruns)

In 1969, when Alexander Alexandrovitch stopped conducting for a year, Elizabeth S Troubetskoy (now Saika) led the choir during his absence. She wrote :

 I cherish very much the memory of the Kaminskis.  A A K was my teacher and mentor and taught me all about 
 choir directing.  I started at 16 with my first English liturgy at Sts Peter and Paul.  This was of course, 
 way before the Tkachuks transferred to Montreal.  We had a small core of teenage singers.  A couple of years 
 later, we continued meeting at McGill : There were Tim Katsikas, Alexis Vinogradov, Elizabeth Vinogradov, 
 'Mimi' Kishkovsky, 'Luke' Richard Rochon (the now Archbishop Iriney) and others.  We gathered at Divinity Hall 
 for Lenten prayers led by Alexis and joined lunch time services at the Cardinal Newman House, attending, not 
 partaking of, the Catholic Eucharist.  We were a dynamic group to say the least.  We sang a Vespers Service
 at the late Metropolitan Vitaly's 'skete', at the Greek Cathedral with the   then Father Sotirios and elsewhere.[...]
 And so it was ! For a while I took over the choir at Sts Peter and Paul during Father Benigsen’s tenure.  
 A A K had retreated for that time, coming back after I left and married. Archbishop Sylvester taught me 
 the 'Ustav' and how to read in Slavonic.  I am so grateful for all that I have been given in life.  The group 
 of young people from Saints Peter and Paul later formed an Orthodox Christian Fellowship (OCF) 
 at McGill University.  

Archbishop Sylvester and Archpriest Oleg Boldireff in the hall of Saints Peter and Paul

About Elena Adamovna, Elizabeth S Troubetskoy (Saika) added :

 Elena Adamovna was quite a personality who lived for the church and was our eternal 'psalomshchik'.  She would 
 remain unmoved whenever an exasperated Kaminski tried to rush her along on Holy Thursday evening during the 
 seemingly interminable readings of the antiphons and troparions.  He was an exemplary son to her and kept her 
 with him and the family to the very end.  I think that almost everyone would give out a silent, patient sigh 
 when it came to whenever Elena Adamovna did start to read.

Despite the fact that Alexander’s health gradually began to be troublesome as he neared retirement, he nevertheless took on the responsibility of “starosta” (parish council president) of Saints Peter and Paul’s Cathedral for 8 years.

Illness, a stroke, fragility, 1994

Then, in the spring of 1994, Alexander suffered a major stroke which paralysed his left side and limited his speech. This left many dreams still unfulfilled, and many projects unfinished. Because of his increasing health difficulties, he had already stopped conducting some time before the stroke. He had prepared Mr Michael Woinowsky-Krieger, who was a close friend, to replace him. Michael took up this responsibility for some years.

After he suffered a stroke, Alexander and Vera Kaminski sold their home in Ville Brossard, and they moved into an apartment building in Saint-Lambert. There, he struggled to recover the ability to walk, and to use his left arm to some extent.

Alexander Alexandrovitch was never against the use of the English language in church services. He nevertheless considered that music written for one language does not adapt well to another. Alexander used to say,

 Church music is not opera ; there, it does not matter so much, although one can still sense a foreign flavour.  
 But in prayers, the words and the music have to be one, so new musical settings should be composed for the 
 English words.  

Indeed, such luminaries as the Archpriest Sergei A Glagolev have done just this in North America.

During all these years, Vera Kaminskaya stood beside her husband. She was a loving, practical and wise woman who in many ways reflected the attributes of the wife described in the last chapter of the Book of Proverbs of Solomon. She quietly served and cared for others. She was a long-time active member of the Sisterhood of Saint Catherine in Saints Peter and Paul Cathedral. When her husband’s health deteriorated, she watched over him and helped him without complaint.

A A Kaminski conducting a combined choir in Toronto

Tatiana Alexandrovna in Canada : Ottawa, marriage, 1950

Very much of what was written about Alexander Alexandrovitch may be written about his sister Tatiana Alexandrovna as well.

After arriving in Canada, Tatiana Alexandrovna met and married Åke Waldemar (Walter) Ekholm (1926-2002), a man of a Swedish-speaking family. Throughout his life, he had an active musical career. He was an active musician in Ottawa, Ontario, and he was a member of the Musicians’ Union of Ottawa. Thus, they formed a strong musical family when they were married in 1950.

Tatiana A Kaminskaya and Åke Waldemar (Walter) Ekholm marry, 1950

Tatiana and Walter received from the Lord 2 children, Elizabeth and John, both of whom later married.

Walter was a graduate of the Institute of Engineering in Helsinki, Finland, and of Carleton University in Ottawa, Ontario. He worked primarily in the National Research Council. Walter attended Saint Peter’s Lutheran Church, and sometimes the Peace Latvian Evangelical Lutheran Church in Ottawa.

Tatiana and the Saint Nicholas Choir in Ottawa, 1974

Tatiana Alexandrovna was for a long time constantly present and active in the parish of Saint Nicholas Russian Orthodox Church in Ottawa, and certainly from the time of the pastorate of Father Oleg Boldireff, after 1974.

Tatiana was well-known and well-appreciated for her focus, for her seriousness, and for her faith as she led the singing during those many years in Ottawa. Those who sang under her leadership would say that her musical and choral ability even exceeded that of her well-known brother. Tatiana was appreciated because she was determined not only to help the clergy and the attending parishioners to pray while singing the services ; but she also helped the singers to pray while they offered their vocal gifts to the Lord during the services. In the best style, her leadership enabled the musical settings to clarify the meanings of the words that were being sung.

Ekholm family

Tatiana continued to direct the choir until 1988. It was at this time that the Russian parish had become so small in numbers that the parish council had decided to invite the English-language mission of the Holy Transfiguration to share the building with them. Soon thereafter, it was further realised that the remaining parishioners of Saint Nicholas were mostly too old and frail to carry the burden of administration and maintenance any longer, and a formal amalgamation of the 2 communities was achieved. This meant a great increase in the use of the English language. Although Tatiana was not opposing this transition, she also felt that it was beyond her physical and emotional abilities now to try to lead the singing in English. She therefore retired.

Tatiana Ekholm in retirement (2016)

Bereavement for Tatiana, 2002

On 25 April, 2002, Waldemar Ekholm fell asleep in the Lord after having suffered from leukemia.

The funeral service was offered at Saint Peter’s Lutheran Church on Monday, 28 April, at 11 a.m.

After the service, his body was interred in the Saint Nicholas Russian Orthodox section of the Pinecrest Cemetery.

At the time of his repose, there were 7 grandchildren : Olivia, Natalie, Caroline, Philippe, Andrea, Austin and Michael.

Tatiana Ekholm and her family

After her bereavement in 2002, Tatiana Alexandrovna moved into the same apartment building as her brother and sister-in-law.

Repose of Alexander Alexandrovitch Kaminski, 2003

The next year, the Reader (and former Starosta) Alexander Alexandrovitch Kaminski fell asleep in the Lord on Saturday, 8 February, 2003, in Montréal, Québec. A Panikhida (memorial service) was served on Tuesday, 11 February, at 4 p.m. at the Blythe Bernier Funeral Home.

The Funeral Services for the Burial of a Lay-person (with the Divine Liturgy) were offered at Saints Peter and Paul Cathedral in Montréal on Wednesday, 12 February, at 10:00 a.m.

After the funeral obsequies, his body was interred in the Saint Seraphim Russian Orthodox Cemetery in Rawdon, Québec. He was survived by his wife, Vera, his sons Serge and Alexander, and grandchildren Nicholas and Samantha, and his sister, Tatiana A Ekholm.

When Vera was left alone after Alexander’s repose, the 2 women visited each other frequently in each other's apartment, and they thus supported one another spiritually and emotionally for many years. This was especially so when age and infirmity made it too difficult to attend services in the Temple on a regular basis. At this time, the priest of the cathedral began to come to them on a regular basis.

Repose of Vera Alexandrovna Kaminski, 2012

Vera Alexandrovna Kaminski reposed in the Lord on 1 May, 2012. For her, the Funeral Services for the Burial of a Lay-person were likewise offered at Saints Peter and Paul Cathedral in Montréal, Québec.

After the conclusion of the funeral obsequies, her body was interred beside that of her husband in the Saint Seraphim Russian Orthodox Cemetery in Rawdon, Québec.

After this time, Tatiana Alexandrovna Ekholm continued to live in the same building, near her daughter.

In 2016, still in her flat, Tatiana Alexandrovna was interviewed by Boris Sidney about the Russians in Canada after World War II. Her acute memory of the persons and of the times had to have been a great help in the production.

Repose of Tatiana Alexandrovna Ekholm, 2020

On 25 June, 2020, Tatiana Alexandrovna Ekholm (born Kaminski) fell asleep in the Lord in Montréal.

Tatiana was predeceased by her siblings : Yuriy Kaminski (Yanina), Alexander Kaminski (Vera), and Nataliya (Nikolay) Neklyudova.

She was survived by : her children Elizabeth Ekholm (André Morin) and John Ekholm (Kathryn Jarrett-Ekholm) ; her grandchildren, Olivia Morin (Alex Ionita), Natalie Ekholm, Caroline Morin (Jérémy Lautrey), Andrea Ekholm, Grace Ekholm, Philippe Morin, Austin Webster and Michael Webster ; and her great-grandchildren, Gabriel Ionita and Léon Lautrey.

May their memories be eternal.

Reflections

One of the choir-members at the cathedral said about Alexander Alexandrovitch :

 Those who sang in Kaminski’s choir are never too far from Church.  Even when they stray away, it is never for 
 very long.  They have been marked for life.  

Indeed, Alexander Alexandrovitch serves as a good example of Orthodox life for us in North America. He suffered and endured many obstacles and difficulties in his life, as we all do.

However, despite it all, the Church always was the core and love of his life, and this influenced everything about him. His love for Christ and his Orthodox Christian Faith moved him to share as much as he could with others. A man of strong and definite opinions, he was full of humour as well. Throughout all his life : through war, displacement, immigration, poverty and struggle, success and productivity, there was in him a “joie de vivre” (joy of living), a “joy through the tears”.

Tatiana Alexandrovna Kaminskaya and Alexander Alexandrovitch Kaminski have left their deep mark on Montréal and Ottawa, both as talented choir directors and as warm, loving people with a vision and mission to create with their choirs a prayerful mood in the worshippers.

They were certainly not identical personalities, but their love for the Lord, and their very serious concern for the correct and best-possible singing of the services was the same. Their formation at the monastery school in Riga had been both good and deep.

The circumstances of Tatiana's life to some extent limited her to her service in leading the singing, and helping in the parish sisterhood. Her younger brother, a more extroverted person, was able to serve in a somewhat broader way in parish life. Regardless, their similar devotion to enabling the singers to offer their best for the worship of the Lord was beneficially influential in the lives of those who sang with them. They each showed by example and by words why it is so important to sing well (in terms of pitch and volume), to sing in balance with the others (no one voice should dominate, and all parts should be heard), and to sing with the clearest possible enunciation of the words, so that all in the Temple would be able to understand them : "Chant with understanding" (Psalm 46:8).

Tatiana Ekholm certificate of blessing from the bishop, 1988 (her brother received one similar)

References

‘A True Tale of Struggle, Courage and Talent : the Kaminskys’ in “Canadian Orthodox Messenger” (Autumn, 1996) p. 15.

‘A True Tale of Struggle, Courage and Talent : the Kaminskys, Part II’ in “Canadian Orthodox Messenger” (Spring, 1997) p. 11.

“Montreal Gazette” obituary of Alexander A Kaminski

Additional information :

“Parish Life” by Olga Lawes Melikoff (2007)

Saints Peter and Paul Russian Orthodox Sobor, Montréal, Québec

Saint Nicholas Russian Orthodox Church, Ottawa, Ontario

Archdiocese of Canada web-site

Orthodoxwiki article about the Archdiocese of Canada

Orthodox Church in America web-site

Orthodoxwiki article about The Orthodox Church in America

Orthodoxwiki article about the Church of Russia

Metropolitan Sergiy (Voskresensky)

Metropolitan Sergiy (Stragorodsky)

Bishop John (Garklavs) of Riga

Archbishop Nikon (de Grève)

Archbishop Sylvester (Haruns)

Metropolitan Leonty (Turkevich)

Metropolitan Ireney (Bekish)

Metropolitan Theodosius (Lazor)

Metropolitan Herman (Swaiko)

Metropolitan Jonah (Pauffhausen)

Metropolitan Tikhon (Mollard)

Archbishop Irénée (Rochon)

Archpriest Oleg Boldireff

Mother Dorofea (Mirochnitchenko)

Konstantin Evgenievich Klimov

Russian Wikipedia article about Evgeny E Klimov

Elizabeth Ekholm, daughter of Tatiana Kaminsky Ekholm

Repose of Alexander A Kaminsky (8 February, 2003)

Obituary for Tatiana Ekholm

Necrocanada.com Obituary for Tatiana Ekholm  : A private Funeral Service will be held at Annunciation Orthodox Cathedral, in Ottawa. July, 2020.

In Memoriam : Tatiana Ekholm Kaminsky

“Ottawa Citizen” Obituary for Tatiana Ekholm

Findagrave reference about Saint Seraphim’s Russian Orthodox Cemetery in Rawdon, Québec

Wikipedia article about Klaipėda, Lithuania

Encyclopaedia Britannica article about Lithuania

Genealogy reference for Aleksandr Mikhaylovich Kaminski

Genealogy reference for Olga Konstantinovna Kaminskaya (born Postovskaya)

Genealogy reference for Tatiana Aleksandrovna Ekholm (born Kaminskaya)

Genealogy reference for Alexander Alexandrovitch Kaminski

Boris Sidney film about Church Singing (in Russian)

Boris Sidney film about Rawdon and immigrants from Riga (comments from Maria Levchuk et al) (in Russian)

Video about Mother Nila (Maikapar) (in Russian)

Video about Mother Dorothy (Mirochnitchenko) (in Russian)

Film about the Pskov Mission : “The Priest” (“Pop”)

Video-audio of “Milost’ Mira” (“A Mercy of Peace”) by Mikhail S Konstantinov

Video : “Hymn of Light for the Feast of the Ascension” by Mikhail S Konstantinov