The Newest Wooden Church in North America.

This article comes to us courtesy of Oleh Iwanusiw, author of "Church In Ruins", a masterpiece collection of photographs and text detailing the demise of Ukrainian Churches in what is now modern day Poland.

On Sunday October 8, 1995, the newest wooden church in North America, St. ELIAS in Brampton, Ontario, was consecrated. This article is intended to give the readers some of the background of the parish as well as some of the architectural details of the structure.

St. ELIAS PARISH

The Ukrainian Catholic Parish of St. Elias in Brampton will be only 20 years old this year. It was founded in August 1976 with the blessing of His Grace Isidore Borecky, the Ukrainian Catholic Bishop of Toronto with rev. Roman Galadza installed as the pastor. For nineteen years the parish has been holding services in rented premises. It should be pointed out that St. Elias parish follows the Julian calendar and all of the services are carried out according to traditional Byzantine customs. This means that many of the recent (twentieth Century) changes in liturgical services adopted by the Ukrainian Catholic Church from the Roman Catholic Church are not practised here.

St. Elias parish consists of only 75 families. One can tell that all of these people are hard working because they have accomplished so much in a relatively short time. The accomplishments were in part possible because St. Elias has good leadership in the pastor, the rev. Roman Galadza.

Saint Elias Church Consecration and Construction (With photos)

Saint Elias Church - Photos From All Sides

Saint George Church - Drohobych, Ukraine (includes information on Boyko Sacral Architecture)

RESPONSIBLE INDIVIDUALS

It can not be denied that the driving force behind the construction of St.Elias in the fashion that was done is the pastor, the rev. Roman Galadza. The conceptual architect was Robert Greenberg, a professor at the Ryerson Institute of Technology, with the help of protodeacon David Kennedy, who serves at St. Elias. The detailed structural design was done by Reinders Structural Engineers of Brampton. As the parish did not have all the required funds available, a substantial amount of money for the church construction was advanced to the parish by the Ukrainian Credit Union Limited of Toronto.

I understand that in time, St. Elias will feature a bell tower. I do not know what it will be like, but I am certain that it will complement the fine church.

I can not finish this write-up without saying a few words about the Galadza family. Father Roman is a "traditional Ukrainian priest", namely he is married to Iryna and has six children, Anastasia, Larysa, Nikolai, Sofia, Walentyna and Ilya. Father Roman is also a qualified teacher, and between his duties as a pastor a teacher and a father, all of his time is spoken for. Some say that rev. Galadza was trying to raise a choir for St. Elias within his family. The whole family is very musical and practices the saying "the family that sings together, stays together". In addition to that, all of the children are experienced in serving their father in church. This is especially true of the oldest, Anastasia, who knows all the services by heart. There will be a wedding in the Galadza family this year. One of their daughters is getting married - where else but . . . . . .

FOR THE VISITORS

St. Elias church is located on the north side of Ontario Highway #7 at Heritage Road in Brampton. For those who are visiting Toronto and would like to visit the church - take Highway #401 west to Mississauga Road (Kilometre/Exit 336). Follow Mississauga Road North to Highway #7 (about 5 miles; 8 kilometres). You will see the domes of St. Elias on your left hand side.

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Document URL: http://www.infoukes.com/culture/architecture/st_elias/index.html

Original page design and layout by Greg Gressa
E-mail: ggressa@carpatho-rusyn.org

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Originally Composed: Sunday June 22nd 1997.
Date last modified: Tuesday August 17th 1999.