A new book highlights places of worship in Saskatchewan, including several in the local area.
Marg Hryniuk, who teamed with Frank Korvemaker on 'Legacy of Worship: Sacred Places in Rural Saskatchewan', said the book was a natural for the tandem who had worked together previously.
"Because the first book Frank, Larry and I created together, the 2008 Legacy of Stone: Saskatchewan's Stone Buildings was a critical (winner of the 2009 Saskatchewan Book of the Year Award) and financial success, our publisher, Coteau Books, suggested we create another book," she said.
"After much discussion, which included the possibility of a book called Legacy of Brick, we chose to focus on places of worship in rural Saskatchewan. One reason for this choice, as Larry states, was to document these buildings before they, like the elevators in this province, disappear. Larry's collection of church photographs already includes some that are no longer standing.
"I wanted to do a book dealing with brick structures, but we were uncertain if that this topic had enough appeal to be a successful follow-up," added Korvemaker. "We then threw around some other ideas, and settled on churches and other sacred places as that kind of book seems to have been popular elsewhere throughout the continent. As well, as for Legacy of Stone, we know that the provincial government's Heritage Branch had an extensive collection of thousands of slides of churches and synagogues, and that we could initiate our assessment of the potential subjects for our book from that database."
Once the idea of a book on churches came into focus there was the daunting task of choosing which ones to include.
"If it took a tonne of research to write Legacy of Stone, it took two tonnes to write Legacy of Worship," said Korvemaker. "This book took twice as long to research and write, twice as long to travel to all of the sites, and cost twice as much for each of us.
"While Marg undertook extensive personal interviews for the specific articles and photo essays, I delved more into published histories of the various denominations, in books, websites, and archival documents. Marg also utilized the archives and libraries extensively, and we both searched high and low for archival photos of the buildings we wanted to illustrate. In particular we wanted to find and include historical photos that has not previously been published, and were quite successful in finding those, especially among people in the communities where the churches and synagogues were located.
"Unfortunately, the limitations of the book dictated that not near as many of those were included as we wanted."
Hryniuk said ultimately, some churches for inclusion were rather obvious from the outset of the project.
"Some places of worship had to be in the book: Holy Trinity Anglican Church at Stanley Mission, for example, is the oldest building in the province," she said.
"Other necessary buildings include the unique St. Michael the Archangel Ukrainian Orthodox Church near Wakaw, and the National Heritage Site at Veregin, the Veregin Prayer Home.
"By necessity, as well, a section is devoted to First Nations places of worship. Some buildings were chosen because of the photographs Larry had taken of them - too beautiful not to share - and some were chosen to provide equal denominational or regional representation."
Korvemaker said there were also the consideration of story and aesthetics to consider.
"As with Legacy of Stone we wanted buildings that were photogenic and had a good story to go with them," he offered. "Without those two basic criteria, buildings did not make the list.
"We also decided that both urban and rural places of worship was too broad a category, and decided to focus on the rural structures, leaving a book on city churches and synagogues for someone else to write.
"In part, that was because Marg had discovered that people in rural areas often had a better oral tradition and written record of their older buildings than did people in the cities."
There was also a desire to make sure all of rural Saskatchewan was covered.
"We wanted good geographic representation from throughout Saskatchewan, but realized that certain denominations were clustered in specific areas due to the historic development of the province," said Korvemaker. "Hence, many Anglican churches were found in the southeast corner of the province, while most eastern European churches were found in the 100-kilometre wide corridor that follows the Yellowhead Highway from Yorkton to Lloydminster.
"We also strove to give equal representation to each denomination, but found that difficult as some denominations had preserved few of their original buildings, or had so modified them that they failed to meet our criterion relating to being photographically attractive. While some of those buildings were quite appealing in their original design, later renovations, though necessary from a functional perspective, significantly detracted from the appreciation that we were looking for."
So what of Yorkton area churches specifically?
Hryniuk noted several made it to the finished book.
"The 1909 Sts. Vladimir and Olga Ukrainian Catholic Church near Wroxton is interesting for several architectural reasons: milled siding covers its original log construction, a not uncommon occurrence in churches of different denominations throughout Saskatchewan but one that surprises most people; the single large cupola - banya in Ukrainian - that originally surmounted the main section of the church had to be removed because it was sinking into the church, and was replaced by the two towers now flanking the main entrance, a Western style with no Ukrainian precedent; and its 1909 stone and concrete belfry is unlike most separate belfries in Saskatchewan because it was allegedly modelled on the belfry in Sukhostav, the origin of most of the church's founding congregation," she said.
And then there is a church near Rhein.
"Documents dating the construction of St. Elias Orthodox Church near Rhein are elusive, but it is known that the land for the church was donated in 1907 by Vasyl Palamaryk," said Hryniuk. "This church is of interest because not only does it illustrate the Boyko style of construction, so named because it originated in the Boyko region of Ukraine, it is also one of only a few Ukrainian churches in Canada to retain its piddashshia, an eave built half-way down the walls to protect against the elements. In June 2014, the descendents of Vasyl Palamaryk received a Lieutenant Governor of Saskatchewan Heritage Architecture Excellence Award for their preservation of this rare form."
A third church lies just east of the city.
"St. Elia Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Wroxton was built in 1953, which does not fit within our unofficial book guideline of featuring pre-1940 churches, but it is so attractive we wanted to include it," said Hryniuk. "Although the two towers on the primary facade show the influence of Western ecclesiastical architecture, it is considered Cossack Baroque in style because of embellishments such as the tall lanterns supporting the domes."
In creating a book on churches the authors did face a few challenges.
"For me, it was becoming familiar with the history of all the religious denominations that we had decided to include," offered Korvemaker. "I was reasonably familiar with the Roman Catholic and Presbyterian-United Churches, but not with the others, and I was very surprised at how difficult it was to find succinct histories of those denomination on both a provincial and national basis.
"To ensure that we were on the right track when dealing with each of the denominations, we decided early on to get each of our articles with people who appeared to be reasonably expert in their religion.
"We wanted especially to ensure that we used the right terminology, and that we did not misrepresent the historic role of each denomination. We consequently had to edit and re-edit our writings, not only to reflect the suggested changes of our denominational reviewers, but also to meet the requirements of the publisher."
Being as accurate in details as possible took effort, said Hryniuk.
"Probably, for me, the most difficult aspect was finding historical documentation for some places of worship," she said. "The Anglicans have wonderful and wonderfully accessible records, but access to the records of other denominations or belief systems was sometimes challenging, often because of language."
So what do the authors think makes their latest book of interest to readers?
"I think readers will be surprised by this book on places of worship, as it is not 'churchy'," said Hryniuk. "Our province's history, in which religion played such an important part, is fascinating and, in fact, some churches hold more unsolved mysteries than a crime novel. Some church histories are also funny. And it goes without saying that the photography is wonderful: Saskatchewan in all seasons is beautiful, and Larry captures that beauty so well. Even the archival photographs are captivating.
"Both of our books are a finely-tuned mix of historical information, fascinating anecdotes, and historical and modern photographs," added Korvemaker. "In effect, there is something for everyone. For me, I very much enjoy many of Marg's closing sentences, which often come across as a succinct editorial comment.
"I think other readers also appreciate that unique writing component that Marg brings to the book. As well, many people are intimidated by entering a church or synagogue that is not of their own denomination, and so have never been inside the places of worship of other denominations. This book will give them an opportunity to get a look inside without having to brave opening an actual door."
