Ukrainian Orthodox church in Chilliwack listed for sale, prompts petition to save it

A Ukrainian Orthodox church has been put up for sale in Chilliwack, following years of declining membership and a rising debt bill.

St. Demetrius Ukrainian Orthodox church has been in the community for decades.

But as the years have gone on the membership has dropped, and the expenses have gone up. Now, the iconic building is up for sale.

A trustee told CTV News outstanding legal bills and repair costs make keeping the church untenable.

“We have quite a substantial legal bill which needs to be paid, and so because there’s no money, we didn’t have much choice,” trustee Vera Penner told CTV News outside the church on Friday. “And when you look at the condition of the church, it needs a lot of work.”

Penner says the church needs significant work done on it. The roof has a leak and there are other issues. As she locked the church up Friday evening, she noted to a reporter the lights didn’t seem to be working.

But there is an effort to keep the church going, especially in light of a significant influx of Ukrainians to the Fraser Valley since Russia’s invasion.

As of Friday evening, a petition set up to save the church had gathered 267 signatures.

“It was painful, and for me, it doesn’t work,” said Volodymyr Ivashyna, a Ukrainian living in Chilliwack who moved to Canada after Russia’s invasion. “We tried to unite all Ukrainians in Chilliwack and we have people from Vancouver, Burnaby, Abbotsford, they came to us and they shared their ideas.”

Ivashyna took in a service at the church in mid-December, featuring Father Cornell Zubritsky, a senior member of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada.

He noted there were dozens of people there and questioned the need to shut the church given the crowd.

Penner acknowledged to CTV that the turnout for Zubritsky’s liturgy was substantial, but said it’s far from the typical attendance the church has had in recent years.

Reached in Edmonton, Zubritsky told CTV it’s unusual for a member church to sell a property without involving the larger church.

“There are no provisions for arbitrarily disposing of property without the national, our council, we call it the consistory board, being involved in those transactions, but that seems to be what’s happened,” Zubritsky told CTV. “There has been an arbitrary decision made.”

Penner insists money hasn’t flowed from the larger church organization and the sale is necessary. She says Zubritsky had outlined a fundraising plan but said what had been offered was insufficient given the funds needed to keep the church a going concern.

“And I have mentioned to the Ukrainian people, that they should be looking at Father Zubritsky, who is second in command at the church, in Edmonton, and he could look for a place for them.”

Zubritsky is trying to work out a future home for Chilliwack’s Ukrainian Orthodox community. He says the church enjoys a strong relationship with the Metis, and has said there has been an offer to use a community centre for services.

With the church now listed for sale, and fears the church will be demolished, it’s all coming as a disappointment to those who have helped support Ukrainians arriving in the country and looking for a community hub.

“Here you have people saying, we want to help, we want to resurrect this place, we want to breathe some life into it, and they’re just not being given the chance,” said Bradley Gionet with the Chilliwack Supports Ukraine Facebook Group.

Gionet started by taking in a Ukrainian following Russia’s invasion and has helped the newcomers in different ways.

He feels the new arrivals from Ukraine need to be given a chance to revitalize the church but, without regular services, they haven’t been given that opportunity.

Regardless, Penner insists if there is any profit from the sale it will go back to the consistory in Winnipeg.

The realtor for the listing told CTV News that as of Friday afternoon there were no offers for the church, with the trustees for the charitable society which owns it asking for $750,000.