† Holy Resurrection Russian Orthodox Sobor, Vancouver

Translation from Russian:

Hello, my name is Yana Sherstyak, I am a parishioner of the Holy Resurrection Church. I would like to congratulate this temple on its anniversary on such a big date!

I came to Canada in 1999, almost immediately found this temple, and began going to it. Father Andrey was still alive then. I recognized Father Andrey, Father Mikhail, and Mother Henrietta.

I must say that Father Andrey and Mother Henrietta helped me a lot because I was not entirely sure whether I could paint icons or not, whether it would work out or not – because I am a theater and film artist, decorator, and I have never painted icons. But they really encouraged me, said the right and necessary words, inspired me, and instilled confidence. Thanks to matushka Henrietta, she even suggested some technical points.

Father Andrey gave me a small book so that I could better understand and know the liturgy, what happens at the liturgy. Why do we hear this chant now, why not another chant? Well, that is, so that I consciously approach this, this is what I hear, what I see, so that it all lies down in an orderly row. As he told me then: in the liturgy there is nothing superfluous, nothing that can be removed or added. Well, thank him very much, this was the first book that I read in such depth about my Orthodox Faith, about the meaning of the liturgy, the meaning of all the chants.

And then Father Andrey found out that I was writing poems, poems on my Faith, the awareness of my Faith, me in this Faith. And he once told me, bring me all your poems, I want to read them. I brought him my handwritten poems, and he took them. After some time, while standing at the service, Father Andrey was giving a sermon, and I heard him insert a couple of quotes from my poems in his sermon. He said it as our parishioner wrote, and quotes my poems. I felt so pleased then. Think. Lord, he read everything and even memorized some poems, some lines. Yes, such people, they give you a lot and then you remember them for a very long time. It was such a big shock for me when I found out that Father Andrey died.

Father Michael supported me in difficult times; we all know that emigration is not easy. And no matter how strong a person you are, how motivated you are, and no matter how much you burn all your bridges there, in your homeland, you always think about why you came here. Well, probably in order to get to this Temple and meet these people. And as again, Father Michael once told me, probably so that there are more Orthodox people in Canada. Well then, then everything is clear, then the meaning is clear, why we are here. Then everything becomes their places.

I began to paint icons, I wrote more than thirty-five icons, and for the Church of the Holy Resurrection I wrote two icons: St. Luke (Voino-Yasenetsky) and my first icon was like a gift to this temple, a declaration of love, my declaration of my love to this temple, I wrote the Mother of God Self-Armed or the softening of evil hearts, and presented it to this temple. This is one of my favorite icons of the Mother of God, so I chose it, again with a lot of help from Father Andrey, in the sense that he supported me morally and emotionally. And when I brought this icon to the temple and presented it, he said only one word to me: well done, and patted me on the shoulder. And I took it as “good luck”, I can write further. And then more than thirty-five icons were painted. And my parents also loved this temple very much, my mom and dad.

Well, what can I say, I want this temple to stand for a very, very long time, until the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, probably this will be the case, because all temples must stand until that time. And all Orthodox churches wait for this Coming of Jesus Christ our Savior.

Now, due to poor eyesight and a not very steady hand, I don’t paint icons, unfortunately. Well, but I continue to write poems about my Faith, about my Temple. The people in this church were very supportive of me when my parents died. My parents left one after another, within one year of each other, it was very difficult. We literally disappeared all these years, living in hospitals with mom and dad. There were a lot of trials, there was a lot of stress, but thanks to the church, thanks to the priest, and some words, some actions, and sometimes just compassion, we survived it. But it was very difficult for my family, very difficult.

And again, I wish my beloved Holy-Resurrection Church long life, prosperity and all the very best, and that our rector of the Temple, Father Michael, will live many happy years with us as the rector of our temple. And we, as they say, are around him, near him.