History of Our Parish

St. Sophia Orthodox Church, Victoria, BC, Canada

Our mosaicked St. Sophia (Holy Wisdom) Icon-Not-Made-by-Hands Name-Sake as seen at the front of the church’s roof apex.

The beginnings of our parish began in the late 1970’s within the tiny Victoria BC mission “Holy Theophany” church beautifully built within a transfigured garage . That was the first time many saw the Kursk Root Icon which was brought there.

The small regular congregation included the Russian Prince Nikita Galitzine ☦️  and his English wife, Princess Eve ☦️.  As church services were in Church Slavonic, Canadian non-Orthodox visitors from various religious backgrounds naturally gravitated to Princess Eve (herself a British convert), to ask questions regarding the services and about the Orthodox Faith.

When the little mission moved away in 1981, worship continued at the nearest Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, located in Vancouver, BC. ( a nearly 4 hour return ferry boat trip) Both Prince Nikita and Princess Eve knew the priest at Vancouver’s Holy Trinity Church, the Very Reverend Archpriest Father Vladimir Chekanovsky ☦️ , who in turn welcomed the Victoria contingent to their new “home parish”.

The faithful would travel when they could to Vancouver on Sundays and Feast Days. Father Vladimir blessed us to have Reader’s Services at certain homes when people were unable to go to Vancouver. During the next four years, many Victorians were eventually baptized and/or married in the Church at Holy Trinity in Vancouver.

In 1985, during a visit to Holy Trinity in Vancouver, Archbishop Vitaly of Canada, personally chose a parishioner from the Victoria congregation to begin the training of becoming our priest (now the reposed Archpriest John Adams Mon. Aug. 12, 2024 ☦️).

Metropolitan Vitaly  ☦️  and Princess Eve Galitzine ☦️ , Vancouver BC, Canada

Princess Eve, a gifted and experienced church iconographer herself, began teaching a few Victoria parishioners the Byzantine art of painting icons. This in time, flourished into adorning the present day building church you see now, with icons and mosaics, another ancient tradition.

St. Sophia was officially incorporated as a parish in 1986. While parishioners continued to visit Vancouver for services, the elderly Archpriest Vladimir also occasionally travelled to Victoria, to celebrate Divine Liturgy at various homes. While his health permitted, Father Vladimir would come to baptize babies and elderly converts who were unable to travel to Vancouver.

After many years of training and serving in Vancouver BC, on September 1st, 1991, the Reverend Father John Adams ☦️  was ordained to the priesthood and rector of St. Sophia’s.

During the next ten years, Father John and his wife, matushka Alexandra, opened their own home as a mission church, for services and all the Feast days.

Metropolitan Vitaly  and Archpriest Vladimir insisted all our services to be in the native English language of our land… and upon hearing the Divine Liturgy for the first time in English, Russian Prince Nikita Galitzine joyfully commented on how amazed he was to be able to literally follow and understand the whole Liturgy exactly, word for word!

In 1999, and God’s time, our parish’s founders, Prince and Princess Galitzine (both now of Eternal Memory ☦️ ), secured the purchase of this church building for the parish, which by God’s Grace, we have today.

For nearly seven more years (and numerous parishioner fundraisers), during the upstairs renovations to bring the church up to the strict city building codes, the weekly and festal services were held in the basement chapel of the church building.

Archpriest John  blessing the church and parishioners during procession May 22, 2019

In late 2006, it was with great joy that the  parish officially moved upstairs into the church-proper and are continuing to adorn the church in a manner befitting the glory of God.

The little basement chapel became the parish mosaics studio.

Our priest Father Philosoph delivering a beautiful homily at Archpriest John’s funeral. (Fri. Aug. 16, 2024)

St. Sophia Dome: “Behold our God in Whom we hope and rejoice in our salvation, that He may grant rest to this House.” – Isaiah 25