Jackson’s Point, Ontario, Canada, April 1, 2026
Photo: berezkihram.org
A Russian Orthodox parish in Ontario is growing and has launched a campaign to fund an expansion of its church building.
The Church of the Smolensk Icon of the Mother of God “in Beryozki,” in Jackson’s Point, Ontario, has launched a fundraising campaign to build a narthex and porch in front of the church.
The parish, which belongs to the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia (ROCOR), received a long-awaited building permit in 2025 after three years of documentation work. The project has been complicated by the church’s location on conservation territory. Construction is planned to begin in June 2026, with completion expected by August 2027, when the parish will mark the 70th anniversary of its founding.
The campaign has a target of CAD $350,000 (approx. USD $255,000). As of writing, CAD $8,120 (approx. USD $5,900) has been raised. One-time or monthly donations can be made online.
The current expansion project is described as a historic moment in the life of the parish. The rector, Archpriest Maksim Abroskin, and the Parish Council issued the fundraising appeal in January 2026.
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Photo: berezkihram.org
The parish community traces its origins to 1953, when the Artuchov family settled in the Jackson’s Point area on the shores of Lake Simcoe. The natural landscape, with its birch trees and lake, reminded the newcomers of their native Russia, and other families soon followed. They named the settlement “Beryozki”—the Russian word for birches.
On August 10, 1957, the feast day of the Smolensk Icon of the Mother of God, the growing community resolved to build a church in honor of that icon. The following year, services were held in a structure with birch columns supporting a tarpaulin roof, and the foundation of a small wooden church with a traditional dome was laid. By 1962, the church was ready to be consecrated by Archbishop Vitaly.
As more Russian families arrived in the 1960s, Beryozki developed into a thriving community that soon outgrew the original building. In 1980, the old church was relocated to make way for a new, larger stone structure, which opened in 1981. Two years later, the gleaming cupola and cross were hoisted into place. Several new icons were subsequently added to the interior, including one commemorating the millennium of Christianity in Russia in 1988.
In 1990, the community completed another major project with the opening of the Our Lady of Smolensk Russian Orthodox Retirement Centre.
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