Stefan Ustvolsky

Stefan Ustvolsky was a Russian Orthodox priest excommunicated from the Most Holy Synod in Saint Petersburg and pretend bishop in early Ukrainian Canadian history.

In April 1882, he was accused by the commanding Colonel of the regiment, Ivan Karlović von Burzi (Иван Карлович фон Бурзи), of misconduct which was fully confirmed in the course of the investigation conducted.

In the monastery at Athos, there lived a Master of Theology, Father Stephen Ustvolsky, who had previously been a Court priest in St. Petersburg (Bodrug may have made a mistake here).

To discard his old identity and to look ahead, according to the religious practice of taking on a new name, Ustvolsky chose Seraphim.

Disillusioned, they refused to accept him as their Archbishop and later all returned to their Irish Bishops, ‘repenting’ of their errors.”[5]: 33 Seraphim arrived in Winnipeg in April 1903, along with his assistant Monk Makarii Marchenko.

"Due to various indiscretions and problems with alcohol"[6] Seraphim quickly lost the trust of the intelligentsia who invited him to Winnipeg, and a coup took place in which they moved to get rid of him while not losing his congregation.

Genik introduced us to Seraphim, and we turned out to be the first people able to converse with him in his native Russian, which we had learned as leaders of the Doukhobors.

'”[5]: 37 Sometime later, Bodrug describes their ordination as priests: “Saturday morning, we accompanied Seraphim on a mission to Brokenhead, about fifty miles east of Winnipeg.

Seraphim did bring back photographs showing him celebrating the Bishop’s Mass, with the assistance of Father Ivan Kronshtadsky, a miracle-worker famous throughout Russia.

September 4,) 1905, The Holy Trinity Russian (Greek) Orthodox church was consecrated in Winnipeg, on the corner of McKenzie Street and Manitoba Avenue, by Archbishop Tikhon, Head of the Russian Orthodox Mission in North America and soon to become Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia.

On top of everything, Seraphim lives in his cathedral, where he climbs out onto the roof through the dome and, sits there on a chair, attracting large crowds of contemplatives (especially the neighboring Jews[8]).

"[9] After Seraphim’s departure from Winnipeg, there are records in the Ukrainian Voice newspaper of him selling Bibles to railroad workers in British Columbia.

Possibly, being a larger than life figure, people mistook someone else for Seraphim and only thought they saw him in British Columbia, and these are the reports that trickled back to Winnipeg.