Russo-Orthodox Church of the Transfiguration (Star Edna)

The historical significance of the Russo-Orthodox Church of the Transfiguration (Star Edna) lies in its association with the outcome of one of the most divisive religious struggles in the history of Ukrainian settlement in western Canada. A Greek Catholic congregation built a church on this site in 1899, but it soon became the focus of a significant battle for control between the Greek Catholic and Orthodox Churches. Those members of the congregation denouncing the dominance of Roman Catholic clergy chose to withdraw and revert to the principles of Russian Orthodoxy, under the name of the Russo-Greek Orthodox Church. The disputed ownership of the church, which closed from 1902 to 1906, went to court, while the debate raged on the pages of North American Ukrainian and Russian language periodicals, and in immigrant homes, tearing communities, friends and families apart. After two appeals the case was settled on December 3, 1907, by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in London, the highest court available to Canadians, in favour of the breakaway Russo-Greek Orthodox congregation, while those who wished to remain Greek Catholic (Uniate) were awarded a proportionate compensation based on the property's current value. An abiding legacy of the dispute at Star was that when other congregations subsequently experienced similar splits, their differences were ironed out without resorting to court battles.

The site of the Russo-Orthodox Church of the Transfiguration (Star Edna) is also significant for its direct association with Ivan Pylypow, believed to be the first Ukrainian immigrant in Canada, who homesteaded immediately south on the section of land that formed the nucleus of Ukrainian settlement in east-central Alberta. Ivan Pylypow, one of the founding members of the Greek Catholic congregation, eventually joined the breakaway Russo-Greek Orthodox congregation, and is buried in the cemetery adjacent to the church. The one hundred year anniversary of the arrival of the first four Ukrainian immigrant families to the Star-Edna district was celebrated with a service in the Russo-Orthodox Church of the Transfiguration (Star Edna) and ceremonies at the cemetery in 1994. The site is a prominent landmark in the Star district and has remained in continuous use as a place of worship to the present.

The Russo-Orthodox Church of the Transfiguration (Star Edna) has architectural value as a representative example of a church built on a cruciform plan with a distinctive central drum and dome, defining features of church architecture rooted in the Byzantine tradition. It was built by the Russo-Greek Orthodox congregation who dismantled the ill-fated 1899 church, cut the logs into lumber and used this material to build the new church. The associated wood-frame bell tower, built at an undetermined date, is typical in design and proportion of bell towers in the region that were constructed for permanent housing of the church bell.