In the late 1920s, pioneer homesteaders began settling on virgin land north and west of Spirit River town which was then the frontier and the end of the Northern Alberta Railway.
The first activities for an organized Orthodox Parish began in 1929, when Fred Nasedkin with a team of horses traveled throughout of Devale and Spirit River area canvassing for donation for the building of the church. Alex Karol donated two acres of land which is now the present site of the Holy Trinity Church and cemetery, located six kilometers west of Spirit River and twenty kilometers north across the Rat and Ksituan Creeks. The logs were cut by the pioneer members on George Badiuk’s farm who donated the timber for the church. That church served the parish from 1930 to 1956, when the construction of present church building was begun.