On Sunday, October 18, our Cathedral marked its Centennial year the way the Church marks everything that matters most — at the Divine Liturgy. His Eminence Metropolitan Ilarion, Primate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada, led the Archpastoral Visitation and Hierarchical Divine Liturgy, concelebrated by thirteen clergy — the Chancellor of the UOCC, the priests of the Cathedral, clergy of neighbouring parishes, and priests who themselves served at the Cathedral in years past: Fr. Cornell Zubritsky (Chancellor of the UOCC), Fr. Dr. Jaroslaw Buciora (Dean of the Cathedral), Fr. Bohdan Sencio, Fr. Mikolaj Sidorski, Fr. Dr. Roman Bozyk, Fr. William Makarenko, Fr. Bohdan Kozenko, Fr. Vitaliy Humeniuk, Fr. Vasyl Fediv, Fr. Volodymyr Kaspryk, Fr. Volodymyr Feskiv, Fr. Vasyl Kobrii, and Fr. Deacon Kostyantyn Yastreb. The church was full: parishioners of the Cathedral and the Chapel, guests from neighbouring parishes, former parishioners who came home for the day, and friends of our community.

A hierarchical Liturgy is longer and more solemn than our usual Sunday service, and that is the point. The vesting of the Metropolitan in the middle of the church, the many clergy around one altar, the responses sung by our choir under Andriy Dmytrovych, the Great Entrance with the whole assembly of clergy — all of it makes visible what is true at every Liturgy: that we are one Church, gathered around one chalice, with our bishop at its head.

The Gospel of the day was the raising of the widow’s son at Nain, and Metropolitan Ilarion built his homily on it. God made us in His image, he said, and the image can never be taken from us — but the likeness is not a gift; it is a goal, and it depends on our own free choice, because love is possible only in freedom. Evil, sickness, and death are not God’s doing; they come when we try to build a paradise without Him — and today’s “religion of money” will end the way every such civilization has ended. Everything in this life comes and goes; only God’s love for us sinners is eternal and unchanging, and it is stronger than death. The Metropolitan then turned to our own story: more than a thousand years ago, under St. Volodymyr, our people chose the true faith; a hundred years ago, his worthy descendants in Toronto, far across the ocean from Kyiv, founded this community under his patronage. He closed with a prayer for Ukraine and a blessing on all who have prayed in this church, who pray in it now, and who will pray in it always.

After the Liturgy, the day continued in the Cathedral Hall with a festive luncheon in honour of the clergy who have served our parish throughout its hundred years. About 150 guests gathered at the tables. Greetings were offered by His Eminence Metropolitan Ilarion, by Fr. Vasyl Fediv, rector of St. Andrew’s parish, and by Marta Smalley, President of St. Anne’s parish in Scarborough and a former parishioner of the Cathedral. The heart of the program was a presentation by Franko Diakovsky on the clergy of our parish — the priests who served here over a hundred years, and the remarkable stories of their lives and ministry.

Guests were also invited on a tour of the Cathedral — a short walk through what a century of parishioners has built and what has been added in just the last few years: the new windows and terrazzo floor, the icons, the Golgotha, the kiosk, and the many furnishings restored or gilded anew. For long-time members it was a chance to see familiar things with fresh eyes; for guests, an introduction to a church that is still being built, one generation at a time.

A Centennial is not a date on a calendar; it is a hundred years of Sundays, of baptisms and funerals, of prayers offered in this church by people most of us never met. On October 18 we gave thanks for all of them — and asked God’s blessing on the century that begins with us.

We extend our heartfelt thanks to His Eminence Metropolitan Ilarion for his archpastoral visit, his prayers, and his word to us; to all the clergy who concelebrated; to our choir; to the organizing committee and to every volunteer who prepared the church, the hall, the luncheon, the program, and the tour, and who stayed to clean up afterward; and to everyone who came to pray with us. May God bless you for your service, kindness, and generosity!

We invite you to enjoy some of the photos from the day below.

 

Our Centennial celebrations continue. On Saturday, November 7, we will gather at the St. Volodymyr Event Centre in Oakville for the Centennial Gala Celebration.

Learn more: https://www.stvolodymyr.ca/parish-news-updates/centennial-gala-celebration

Many blessed years to our Cathedral — and to all of you who are its living stones!

With sincere prayers, St. Volodymyr Cathedral of Toronto and All Saints of Ukraine Chapel