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Jubilee Celebration of the 40th anniversary of church service of mitred archpriest o.Vladimir Malchenko.

21 December 2013

In December 2013 Holy Trinity parish in Toronto celebrated with great joy the special date of its history: the 40th anniversary of the Priesthood of its perpetual Prior – Mitred Archpriest Father Vladimir Malchenko. Father Vladimir was ordained into Deaconate on December the 2d, 1973, in Saint Nicholas Cathedral of Montreal by the Ruling Bishop of Canadian Diocese at that time, of blessed memory, His Grace Vladyka Vitaly (Ustinov), the future Metropolitan and Hierarch of Russian Orthodox Church Abroad. Only a few months later Father Vladimir was honored by the Priesthood and from that very time never left the Holy Trinity parish, having received it from another and also prominent representative of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad – memorable Father Archpriest Mathew Andrewszhenko.
His Eminence Vladika Gabriel, The Archbishop of Montreal and Canada, who arrived to Toronto especially for this parish’s celebration, in his greeting Word mentioned the above stated stages of the career of Father Vladimir. We also would like to remind here that throughout the years, when Father Vladimir has been the prior, Holy Trinity parish became the biggest of all that belong to the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad. About half thousand people gather in this church for every Divine Liturgy, not speaking about the Feast Days and Easter time… This is, truly, “Russian”, almost “Moscow”, scale, that is common now for the revived Orthodox Church in our Motherland… Let us add that till the resent time Father Vladimir had been the only Priest of the grand Holy Trinity Cathedral, but the Liturgies and Vesper Services in this Cathedral took place almost every day. Holy Trinity parish is also famous for its church school for children with its more than 200 students.
On the 14th of December a splendid Episcopal Vesper Service took place in the Cathedral, at the end of which all clergy and the guests were invited for the dinner.
The next morning, on Sunday the 15th, the Episcopal Divine Liturgy, conducted by His Eminence Archbishop of Montreal and Canada Gabriel, together with the arrived for this celebration His Grace Bishop George, the head of the Serbian Orthodox Church in Canada, was served. The Mitred Archpriest Vladimir Malchenko and the second Priest of the Holy Trinity Cathedral Fr. Vyacheslav Davidenko, as well as Archdeacon Fr. Vassiliy Milonow ( The Protection of The Mother of God Church in Ottawa), Fr. Stephan ( Serbian Orthodox Church), Fr. Alexandre Morin and Fr. Boris Bakhvalov ( Holy Trinity Cathedral, Toronto) were co-serving to our church’s hierarchs.
The Church choir, conducted by the Reader George Anatolyevich Skok, whose brilliant regent’s skills are renown well beyond the border of Canadian Diocese, as usually, was singing very touchingly and inspiringly.
After The Divine Liturgy had been served, His Eminence Vladika Gabriel spoke to all who were present in the Cathedral. He heartily greeted his confrere , His Grace Bishop George, and underlined that such service was held for the first time in the Canadian Diocese, but, with the help of God, Our Lord, won’t be the only one, for Orthodox Serbian and Russian peoples are tied together by the special spiritual bonds, which have always been and will always be sacrosanct. Then His Eminence Vladyka Gabriel announced that, according to the resolution of the Bishops’ Council of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, to commemorate 40 years of serving in the rank of a Priest and for the outstanding diligence, dedication and hard-working for the well-being of our Mother Church, Mitred Archpriest Vladimir Malchenko was to be rewarded by the Church Order “The Sign”, of the Third Degree, with presenting to him all the insignia of the Order ,as well as the appropriate certificate.
At the ceremonial dinner, that followed, over 200 guests were present. In His greeting Word His Eminence Archbishop Gabriel, as it was already noted, touched several life circumstances of Father Vladimir, and also mentioned multiple years of work of his faithful companion – Matushka Elisaveta Stepanovna. According to the words of Vladika Gabriel, “Matushki might be imperceptible, but the more invisible for the surrounding people their everyday role in the life of a parish is, the more powerful and beneficial is their influence into this life…” Then Serbian Bishop of Canada Vladika George addressed Fr. Vladimir and the present guests. Having expressed what an exquisite joy the possibility of such a joint Service together with His Eminence Vladyka Gabriel is, Bishop George also touched the topic of the spiritual unity of the Serbian and Russian peoples.
In this connection, let us point out at the fact that in the coming 2014 year another anniversary- 30 years of serving of His Grace Bishop George in Canada – will take place. For this time the number of the Serbian Orthodox parishes in this country has grown from 8 to 30.
With the touching words of gratitude the central figure of the feast – Father Vladimir himself- addressed everybody, who was sitting in the banquet hall. In his Word Archpriest Vladimir reminded, in particular, about that excessive brotherly help ,which was offered by the Serbian Patriarchate and the King’s House of Serbia to the suffering Russian Church in the years of the Second Russian Turmoil. It was Serbian Kingdom that sheltered Russian Bishops, headed at that time by the blessed Metropolitan Antony, and Serbian Patriarchs bequeathed to Russian Orthodox Church practical autonomy and the right of spiritual guidance of the Russian immigrants who had come to live in Serbia.
On behalf of the Holy Trinity parish, the second Priest Father Vyacheslav, presented Father Vladimir with a memorable gift: a golden pectoral Cross with incrustations.
The concert started when the dessert course was over. First the Cathedral choir, conducted by the Reader G. A. Skok, sang, among the rest, the favorite song of Father Vladimir: “Russia, You are all covered with snow!” Later another two choir groups of younger singers also performed very successfully under the guidance of Matushka Maria Valerievna Bakhvalova.
At the end of the feast the overall gratitude was expressed towards the Sisterhood of the Cathedral of Holy Trinity for traditionally perfect banquet, for which this parish has been famous for a long time.
Glory to God, Our Lord, for everything!
The participant of the Feast