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Consecration of the new Church of St. Tikhon and New Martyrs of Russia in Cambridge, Ontario, Canada.
08:26 PM
Consecration of the new Church of St. Tikhon and New Martyrs of Russia in
Cambridge, Ontario, CanadaOn May 2nd, 2015, through the Grace of God, the new Church of St. Tikhon and New Martyrs of Russia was consecrated in Cambridge, Ontario, Canada. The service, Divine Liturgy and the All-Night Vigil the evening before were headed by His Eminence, the Most Reverend Archbishop Gabriel of Montreal and all of Canada. Many guests and clergy attended these festive services from neighbouring parishes in the area. During the service, the rector of the parish father Evgeniy Shchukin was presented with the right to wear the kamilaukion, and the director of the choir, reader Alexander Oreshkin, was made subdeacon. The parish choir was enriched with voices of visiting choir members from the Holy Trinity Church in Toronto, which helped the choir to sing very festively and prayerfully during the services. The guest clergy included protopriest Vladimir Malchenko (Toronto), protopriest Vladimir Morin (London), protopriest Fyodor Ganchanin (Windson), priest Viatcheslav Davidenko (Toronto), priest Antoniy Filchak (Hamilton), protodeacon Vasiliy Milonow (Ottawa), protodeacon Alexander Morin (Toronto), deacon Dmitry Grigoriev (Calgary) and deacon Boris Bakhvalov (Toronto).
Archbishop Gabriel congratulated the parish with the fact that the Lord has granted them this Church building, and wished that the parish would grow and serve the Lord in love, peace and with humbleness. The same words were echoed by all other clergy who congratulated the parish following service.
After Divine Liturgy, the sisterhood of the parish, lead by head sister (and treasurer of the parish) Raisa Ratsen, organized a charity banquet dinner to raise funds for the church. There were over 210 people in attendance in the newly renovated dining hall of the church building. The students of the parish school, with their teachers Elena Suhak and others, brought more smiles for the guests with a small fairy tale performance, along with other children who performed at the banquet. In addition, the guests were treated to war-time songs by professional singer matushka Maria Bakhvalova, with Lika Entel accompanying her on the piano. Overall, the whole day felt as a festive, warm family event for the entire parish and guests.
For the parish and local community of Cambridge, Kitchener, Waterloo and surrounding area, the consecration of the new Church building is a very long-awaited event. The Russian-speaking Orthodox community in Kitchener and Waterloo has been in existence for over 14 years, and has had significant growth in the last 4 years – during which, the community has a local priest and regular Church services in the old building – a small rented office space. There is also a successful parish school for children with several subjects taught each week. It was obvious that the small rented space was not enough to fit the needs of the Church, sisterhood and parish school, and it is a story worth sharing as to how the new building was acquired.
The rector of the parish, father Evgeniy Shchukin, has been looking and applying for mortgages for various buildings for a number of years, but was declined from the banks each time. Eventually, a building that seemed to be perfect for the parish was found – an old Anglican church with a spacious room for the Church, large parish hall, stage, classrooms and parking. After a church and parish council meeting, it was decided to proceed to collect funds for a down payment, and an unprecedented fundraising effort helped gather a very large sum in a short amount of time. The sellers of the building agreed to the sale, but the bank refused the mortgage application once again. This all happened the night before the feast of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, and father Evgeniy was visiting the Holy Trinity Monastery in Jordanville, NY. How wonderful are the Works of the Lord, and through the prayers of St. Nicholas, as the next day, the feastday of St. Nicholas, as father Evgeniy was leaving the monastery with heavy thoughts, he received a phone call from the agent at the bank – she said that she decided to resubmit the mortgage application when it was rejected, and miraculously, it was instantly approved! The news was received with great joy by the parish, and after a thanksgiving moleben, the parish began to prepare for the renovations and move to the new building.There was very little time to prepare for the move – in one month, with the colossal help from volunteers from the parish, the main renovations were complete in the new Church space, the dining hall and classrooms. Below are some photographs that show the extent of the work that was made in such a short time.
The rector and parish of St. Tikhon and New Martyrs of Russia thank the Lord for the new Church building, and also Archbishop Gabriel for his prayers, support and visit for the Consecration of the new Church. The rector and parish also thank all visiting clergy and guests who came to share the joyous occasion with the parish, the sisterhood for their tireless work in organizing the charity banquet dinner, and all those who donated and helped with the renovations and preparations for this day.
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Easter Bazaar at the parish of Our Lady of Smolensk Russian Orthodox Church in Jackson’s Point, Ontario (Berezki)
01:01 PM
Easter Bazaar at the parish of Our Lady of Smolensk Russian Orthodox Church in Jackson’s Point, Ontario (Berezki)
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Paschal Epistle of His Eminence Gabriel, Archbishop of Montreal & Canada. 2015
06:34 AM
Paschal Epistle
To the Priests, the Clergy
& the Entire Flock of the Diocese of Canada,
Beloved of GodBrethren & sisters beloved in the Lord,
Christ is Risen!
In these bright paschal days, when we greet each other with the joyful words “Christ is Risen,” our hearts are filled with an all-encompassing and unspeakable feeling of grace, which the Risen Lord gives to us as a foreshadowing of the promised Pascha in the heavenly kingdom.
We truly rejoice when we hear the soul-warming paschal hymns. These hymns, along with the particular paschal greeting, stay with us for forty days and thus show us that the Resurrection of Christ is truly the feast of feasts.
St. John Chrysostom, in his homily which is read during the paschal night, says: “Enter all of you, therefore, into the joy of our Lord,” even those that came, as Christ says in the parable, at the eleventh hour; those that fasted and those that did not, for the Lord accepts all and warms them with the grace of Pascha.
The ever-memorable Metropolitan Vitaly used to say that we must be especially thankful during these days that we are Orthodox Christians, because only in the true Church can we feel this paschal grace.
St. Paul in his epistle to the Corinthians writes: “If Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain” (1 Cor. 15: 14). The holy fathers explain that, had Christ not resurrected, His coming into the world, ministry and sufferings would not have meaning.
Truly our own lives would be completely without meaning and purpose had not Christ appeared to us and resurrected from the dead, granting us life eternal. How terrifying must it be for the unbeliever, who after this temporary life has no hope? In what or in whom can he have hope? Therefore it is with complete fairness that David the psalmist said, “The fool hath said in his heart, there is no God” (Ps. 13 (14): 1).
We, on the other hand, know truly that Christ through his salvific struggle vanquished death and opened to us the way to Eden. Therefore our Lord gives us this special feeling of joy, so that we do not forget that He is waiting for the truly faithful in eternity. Remembering this, we must always try to live our lives so that we will be worthy of the unwaning light of God’s kingdom.
“This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it” (Ps. 117 (118): 24).
Truly Christ is Risen!
Gabriel,
Archbishop of Montréal & CanadaPascha of Christ, 2015
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Resolution of the Pastoral Retreat & Assembly Of the Priests & Clergy of the Diocese of Montréal & Canada March, 2015
02:34 PM
Resolution of the Clergy of the Montreal and Canadian Diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church of the Outside of Russia
Ottawa, Ontario
March 9-11, 2015
We, the clergy of the Diocese of Montreal and Canada of the Russian Orthodox Church, gathered together in the capital of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, at the parish of the Protection of the Virgin Mary, under the chairmanship of his grace Archbishop Gabriel. It is meaningful that in 2015, when the Church is celebrating the 1000-year anniversary of the repose of St. Vladimir, the baptizer of Russia, we held our annual clergy retreat in the Ottawa parish whose church was built as a memorial to the baptism of Russia.
The Church beautifully sums up how we should spend our time during this Lenten season in the following hymn: “Come, ye faithful, … let us cast away every unjust accusation against our neighbour, … Let us lay aside the pleasures of the flesh, and increase the spiritual gifts of our soul. Let us give bread to those in need, and let us draw near unto Christ, crying in penitence: O our God, have mercy on us” (Stichiron at “Lord I have cried” on Friday of the first week of Great Lent). We thank God that during our gathering we were able to put some of these words into practice by cleansing our souls through the sacrament of confession and growing spiritually through prayer at the divine services and Communion of Christ’s Body and Blood at the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts. We call upon our flock to remember the central importance of the Divine Mysteries in our spiritual lives and to prepare for Communion accordingly, through fasting, prayer both at home and at church and heartfelt confession.
With sorrow we observe that the conflict in eastern Ukraine has not completely subsided and that Orthodox Christians as well as other peoples continue to suffer both physical and spiritual hardships. We fervently pray that our Lord grant not only peace to Ukraine, but also that He strengthen the canonical Church in that land.
The recent decision of the Supreme Court of Canada to strike down the ban on assisted suicide brings pain to our hearts. At the church services of Great Lent, we are constantly reminded of the physical and spiritual struggles that the martyrs endured for Christ. We call upon all God-fearing people to cherish life, the most precious gift given to us from God, and to emulate the holy martyrs by enduring until the end any suffering that the Lord may send us. Only in this way will we show our spiritual courage and defeat the devil.
Despite these sad, events the Church, including our diocese, continues to be like that candle on a candlestick that gives light to the whole house (Matthew 5:15). With joy we see that our St. Tikhon Patriarch of Moscow Russian Orthodox parish in Waterloo, Ontario has acquired a new and permanent church building. It is fitting that this has happened in the year when we celebrate the 90th anniversary of St. Tikhon’s blessed repose. We are optimistic that, with God’s help, our new communities in Red Deer, Alberta and Saskatoon, Saskatchewan will continue to grow and with time will flourish, just like the parish of St. Tikhon in Waterloo. We also give thanks to our Saviour and His most pure Mother that this year our parish in Ottawa, Ontario is celebrating 50 years of existence, while the parish of All Saints in Calgary, Alberta is marking its 85th anniversary. We also note that the annual music conference of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia will be held in Calgary this year.
Finally, we ask that all faithful members of the Russian Orthodox Church join us in praying for the health of our beloved first-hierarch Metropolitan Hilarion.
May the Lord God bless all of you and give you the strength to complete this lenten season in a spiritually profitable way and joyfully meet the bright feast of Pascha.
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The Parish of St.Tikhon, Patriarch of Moscow in Waterloo, Ontario purchase new church building.
11:10 AM
The parish of St. Tikhon and New Martyrs of Russia in Waterloo, Ontario, is celebrating a very important event in their parish life – through God’s grace, they have acquired a new building for the church, located at 100 Pollock Ave, Cambridge, Ontario. The first Divine Liturgy was held in the new church building on March 1st, 2015, the Sunday of the Triumph of Orthodoxy. The new church was full with parishioners and guests.
The parish had just one month to prepare the new building for moving the church and parish school. All work was done by the hands of the parishioners, which united everyone as one family.
The rector of the parish Fr. Evgeniy Shchukin, the church council, parish school, sisterhood and the entire parish are thankful to God for sending them the means and people to help realize their long-awaited wish of having their own building for the church. There was a huge fundraising success in helping to gather funds for the downpayment, as well as many individuals who responded to the call for help in the moving efforts. Work is still ongoing in the new church building.
