A new parish of UOC opened in Canada

The UOC Church of the Nativity of the Virgin. Photo: lavra.ua

In Canada, the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary parish of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church opened in Richmond Hill (the Greater Toronto Area), reports the site of the Kyiv-Caves Lavra.

The parish, the rector of which is Archpriest Artemy Litvinov, was opened with the blessing of the Primate of the UOC and "is truly in unity with the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which carries its salvation mission under the omophorion of His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry".

It is reported that at the moment the issue of canonical affiliation in Canada is acute since the so-called "Ukrainian Orthodox Church" of the Patriarchate of Constantinople operates in the country.

The report also said that due to the fact that Patriarch Bartholomew granted Ukrainian schismatics "autocephaly", many people "who do not share the actions of Patriarch Bartholomew, as well as those Local Churches that supported him, want to remain in the bosom of the canonical Church".

To solve this problem, His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry blessed the opening of the parish of the Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, which is spiritually guided by the Holy Dormition Kyiv-Caves Lavra.

According to the site of the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra, the church is currently undergoing renovations, and regular services will begin in January 2020.

Metropolitan Pavel Vyshgorod and Chernobyl, the viceroy of the Kyiv-Caves Monastery, noted that "the opening of this parish will help our compatriots, who for various reasons have found themselves far beyond the borders of their historical homeland, to remain in the bosom of the canonical Church, to remain faithful to the Church Tradition and the structure of the Church".

As reported earlier, in 2019 the UOC has grown by 250 communities and 100 monastics.

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