St. Nicholas Orthodox Church Scarborough, Toronto, English Language Orthodox Church Toronto,Orthodox Services English

English Orthodox Church in Toronto, English Language Christian Orthdox Services

Parish Announcements

Holy Pentecost 2025 – Hierarchical Liturgy with Metropolitan Gregory

By

Dear and Faithful Orthodox Christians,

How joyous that we celebrated the great Feast of Pentecost on June 7 & 8, 2025 with our blessed and faithful Hierarch and steadfast follower of the Holy Apostles, Gregory, Metropolitan of Boston and Toronto!

‘Blessed art Thou, O Christ our God, who hast shown forth the fisherman as supremely wise, by sending down upon them the Holy Spirit!’

Metropolitan Gregory blesses the Five loaves on the Eve of Pentecost

Saint John Chrysostom says in his homily for this day, ‘This Holy Spirit also ordains priests, consecrates churches, purifies altars, perfects sacrifices and cleanses people of their sins.   This Holy Spirit abides with the godly, refines the righteous and guides Kings… This Holy Spirit enlightens souls and sanctifies bodies. It is the same Holy Spirit Who descended upon the Apostles and filled them with divine wisdom.’  And it is this same Holy Spirit, our God, who consecrated the successors of the Apostles and our Metropolitan Gregory as Bishop and Hierarch of our holy Church.

 

 

Divine Liturgy of Pentecost amongst the trees in the Cathedral

As the Metropolitan said in his sermon, ‘the Holy Spirit comes so that we should have access and be connected to the redeemed nature of Man that Our Saviour has and through which He defeated Death.  (And) when the Holy Spirit came visibly upon the heads of the Apostles…at that moment, the Apostles were ordained as High Priests of the Church after Our Saviour, the True High Priest…. It is through this gift of Priesthood that allows us to celebrate all the Divine Mysteries.’  This holy Mystery of the Hierarchical Liturgy was celebrated by the Metropolitan together with Father Anthony, Father Sergey, and Father Protodeacon George.

After the Divine Liturgy, we celebrated Vespers of Pentecost and as a congregation, we knelt together for the first time since Holy Week as the Metropolitan read over us the great Kneeling Prayers asking for the rich mercies of God upon us.   The Chanters magnified the Holy Trinity saying, ‘The Holy Spirit hath ever been, and is, and shall be, neither beginning nor ending; but He is ever ranked and numbered together with the Father and the Son.’

 

Metropolitan Gregory with Clergy and Servers on Pentecost

After the conclusion of the Kneeling Prayers, we continued our celebrations with a festive luncheon outside on the Church grounds, having the opportunity to socialize, and also to receive some further instruction from the Metropolitan who answered questions on prayer and the spiritual life.  It was an edifying and happy day!  God bless everyone who contributed toward the celebration with donations, food preparation, flower arranging, chanting, bell-ringing, serving, hosting guests, cleaning the Church and grounds, the clean up afterwards, and all the other detail work that with Our Saviour’s blessing brought us such a grace-filled Pentecost.

Enjoying time together on Holy Pentecost

Through the prayers of the Holy Apostles, O Saviour, save us!
Father Anthony

Pascha 2025 – Christ is Risen! Truly He is Risen!

By

St. Nicholas Orthodox Cathedral
Christ is Risen!   Truly He is Risen!
Pascha 2025

Dear and Faithful Orthodox Christians,

Christ is Risen!

Truly He is Risen!

May Our Saviour’s victory over Hades, trampling down death by death, and His glorious Resurrection from the dead, be for all of us a wellspring of enlightenment and hope throughout the year ahead.

How blessed we were throughout Holy Week to hear together the magnificent hymns, readings from the Scriptures and to be present in the sacred Services.  We stood at the Cross of our Saviour and in the deep of night on Saturday heard the announcement from the Gospel of Matthew: ‘He is Risen, He is not here… go quickly and tell His disciples that He is Risen from the dead.’                                                                                                         

“Christ is Risen from the dead, by death hath He trampled down death,
and on those in the graves hath He bestowed life!”

We rejoiced also at the Baptisms of the newly illumined servant of God Edward, and the newly illumined servant of God Laurence.  May Christ our God strengthen them on the firm foundation of the Faith and Traditions of the Apostles in the holy Orthodox Church!   And how magnificent a blessing it was at the Agape Vespers of Love on Sunday afternoon to hear the holy Gospel read in thirteen different languages: English, Slavonic, Cantonese, Amharic, Italian, French, German, Hindi, Greek, Macedonian, Telugu, Ukrainian, and Spanish!

Renewed in Spirit and in Faith, let us come together each Sunday and Feast day ahead and worship Our Risen Lord Jesus Christ.

To Him be glory and dominion unto the ages! Amen.

Father Anthony

Paschal Encyclical of Metropolitan Gregory 2025

By

Paschal Encyclical of Metropolitan Gregory

St. Nicholas Orthodox Cathedral

Dear and faithful Orthodox Christians,

Christ is Risen!    Truly He is Risen!

Our Metropolitan Gregory issued the following Encyclical for Pascha 2025.
Please read through his beautiful and instructive words.

The pdf may be found here:

https://mcusercontent.com/f55360c0bbb65ffab2f6730b5/files/3bba68c7-ee53-ab58-af44-1aeeb815c202/PaschalEncyclical2025.pdf

Father Anthony

Celebrating Saint Nicholas Feast and Holy Nativity

By

Dear and Faithful Orthodox Christians,

Thanks to God for our joyous Feast of the Nativity of Our Lord, God, and Saviour Jesus Christ!

These have been truly remarkable and grace-filled days!  Bringing our gifts of prayer, chanting, our offerings to support the Church, and our community spirit of fellowship, it was as if we ascended mystically to Bethlehem and stood in the Church at the cave with the Magi and the Shepherds as our Christian companions.  Following the Nativity Services of Royal Hours, Vesperal Liturgy, the Great Vigil, and then the Divine Liturgy of Nativity Day, the joy of the Feastday resounded throughout our Luncheon and the happy singing of Christmas Carols.

   Saint Nicholas Church magnificently decorated for Nativity

And just over two weeks before, our Nativity Fast had been illumined at the Feast of our holy patron Saint Nicholas!  We can recall now the compunctionate All-night Vigil Service, the Hierarchical Liturgy that was celebrated on the Feast of Saint Nicholas with our Metropolitan Gregory of Boston and Toronto, who presided, together with John, Bishop of Woodside, New York.   Father Protodeacon George and I were also accompanied by a number of visiting clergy including our beloved Elder and Abbott Isaac of Holy Transfiguration Monastery, Father Sergey from Saint Seraphim Parish, Father Pedros of Saint Mark’s Cathedral in Boston, Father Bohdan and Presbytera Donna, from the Parish of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul, Father Demjan of Saint Andrew’s in Saskatoon, and our own dear Father Ephraim, monk.

Metropolitan Gregory and Clergy at the Vigil on Saint Nicholas Feast

On Saint Nicholas morning before the Liturgy, Reader Elijah from Boston was ordained to the Subdeaconate.  May God grant him strength to serve Christ’s Church with diligence and joy!

Ordination of Subdeacon Elijah

In his sermon at the Liturgy, Metropolitan Gregory encouraged us to continue in our steadfastness in the Faith and to act with Christian compassion towards others as Saint Nicholas did.  The Metropolitan outlined that Saint Nicholas exemplifies using, ‘the right hand of exactness and zeal in matters of the Faith, without compromise, never adding nor subtracting, and using the left hand of compassion, having a compassionate heart with our brethren and towards all.  Then peace reigns in the Church.’  After the Liturgy we celebrated the Feast with a Luncheon in the Church hall which was filled with vibrant conversations, and delicious food.

On the Sunday after Saint Nicholas day, the Hierarchical Liturgy was celebrated by Metropolitan Gregory. After the Liturgy, we received a special blessing as the sacred relics of the holy Martyr Saint Maurice of the Theban legion and relics of several of his martyred fellow Soldiers were brought into the Church for veneration.  Encompassed with grace and wonder that the sacred relics of these ancient martyred Saints were present before us, we reverenced them with honour, giving thanks for the mercy of God.  This was followed by a second Parish Luncheon and a Question and Answer period with Metropolitan Gregory.  There was a wide array of interesting questions and the discussions covered areas including: the introduction of Christianity and Orthodoxy in Japan, the different categories and levels of interpretation that the Fathers reveal in the holy Scriptures, and many others, an enlightening conversation for us all.

Metropolitan Gregory, Bishop John and Clergy on the Feast of Saint Nicholas

And now as we progress to the great Feast of Theophany, celebrating the Baptism of Our Saviour and the manifestation of the Holy Trinity, may we rejoice now in this Feast of Lights, and come to draw from the blessed waters, and receiving sanctification from Our Saviour Jesus Christ, may He receive our worship and join it together with the Angels in Heaven.

As King David prophesied, and we have seen fulfilled, ‘The waters saw Thee O God, the waters saw Thee and were afraid.  The voice of the Lord is upon the waters; the God of glory hath thundered, the Lord is upon the many waters!’ (Psalm 76)

Services for Theophany:

Friday January 17, 2025 – Royal Hours and Typika for Theophany
6:30 pm Royal Hours

Saturday, January 18, 2025 – Eve of Theophany

8:30 am  Vespers and Divine Liturgy followed by the first Blessing of the Waters
3:30pm  Vigil of Theophany

Sunday, January 19, 2025 – The Theophany of Our Lord and God and Saviour, Jesus Christ

9:00 am  Divine Liturgy followed by the Great Blessing of the Waters
After Coffee Hour we will proceed to Lake Ontario to bless the waters there.

With prayers and blessings of the Feasts!

Father Anthony