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This past week on July 1, 2025, Fr Timothy Mikhail was received into the Holy Orthodox Church by our loving father His Eminence Metropolitan Gregory of Nyssa at Christ the Saviour Cathedral in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. We thank God for the blessing of a new priest to serve the community and stand before the Altar of God at St Silouan Orthodox Church in Toronto and St Olga of Alaska in East Gwillimbury. Axios!! Fr Timothy also prayed Vespers last Wednesday for the feast of St John of Shanghai and San Francisco where a beautiful Icon painted by one of the iconographers of St Silouan Orthodox Church was unveiled.  On Saturday, July 5, 2025, Fr Timothy celebrated Divine Liturgy at St Olga of Alaska Orthodox Church in East Gwillimbury (about 1 hour North of Toronto). FrDn Michael also brought relics of St Olga (Tanqilria Arrsamquq) and a beautiful scarf made by Matushka Xenia Oleska. Panikhida was also prayed for the souls of family members of some of the parishioners. On Sunday, July 6, 2025, Fr Timothy and FrDn Michael celebrated the Divine Liturgy at St Silouan the Athonite Orthodox Church in Toronto. The Church also prayed a Panikhida for our sister Lee Please continue to pray for Fr Timothy and all the clergy of the Church as he begins and continues the fatherly work of mercy along with Fr Paul and FrDn Michael. Axios!!!
"Behold now, what is so good or so joyous as for brethren to dwell together in unity" Ps 132 (LXX) With the blessing of Metropolitan Gregory of Nyssa, Fr Paul and FrDn Michael concelebrated with the clergy Sts. Cyril and Methody Bulgarian Orthodox Church during this morning's Hierarchical Divine Liturgy with the archpastoral visit of His Eminence Metropolitan Joseph and His Grace Bishop Clement of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church. The Divine Liturgy was a beautiful and prayerful experience of the Bulgarian flavour of our Universal Orthodox Church and a joyful opportunity to pray together. After the Divine Liturgy we were all invited to a post Liturgy celebration and reception that was filled with folk singing and musical performances from various members of the Bulgarian Orthodox community. Many members of St Silouan Orthodox Church also had an opportunity to meet and get the blessing of Metropolitan Joseph and Bishop Clement. We thank the community of Sts. Cyril and Methody Bulgarian Orthodox Church for their warm hospitality, brotherly love and the opportunity for both of our communities to get to know one another better. Christ is Risen!    Book your calendars for the Archpastoral Visit His Eminence Metropolitan Gregory of Nyssa.
 Book your calendars for the Archpastoral Visit of His Eminence Metroplitan Gregory in the first week of June 2025. More information to come.   https://ec-patr.org/patriarchal-encyclical-for-holy-pascha-2025
+ B A R T H O L O M E W By God’s Mercy Archbishop of Constantinople-New Rome and Ecumenical Patriarch To the Plenitude of the Church: May the Grace, Peace and Mercy of Christ Risen in Glory be with you All Most honorable brother Hierarchs, Dearly beloved children, By God’s mercy and strength, we have journeyed through prayer and fasting across the ocean of Holy and Great Lent, finally reaching the splendid feast of Pascha, and we praise the Lord of glory, who descended to the depths of Hades and “achieved the entrance for all to Paradise” through His raising from the dead. The Resurrection is not the remembrance of an event from the past, but the “good change” of our existence, “another birth, an alternate life, a different kind of living, the transformation of our very being.”[1] And in the Risen Christ, the entire creation is renewed together with humanity. When we chant in the 3rd Ode of the Paschal Canon, that “Now everything is filled with light—heaven, earth, and all things beneath the earth; therefore, let all creation celebrate the resurrection of Christ, in which everything has been established,” we proclaim that the universe is founded on and filled with unfading light. The phrases “before Christ” and “after Christ” ring true not only for the history of the human race, but also for the sake of all creation. The Lord’s raising from the dead constitutes the nucleus of the Gospel, the stable point of reference for all the books of the New Testament, as well as for the liturgical life and devotion of the Orthodox Christians. Indeed, the words “Christ is Risen!” summarize the theology of the Church. The experience of the abolition of the dominion of death is a source of ineffable joy, “free from the bonds of this world.” “All things are filled with joy upon receiving the taste of resurrection.” The resurrection is an explosion “of great joy” and permeates the entire life, ethos and pastoral ministry of the church as the foretaste of the fullness of life, knowledge and life of the eternal kingdom of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Orthodox faith and pessimism are contradictory phenomena. Pascha is for us a feast of freedom and victory over alienating forces; it is the churchification of our existence, an invitation to collaborate for the transfiguration of the world. The history of the Church is rendered “a great Pascha” as the journey toward “the liberation in glory of the children of God” (Rom. 8.21). The experience of resurrection reveals the center and eschatological dimension of freedom in Christ. Biblical references to the Savior’s resurrection demonstrate the power of our freedom as believers; it is in this freedom alone that the “great miracle” is manifested, which remains inaccessible to every oppression. “The mystery of salvation belongs to those who desire it freely, not to those who are tyrannized against their will.”[2] Accepting the divine gift as a “transition” of the believer toward Christ is the voluntary existential response to the loving and saving “transition” of the Risen Lord toward humankind. For “without me, you cannot do anything” (Jn 15.5). The mystery of the Lord’s resurrection to this day continues to shatter the positivistic certainties of those who deny God as “the denial of human will,” as well as the advocates of “the fallacy of self-fulfillment without God” and the admirers of the contemporary “man-god.” The future does not belong to those imprisoned in a self-sufficient, stifling and narrow earthly existence. There is no authentic freedom without resurrection, without the perspective of eternity. For the Holy Great Church of Christ, one source of such resurrectional joy is also found this year in the common celebration of Easter by the entire Christian world, along with the commemoration of the 1700th anniversary of the First Council of Nicaea, which condemned the heresy of Arius, who “diminished within the Trinity the one Son and Word of God,” and which established the way of calculating the date for the feast of our Savior’s resurrection. The Council of Nicaea inaugurates a new age in the conciliar history of the Church, the transition from the local to the ecumenical synodal level. As we know, the First Ecumenical Council introduced the non-biblical term “homoousios (of one essence)” to the Symbol of Faith, albeit with a clear soteriological reference, which remains the essential characteristic of church doctrines. In this sense, the celebrations of this great anniversary are not a return to the past, inasmuch as the “spirit of Nicaea” exists unspoiled in the life of the Church, whose unity is associated with the correct understanding and development of its conciliar identity. Discussion on the First Ecumenical Council of Nicaea reminds us of the common Christian archetypes and the meaning behind the struggle against the perversion of our spotless faith, encouraging us to turn toward the depth and essence of Church tradition. The joint celebration this year of the “most holy day of Pascha” highlights the timeliness of the subject, the solution of which not only expresses the respect of Christianity for the decrees of the Council of Nicaea, but also the awareness that “there should be no differentiation in such sacred matters.” With these sentiments, filled with the light and joy of the Resurrection, while proclaiming “Christ is Risen!” with jubilation, let us honor the chosen and holy day of Pascha with a heartfelt confession of our faith in the Redeemer, who trampled down death by death and granted life to all people and all creation, through our faithfulness to the sacred traditions of the Great Church as well as through sincere love for our neighbor, for the glorification by us all of the heavenly name of the Lord. At the Phanar, Holy Pascha 2025 + Bartholomew of Constantinople Fervent supplicant for you all to the Risen Lord https://www.acrod.org/diocesan-life/news/2024/mg-2025-paschal-archpastoral
Protocol No. 7/2025 To the Very Reverend Protopresbyters, Very Reverend and Reverend Fathers, and Faithful of our God-Protected Diocese: CHRIST IS RISEN! INDEED HE IS RISEN! “Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him…likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:9 - 11) Today I greet you with great love and joy in the Name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ following His glorious Resurrection. On Great and Holy Pascha, we behold the triumph of Christ, as He rose from death to life, from darkness of the tomb into the Light. With the Resurrection of Christ, all Creation is filled with a new Light of life and joy. On this Feast of Feasts, this Holy Day of Holy Days, we all proclaim the only truth that matters, the Truth that Christ is Risen! Through this Truth, we are liberated from the power of sin and death, to receive God’s promise to live in eternity. We feel the inexpressible joy of being united with real life in Christ. We are overwhelmed by the awesome love and tender mercy of our God, Who gave Himself up to suffering and death for our sake – yet that was not enough, for He also rose from the dead to give us new Life and eternal Hope. If we truly open our hearts, if we allow ourselves to be illumined by the glorious Light of Pascha, we too will receive the Resurrection in our own hearts and lives. The message of the Resurrection is that we can be transformed, and that Pascha is a call to all mankind to live joyously, to be filled with jubilation and love for one another, our hearts overflowing with His Grace. Therefore, let us rejoice and be glad in the Lord’s Pascha, the Feast Day of freedom, life and light. Personal Greetings: On this Bright and Holy Feast, I extend my prayerful best wishes to you, the Clergy and Laity, Friends and Supporters of the American Carpatho-Russian Orthodox Diocese. May you truly experience the love, joy, and excitement of the early followers of Christ when they first saw Him after His Resurrection. Christ is Risen! Working in the Risen Lord’s Vineyard with much love, +Metropolitan Gregory of Nyssa Christ is Risen! Indeed He is Risen!   he journey to Pascha was truly sweet and joyful as it is every year. After the prayerful, contemplative and repentant period of the Great Fast the parish community gathered on the morning of Lazarus Saturday to celebrate the Divine Liturgy and processed with the Cross around the Church. Father Paul emphasized the beautiful foretaste of the Resurrection that this feast proclaims and reminded us all to embrace the joy of the feast.
After the Lazarus Saturday Liturgy and a delicious agape meal of Fish Soup, the community gathered for what is likely to become our annual liturgical arts and crafts day. This was an opportunity for participants to learn and practice seasonal arts from a variety of Orthodox cultures: palm weaving, decorate Easter eggs (pysanky / писа́нки) and bake Lazarakia.  Holy Week Schedule
Saturday April 12
Sunday April 13
Monday April 14
Tuesday April 15
Wednesday April 16
Thursday April 17
Friday April 18
Saturday April 19
Sunday April 20
Location: 237 Sackville Street Lower Level/Basement Toronto, Ontario M5A 3G1
Noble Joseph House seeks your support as part of your 2025 Lenten Offering.
Community Hub, with the blessing of Metropolitan Gregory is now Noble Joseph House Ministry. This ministry, named after St. Joseph of Arimathea, a quiet figure in scripture, who played a decisive role following Christ's death, strives to nourish the corporeal and spiritual needs of the community, through fellowship and care. The activities Noble Joseph House (NJH) offers to the community include:
Our Community Most members of the community at an NJH evening, are non-believers or those estranged from the faith of their upbringing. But we also draw people various cultures and faiths -- Christian, Muslim, Hindu to name some. Some are unhoused, others live in the Regent Park community. Many friends will travel hours, from across the city, to get together. Led by the St. Silouan parish community, responding to the needs in Regent Park, NJH strives to accompany members of our community throughout the natural course of life, from conception to death, ensuring that even at a person's greatest hour of need they are never abandoned, even to the grave. From preparing baby blankets for expecting families, to offering prayers and burials for the deceased who go unclaimed by their kin, we continue the practice of tending to all, for every want, just as St. Joseph once tended to Christ. 
NJH Goals for 2025
In January we started a regular medical clinic. With your support we hope to launch a foot care clinic and nutritional support and lifestyle guidance for those living with diabetes. There is a great need for this, as approximately 30-40% of those who come to NJH live with diabetes. We will soon be adding additional meals, as well as counselling services. This means committing to new investments: · An autoclave for sterilization of medical equipment: ~$5000 · Furniture for clinic space: ~$1200 · Increased food budget for meals: ~$4000 · Other supplies: plates, sterno warmers, cleaning supplies etc.: $2,600 Your donation of: · $750 serves a month of meals in our expanded program. · $25 supplies the knitting club for a month. · $20 feeds one of our tables of 5 adult friends Support Noble Joseph House "Anyone who has two shirts should share with the one who has none, and anyone who has food should do the same." Luke 3:11 Your support will help Noble Joseph House grow love, compassion, and community guided by the quiet care of St. Joseph of Arimathea. Together, let us fulfil this Lenten season with time of giving and sharing. Please see Join or Support for details on how to donate by cheque, e-transfer and in-person. St. Silouan the Athonite Orthodox Church is a registered charity. Charitable receipts will be issued for all donations over $20. Our charitable number is: BN 79344 8671 RR0001. |
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