Ukrainian Orthodox Cathedral of the Holy Trinity re-consecrated July 2, 2017

 On July 2, 2017 the Ukrainian Orthodox Cathedral of the Holy Trinity was re-consecrated for use by His Eminence Metropolitan Yurij in concelebration with Metropolitan Antony and Archbishop Daniel of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the USA, and Bishop Andrij, Bishop of the Eastern Eparchy of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada.  Clergy who also celebrated were Frs. Eugene Maximiuk (Parish Priest of the Cathedral), Taras Udod (Chancellor of the UOCC), Roman Bozyk (Dean of the Faculty of Theology at St. Andrew’s College), Richard Ehrmantraut, Evan Maximiuk, Deacon Bob Hladiuk.  Choir was directed by Dr. Jeff Saranchuk and Cantors were Bill Drewniak and Keith Swinton.

The service began with a Cross Procession from the Church Auditorium, where services had been celebrated for the past 7 months.   The ‘Antimension’ was carried on a discos from the temporary altar table through the front doors of the Cathedral outside to the base of the stairs.  There an abbreviated Moleben’ and Blessing of Water Service was celebrated.  A Cross procession then took place around the church in order to re-bless the outside of the Temple.  Each bishop blessed one of the sides of the church.  His Eminence Metropolitan Yurij, with great dignity carried the discos with the Antimension up the stairs and into the church, to be deposited on the Altar.  The Moleben’ continued and was concluded with the re-consecration of the interior walls of the temple by each bishop, with Holy Chrism.

The Archpastoral Divine Liturgy was then celebrated as the first service in the re-consecrated Temple.  Very moving sermons were shared by Archbishop Daniel and Bishop Andrij.  The service concluded with His Eminence acknowledging the tireless work of the committees and Church Council to bring the church to this point.  Dr. Greg Palaschuk was acknowledged for his tireless efforts in leading the congregation through this time.  The work of iconongrapher Vera Senchuk and her skilled team of restorers were gratefully thanked for their work.  Ben Wasylyshen and his team of glass artists were thanked for their work in overseeing the restoration of the stained glass.  The Restoration Committee was thanked for their gifts and talents in guiding the parish to  this point.  The singing of Mnohaya Lita and a photo of the celebrating clergy and servers was taken.

During the catered brunch following the service, greetings to the Hierarchs and to congregations were brought forward by Keith Swinton, parish secretary and by Fr. Taras Udod, Chancellor of the UOCC.  The ‘key-note’ address was given by His Eminence Metropolitan Antony.  He encouraged the congregation to build on the positive direction and new life the parish has been blessed with and to continue to renew the congregation as has the church building been renewed. 

The entire day was a wonderful and very moving day.  A new energy is felt in the church and the thankfulness of the parishioners to be able to return to worship in the temple is overwhelming.  This blessing service was not the official reopening of the Cathedral, but to allow us to use the temple again.  There are two major projects left to complete, the installation of the new, redesigned chandeliers and lighting; and the redesigned Iconostasis.  These projects, being designed by Ben Wasylyshen, are projected to be completed in the new year.  Once they are completed and installed the parish plans to host an ‘official reopening’ of the completed temple, in its full glory.

May God continue to bless the hands of all that are involved in the process of restoring the Cathedral.   We humbly thank God for guiding us through the past year and we ask for everyone’s continued prayers.

May the Lord Bless and Save us!

Photo credit: Oryanna Maximiuk, Linda Lazarowich, Bob Talbot

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ!

NEW!  Update on Slideshow to show the progress...We are almost complete.

Many people have been asking if the Cathedral is in need of donations towards the Restoration.  We are very humbled by the generosity that people are willing to offer.  Although we do have insurance to address many of our issues, there are needs over and above, as outlined in the previous section about special projects (new icons and pendant lights).  We are grateful for donations received and will apply these to the Restoration process.  Going forward, if anyone would like to leave a gift for the Cathedral Restoration we invite you to designate it to 'Cathedral Restoration'.  If you wish to donate specifically to the Iconography and Pendant lights, please designate it as such, and send all donations to:

Holy Trinity Ukrainian Orthodox Metropolitan Cathedral

1175 Main Street

Winnipeg, MB

R2W 3S4