Canadian Orthodox Church History Project Some Historical Details about the Dioceses of the Orthodox Church in Canada Introduction, Early Beginnings, Bishops who served in Canada Contents: The bishops, jurisdictions and events presented here are not given in exact chronological order, in part because of overlapping and repetition. The presentation nevertheless attempts to provide an approximately chronological order. The initials after each name indicate to which diocese, jurisdiction, patriarchate the hierarch belongs. The presentation begins at the very beginning, and concludes with the present (with the intention that this “present” will be kept current after 2013). Introduction Requests for further contributions and corrections Uncertain Origins A Tangent to Uncertain Beginnings Bishops: (the abbreviations are explained after the list) 1 Bishop Joasaph (Bolotov) of Kodiak (1761-1799) (RusM/MP) 2 Saint Innocent (Venyaminov), Metropolitan of Moscow (1797-1879) (RusM/MP) 3 Bishop Nicholas (Ziorov) of the Aleutians (1851-1915) (RusM/MP) 4 Saint Tikhon (Belavin), Patriarch of Moscow and all Rus’ (1865-1925) (RusM/MP) 5 Saint Raphael (Hawaweeny), Bishop of Brooklyn (1860-1915) (RusM/MP) 6 Metropolitan Platon (Rozhdestvensky) of New York (1866-1934) (ROGCCNA) 7 Metropolitan Theophilus (Pashkovsky) of San Francisco (1874-1950) (ROGCCNA) 8 Archbishop Evdokim (Meschersky) of the Aleutians (New York) (1869-1935) (RusM/MP) 9a The Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada (UGOCC, UOCC) 10 Archbishop Alexander (Nemolovsky) of the Aleutians (1876-1960) (ROGCCNA, RusM/MP) 11 Metropolitan Germanos (Shehadi) of Zahle (?-19?) (AP/UGOCC) 12 (Archbishop) Aftimios Ofiesh (1880-1966) (ROGCCNA) 13 Bishop Emmanuel (Abo-Hatab) of Brooklyn (1890-1933) (ROGCCNA) 14 Archbishop Alexander (Demoglou) of Rodostolou (18?-19?) (GOA-EP) 15 Archbishop Adam (Philipovsky) (1886-1956) (RusM/ROGCCNA/MP) 16 Archbishop Apollinary (Koshevoy) of Winnipeg (later San Francisco) (1874-1933) (ROGCCNA/ROCOR) 17 Archbishop Arseny (Chahovtsov) of Winnipeg and Canada (1866-1945) (ROGCCNA) 18 Archbishop Athenagoras (Spyrou) of North and South America (1886-1972) (GOA-EP) 19 Archbishop Jeronim (Chernov) of Detroit and Flint (1878-1957) (ROGCCNA/ROCOR) 20 Archbishop Joasaph of Edmonton (1888-1955) (ROGCCNA/ROCOR) 21 Bishop Polycarp (Morusca) of Detroit (1883-1958) (ROEA) 22 Bishop Anthony (Tereshchenko) of Montréal and Eastern Canada (1884 -1947) (ROGCCNA) 23 Metropolitan Leonty (Turkevich) of New York and America (1876-1965) (ROGCCNA) 24 Patriarch Mstyslav (Skrypnyk) of Kyiv (1898-1993) (UGOCC) 25 Metropolitan Polikarp (Sikorski) of Winnipeg (1875-1953) (UGOCC) 26 Bishop Platon (Artemiuk) of Toronto (1891-1951) (UGOCC) 27 Metropolitan Ilarion (Ohienko) of Winnipeg and Canada (1882-1972) (UGOCC) 28 Metropolitan Michael (Khoroshy) of Toronto (1885-1977) (UGOCC) 29 Archbishop Nikon (de Grève) of Toronto (later of Brooklyn) (1895-1983) (ROGCCNA) 30 Metropolitan Vitaly (Ustinov) Archbishop of Montréal and Canada (1910-2006) (ROCOR) 31 Archbishop Panteleimon (Rudyk) of Edmonton (18?-1968) (MP) 31a Parishes of the Moscow Patriarchate in Canada (MP) 32 Metropolitan Makary (Svistun) of Vinnytsia and Mohilev-Podilsk, (1938-2007) (MP) 33 Metropolitan Job (Tyvoniuk), formerly of Chelyabinsk and Zlatoust, retired (1938- ) (MP) 34 Metropolitan Ireney (Seredniy) of Dnepropetrovsk and Pavlohrad (1939- ) (MP) 35 Metropolitan Kliment (Kapalin) of Kaluga and Borovsk (1949- ) (MP) 36 Metropolitan Nikolai (Shkrumko) of Izhevsk and Udmurt (1927- ) (MP) 37 Metropolitan Paul (Ponomarev) of Ryazan and Mikhailov (1952- ) (MP) 38 Archbishop Mark (Petrovtsiy) of Khoust and Vinohradiv (1951-) )MP) 39 Bishop Job (Smakouz) of Kashira (1964- ) (MP) 40 Metropolitan Ireney (Bekish) of New York (1892-1981) (ROGCCNA/OCA) 41 Bishop Sava (Saraèeviæ) of Edmonton (1902-1973) (ROCOR) 42 Archbishop Iakovos (Coucouzis) of North and South America (1911-2005) (GOA-EP) 43 Archbishop Athenagoras (Kokkinakis) of Elaia (1912-1979) (GOA-EP) 44 Bishop Timotheos (Haloftis) of Rodostolou (?-1981) (GOA-EP) 45 Bishop Theodosios (Sideris) of Ancona (Toronto) (1903-after 1973) (GOA-EP) 46 Bishop Anatoly (Apostolov) of Montréal (?-?) (ROGCCNA) 47 Archbishop Sylvester (Haruns) of Montréal and Canada (1914-2000) (ROGCCNA/OCA) 48 Bishop Joasaph (Antoniuk) of Edmonton (1897-1978) (ROGCCNA/OCA) 49 Metropolitan Vladimir (Nagosky) of San Francisco (1922-1997) (OCA) 50 Archbishop Valerian (Trifa) of Detroit (1914-1987) (ROEA-OCA) 51 Archbishop Nathaniel (Popp) of Detroit and the Romanian Episcopate (1940- ) (ROEA-OCA) 52 Bishop Irineu (Duvlea) of Dearborn Heights (1962-) (ROEA-OCA) 53 Archbishop Victorin (Ursache) Archbishop of Detroit (1913-2001) (ROAA) 54 Archbishop Nicholae (Condrea) of Chicago (1967- ) (ROAA) 55 Bishop Ioan (Casian) of Vicina (1969- ) (ROAA) 56 Metropolitan Theodosius (Lazor) of Washington (1933- ) (ROGCCNA/OCA) 57 Archbishop Kyrill (Yonchev) of Toledo and of Pittsburgh (1920-2007) (BD-OCA) 58 Metropolitan Archbishop Sotirios (Athanassoulas) of Toronto (1936- ) (GODT-EP) 59 Bishop Christophoros (Rakintzakis) of Andida (19?- ) (GODT-EP) 60 Metropolitan Wasyly (Fedak) of Winnipeg (1909-2005) (UOCC) 61 Metropolitan John (Stinka) of Winnipeg (1935- ) (UOCC) 62 Bishop Georgije (Ðjokiæ) of Canada (1949- ) (SP) 63 Archbishop Lazar (Puhalo) of Ottawa (19?- ) (OCA) 64 Bishop Varlaam (Novakshonoff) of Vancouver (19?- ) (OCA) 65 Archbishop Vsevolod (Maidanski) of Skopelos (1927-2007) (UOCUSA-EP) 66 Metropolitan Nicholas (Smisko) of Amissos (1936 -2011) (ACROD-EP) 67 Metropolitan Yurij (Kalistchuk) of Winnipeg (1951- ) (UOCC) 68 Bishop Ilarion (Rudnyk) of Edmonton and the Western Eparchy (1972- ) (UOCC) 79 Bishop Andriy (Pleshko) of the Eastern Eparchy (1972- ) (UOCC) 70 Bishop Alexander (Mufarraj) of Ottawa, Eastern Canada and Upstate New York (1956- ) (AOCA-AP) 71 Archbishop Gabriel (Chemodakov) of Montreal and Canada (1961- ) (ROCOR-MP) 72 Archbishop Seraphim (Storheim) of Ottawa and Canada (1946- ) (OCA) 73 Bishop Irénée (Rochon) of Québec City (1948- ) (OCA) Abbreviations: ACROD=American Carpatho-Russian Orthodox Diocese AOCA=Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America AP=Antiochian Patriarchate BD=Bulgarian Diocese EP=Ecumenical Patriarchate GOA=Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America GODT=Greek Orthodox Diocese of Toronto MP=Moscow Patriarchate OCA= Orthodox Church in America ROAA=Romanian Orthodox Archdiocese of America ROCOR=Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia ROEA=Romanian Orthodox Episcopate of America ROGCCNA=Russian Orthodox Greek Catholic Church of North America RusM=Russian Mission in North America SP=Serbian Patriarchate UGOCC=Ukrainian Greek Orthodox Church of Canada UOCC=Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada UOCUSA=Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the USA Introduction: Within The Orthodox Church in America, the Archdiocese of Canada is the legitimate descendant in Canada of the missionary societies of the Russian Empire in North America, as blessed by the Holy Synod of Russia. That mission began in North America in 1794 in Alaska, when the first monks arrived from Valaam Monastery in Russia. From the beginning, this missionary effort encountered many obstacles and many a difficulty. It took almost a year to walk across Siberia and then sail to Kodiak, Alaska. The entrepreneurial activities and work of the Russian-American Company caused misery in the lives of the aboriginal people, who were exploited mercilessly. In 1796, one of the priest-monks, Father Juvenaly, became the first Orthodox martyr and therefore saint of North America. In 1799, the first bishop, one of the missionaries, perished with other monks in a shipwreck on his return as bishop. This occurred not far from Kodiak. Nevertheless, by the Grace of God, from this mission in Alaska, the presence of the Orthodox Church spread southwards to California, and then eastwards to New York with the arrival of more and more immigrants from Europe. The Canadian diocese, whose immigrating peoples began to organise themselves for worship in the 1890s, was first founded and incorporated by Saint Tikhon, Patriarch of Moscow and all Rus’, in 1903, while he was the Bishop of North America. This was achieved in the Northwest Territories, now Alberta and Saskatchewan. Following this incorporation, Saint Tikhon proceeded to travel across Canada (by rail, by horse-and- wagon, by horse) and to bless the establishment of new communities, and to consecrate many newly-constructed temples. These communities included peoples from all sorts of Orthodox national origins: Russia, Ukraine, Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia, Greece, Palestine, Syria and other Orthodox lands. Although they are not Orthodox in recent origin, another particular group of immigrants is important to be kept in mind: the Doukhobors. The participants in this sect prefer to be understood simply as those Christians who wrestle along with the Holy Spirit. Mostly Russian-speakers, they are pacifists. Like some Protestants, they accept only the Bible, and reject all inherited ecclesiastical organisation, and icons. As a result of their attitude and disposition, they were repeatedly exiled by the Russian imperial government. Sometimes it was exile to remote parts of the empire, and sometimes they were expelled from the imperial territory. With the help of Leo Tolstoy and others, in 1899 they emigrated and made their way to Saskatchewan, where they settled. Many have intermarried with Orthodox Christians and some others since that time. Yet another, very much smaller group is to be kept in mind: the Russian