Bicentennial Celebration of Orthodoxy in North America

Bishop Seraphim : Homily
Bicentennial Celebration of Orthodoxy
in North America
21st Sunday after Pentecost
17 October, 1993
Galatians 2:16-20 ; Luke 8:5-15


In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

In today’s Gospel reading we hear a history of our diocesan life in Canada (except our life does not work out exactly as the Lord described in the parable). In the soil of Canadian Church life, the Lord sowed the seed one hundred years ago. As we are celebrating the bicentennial of Orthodoxy in North America, we celebrate also our one hundred years of Orthodox life here in Canada. About a hundred years ago, the seed was sown through immigration. People came mostly from Galicia and Bukovina.

This seed took very well and quickly in the soil in which it was planted here in Canada. It spread all around and in no time, within ten years, there were already churches and parishes scattered all over the prairies and eastern Canada. Some of these Temples still remain to this day in northern Alberta and parts of Saskatchewan and Manitoba. People say that it became like the old country : every five kilometres there was a church somewhere. Although today they may not belong to the same bishop necessarily, in those days they did. There seemed to be churches everywhere, just like home. By 1910 there were Temples built as well in most of the major cities of Canada. Even in Ottawa, there were services already in 1899 on a fairly steady and regular basis, although there was not yet a formally organised congregation.

We had in Winnipeg, as I heard recently, the famous phenomenon of Metropolitan Seraphim (Ustvolsky) and the “Tin Can Cathedral”, built in 1904. In 1993 there was a play written about this messy phenomenon. Metropolitan Seraphim was a pretender who was ordained by no bishop. He was quite a character. Despite everything, he really has my admiration because he was a brave man. Tin Can Cathedral has a famous story about him and the blessing of water on the Feast of Theophany. They cut a hole in the ice in the Red River as usual, and they blessed the water of the Red River. Then, as one would expect Orthodox people to do, and much to the surprise of the mayor of Winnipeg, his office was invaded one day by this “bishop”. There were standards, deacons, clergy, and water all over the place. After the Revolution, unity and order began to break down, as you know. We did not lose our characters – we still have some around to this day. However, the life of this particular diocese went through turmoil, deprivation, confusion and severe lack of communication. The effects of this remain until the present time. Nevertheless, the Lord has not finished with the building of His Church in this country. Setbacks and difficulties there have been, but the Lord has now given us the rebuilding. We see by God’s mercy (and only by God’s mercy) once again the beginning of the flowering of Orthodox life in this country. It is only the very beginning, but it is a beginning.

We are now at a particular crossroads in our life as Orthodox Christians in this country. No matter with what difficulty, and no matter how hard it was, with seriousness and stubbornness even, our spiritual fathers and mothers for the past one hundred years have planted and kept alive tiny remnants of the Orthodox Faith in this country. Now we, their spiritual children (if not their blood children), are being called by the Lord to imitate their zeal with new seriousness. We are being asked to put things right in our own time, so that the second chance that we have been given right now will develop fruitfully.

When I was in Alaska, I felt quite at home there because, in fact, there are many similarities between life here in Canada and life in Alaska. However, we have a distance to go. We have been through many of the same struggles, many of the same difficulties (neglect and priestlessness for a long time, and all these sorts of things), but we have farther to go than they do. I really encourage any of you who can manage it somehow, to go to Alaska (but not on a tour boat). That is not the way to see Alaska. You will never see the real Alaska on the tour boats. If to nowhere else, you have to go to Kodiak. You have to go to Anchorage. Anyway, there is no way to escape Anchorage. Go to Kodiak. At least it is easily accessible. Pray with the Faithful there. Metropolitan Theodosius describes these Alaskan people as being supremely faithful people, truly Orthodox Christians. These people, who actually do not have great houses themselves, make sure that the Lord’s house (even though it may be modest) is scrupulously clean, bright, and definitely prayed in. I intend to do everything I can to enable others to get there.

The Alaskans say (for whatever reason) that we Canadians should definitely go there. In fact, I know many Canadians who have actually gone on those nasty tour boats, but they have not encountered the Church there, except by accident. I know of one lady who went to Sitka on a tour boat and she accidentally managed to get to church. The people there were surprised that she was an Orthodox Christian. She had a nice time because she had the opportunity to pray. Most of the time you do not get that opportunity if you are on a tour boat. You might be able to organise a pilgrimage in the diocese, or get there with some organised Orthodox tour group. FOS Tours no doubt has pilgrimages to Alaska arranged on a regular basis. We ourselves need visits to Alaska to help us remember where our priorities are, because we are definitely going in the same direction as Alaska, and the challenges we face are much the same.

Brothers and sisters, with new seriousness, with new zeal and with new commitment at this crossroads here in our country, let us really put the steam on in being Orthodox Christians, renew ourselves, and once again do as our beloved Saint Herman exhorts us always to do : “From this day, from this hour, from this minute, let us love God above all and do His holy will”.