What is the “Eastern Eparchy?”
His Eminence, Metropolitan Ilarion.
Our parish, St. Volodymyr Cathedral of Toronto, is a parish of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada, founded in 1918. This national church is divided into three geographical regions called “eparchies” (other Orthodox Churches may use names such as “diocese”) - Western Eparchy (British Columbia, Alberta), Central Eparchy (Saskatchewan, Manitoba) and Eastern Eparchy (Ontario, Quebec and the eastern provinces).
Our Bishops
His Grace, Bishop Andriy, 2024
The UOCC is headed by a metropolitan (currently His Eminence, Metropolitan ILARION (Rudnyk)), and each eparchy by a bishop (the UOCC currently only has two bishops to administer these three regions). Metropolitan Ilarion is the bishop of the Central Eparchy and also administers the Western Eparchy while Bishop Andriy administers the Eastern Eparchy.
Each bishop has a home parish where his kafedra/katedra (the bishop’s chair or throne) is located. His Grace, Bishop ANDRIY’s (Peshko) home church is our parish! Bishop Andriy has been our bishop since Feb. 2011. Thank you, Vladyka, for your spiritual guidance all these years! May God grant you many more!
Eastern Eparchy Parishes
The Eastern Eparchy is made up of 19 parishes in Ontario and Quebec. It is also responsible for any potential new parishes (called missions) within these provinces as well as the eastern provinces of Canada. So please note, that even when you move, you will hopefully still have a church nearby and are always welcome!
The parishes according to city
Oakville, ON
Oshawa, ON
St. Catharine’s, ON
Sarnia, ON
Sudbury, ON
Toronto, ON - 4 parishes
Waterloo, ON
Windsor, ON
Bradford, ON
Grimsby, ON
Hamilton, ON
Lachine, QC
Leamington, ON
London, ON
Montreal, QC - 2 parishes
Niagara Falls, ON
A Special Governance
Unlike many other Christian denominations, in the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada, the laity plays a key role in governance. Read the article by Fr. Gene Maximiuk to learn more - The Role of Laity in the Church.
“Служити Богові, то служити Народові.” “To serve God is to serve the people.” (+Metropolitan ILARION (Ohienko)).