Anniversary visit among Romanians in Toronto

- Richmond Hill, Ontario –

On January 28 and 29, 2023, His Grace Bishop Ioan Casian was the guest of the Parish of St. Demetrius and the Holy Three Hierarchs in Richmond Hill, Ontario.

Established 21 years ago, the parish is in the process of building a place of worship that can accommodate the needs of the Romanian Orthodox community in the Toronto - Richmond Hill area.

Fr. Petrică Busuioc, diocesan inspector, Hieromonk Polycarp Athenagoras, Fr. Eugen Revencu, Fr. Lucian Azoiței, Fr. Emanuel Ionuț Tencalic as well as the host, Fr. Viorel Țencaliuc Dean of Canada Centre joined the hierarch for the Sacrament of Anointing of sick.

Fr. Viorel Țencaliuc, who pastors this parish and who deals with this building project with great zeal, said:

Our future plans, to build a church with Romanian specificity, are full of hope in God's providence. We find that nothing is more uplifting than to build, on an arid land for the Orthodox faith, a living sacramental, spiritual space, in which every member of the mystical body of the Lord is called to work together, to serve together, so that drinking from the inexhaustible source of divine grace, let us multiply our talents, and let our working faith bear fruit, let us be "the salt of the earth and the light of the world" (Matthew 5, 13-14).

The moments of celebration continued on Sunday with the welcoming of the hierarch with bread and salt and the celebration of the Holy Hierarchal Liturgy followed by a fraternal agape-meal. Addressing the large audience, the Primate of the Diocese of Canada said:

This Sunday, the 17th after Pentecost (of Canaanite woman) relates and teaches us what it means to have a Christian attitude, of a humble person, about what it means to have an authentic and correct attitude towards God.

The gesture made by the Savior towards this woman of another nation, is the consequence of the humility of this woman, a grieving mother from Canaan. At the same time, it teaches us that if we invoke and ask Christ with humility, a pure heart and unwavering faith, God listens to the voice of our requests.

Now at this festive moment for your parishioners when tomorrow we celebrate the Holy Three Hierarchs it is good to reflect on these faces and models of people who through their lives and deeds make us see that it is really possible to rise above evil, in a society that does not always provide an environment conducive to the believer. That is precisely why we see the perseverance and faith of the Canaanite woman, her perseverance in her request to the Savior. Like her, we need perseverance in faith in today's society.

The hierarch of Canada congratulated Fr. Viorel Țencaliuc for all his efforts and wished the Richmond Hill community to succeed in fulfilling the parish's development plans.