Faith and 105 years of confession of Romanian Orthodoxy

at the Romanian Orthodox Cathedral

St. George and St. Andrei Saguna, Windsor, Ontario

Even far from home, one of the first concerns of the Romanians who settled on the shores of the Great Lakes, was the Church. In Windsor, a handful of capable Romanians devoted to their ancestral faith built their first church 105 years ago.

On the winding road of emigration, few things are easy and building a place of worship involved many and still unknown efforts.

As a crowning of the work of the pioneers who joined hands and guaranteed to the banks with their houses, a cathedral arose in the heart of Windsor, the city called the Automotive Capital of Canada. On April 22, 1955, on the eve of the feast of St. George, the foundation stone was laid for the construction of the new church, so that on August 28, 1955, the first Divine Liturgy would be celebrated in the new Church Auditorium, during the pastorate of His Grace Bishop Teofil Ionescu. Also, in this cathedral on August 7, 1966, Archbishop Victorin Ursachi was ordained a bishop.

On the anniversary of the 100th anniversary of the foundation of the parish, St. George, protector of the Cathedral, was joined by St. Andrei Șaguna, Metropolitan of Transylvania, whose relics were brought and donated by His Eminence Laurentiu, Metropolitan of Transylvania.

But beyond history, this place brings together the souls of the Romanians who came to Canada more recently, who with great joy enjoyed the visit of His Grace Ioan Casian, the First Romanian Orthodox Bishop of Canada, at the patron saint's hour and in the anniversary year.

On Sunday, April 30, the hierarch officiated the Divine Liturgy being accompanied in prayer by Rev. Fr. Dragoș Andrei Giulea and Rev. Fr. John Aiub. The strana responses were given by Tudor Dragomir and Cristina Seys and the Armonia Choir of the Cathedral impressed with the elegance and smoothness of the singing.

The hierarch addressed warm wishes to those who are now carrying on what was so generously and enduringly started by the first Romanian families. Their work and dedication remain for today's generations an exceptional model that must be followed.

In his sermen on the third Sunday after Holy Easter, of Saint myrrh-bearing women, the bishop said:

"This blessed Sunday throws a different perspective compared to the previous Sunday, of St. Ap. Thomas, namely the service of the myrrh-bearing women, not by chance being the first apostles present at the tomb from where the Lord arose.

As we also heard in the words of His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel, this Sunday has become the day of the Christian woman, the one who speaks about Christ, the one who testifies about the Christian life and about the resurrection of Christ. They are at the service of our society: they take care of the poor, sick, hungry, orphans, destitute, etc., showing the authenticity of our Christian faith and life. They don't necessarily talk about all these, but looking for a while at the things that happen around them, those things better testify to their work.

You don't always need to talk about yourself. What happens around you, in your family, where you work, in the group of friends you spend time with, in the society you live in, speaks best of who you really are. Thus, we must look around us and to the extent that we can accomplish works in the Christian spirit in our daily life, those works will bear witness to our Christian life and show its authenticity.

Let us take the example of the myrrhbearing women who served God through the ministering to the apostles and to the entire Christian community. They transmitted faith and love for God through their deeds, without being preachers of God's word explicitly."

The celebration ended with a fraternal agape where, after many restrictions and isolation, there was joy, much optimism and communion in the congregation around the Cathedral.