PARISH HISTORY
Ukrainian immigration to Canada began in 1891, and the immigrants settled primarily in the prairie territories, what is now the provinces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta. During the course of the next decades their descendants, as well as newer immigrants, began to settle in southern Ontario. The rich agricultural land of the Niagara peninsula drew many Ukrainians who traditionally had been farmers, and then the wartime need for factory workers drew even more Ukrainians from Western Canada to the industrial centres of Hamilton and the Niagara Peninsula. St. George’s parish was founded in 1943 to serve the spiritual needs and cultural aspirations of the Ukrainians living in the Grimsby area.
Notwithstanding the challenges of organizing a new parish community under wartime conditions, the founders of the parish were able to purchase a building on Ontario Street (not far from the current Church building) which served as the spiritual, cultural, and social centre of the nascent community. Priests from neighbouring parishes were able to conduct religious services on a monthly basis, and due to the hard work and cooperation of the parishioners the mortgage on this first building was paid off within five years.
1948 was a watershed year for St. George’s, as in this year the parish acquired a new, historic Church building, which continues to be the centre of religious life till today. The first church on this site was constructed by the Methodists in 1865, and additions including a kitchen and Sunday school were built in 1897. Following the founding of the United Church of Canada in 1924 services were held at Trinity United Church, St. George’s was renamed “Trinity Hall” and was used for its Sunday school and kitchen.
Another important event which took place in 1948 was that Fr. Wasyly Fedak (later to become Metropolitan Wasyly, the Primate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada) was assigned as the parish as its first full-time priest, and in this same year the parish celebrated its first Hierarchical Visitation, which was conducted by Archbishop Mstyslav (Skrypnyk) who had been elected as the Archbishop of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada the previous year.
The parishioners continued to work cooperatively in all spheres of parish and community life. By the early fifties the parish was home to several organizations, including the “Princess Ol’ha” Branch of the Ukrainian Women’s Association of Canada (Союз Українок ім. Княгині Ольги), the Ukrainian Self-Reliance League, the Ukrainian Youth Association of Canada, as well as a Ukrainian Heritage School and a Sunday School. In addition to these parish organizations St. George’s has also been an active member of the Niagara Region Branch of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress.
One of the unique and noteworthy characteristics of every Orthodox temple is the iconostas or icon screen, which divides the nave from the altar area. St. George’s iconostas was designed by Yurij Kodak and installed in 1953.
Two very significant events which took place over the next decades were the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Ukrainian Greek Orthodox Church of Canada in 1968, and the celebration of the Millennium of the Baptism of Kyivan Rus’ – Ukraine in 1988. The faithful of St. George’s church supported both these celebrations both by their financial support as well as their participation.
As mentioned earlier, Archbishop Mstyslav (Skrypnyk) had close historical ties with St. George’s, having served the first hierarchical Liturgy here. The parish was greatly honoured when, after having been elected Patriarch of the Ukrainian Autocephalous Church after the re-establishment of this Church in Ukraine in 1990, he visited St. George’s in January of 1993. Sadly, in June of the same year, while visiting family in Grimsby His Holiness reposed in the Lord. St. George’s was greatly honoured to be the church in which the first cycle of funeral services were conducted prior to his interment in the mausoleum of St. Andrew’s Memorial Church in South Bound Brook, New Jersey.
It was also in 1993 that a decision was made to beautify the temple with wall paintings in the Ukrainian style. Following a fund-raising campaign to which the parishioners responded most generously, the work was completed by Volodymyr Slipchenko from Ukraine.
In 1995 Fr. Michał Pograniczny was assigned to the parish and served the parish faithful until his retirement in 2023, gaining the distinction of being the parishes longest serving priest.
In 2014, on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of Canada’s internment operation during World War I, the Ukrainian Civil Liberties Association initiated a project of installing 100 plaques throughout Canada to commemorate the thousands of Ukrainians who, only because they had been born in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, had been interned as enemy aliens. St. George’s was very proud to have been chosen as one of the locations for the installation of one of these plaques.
St. George’s has been a hub of activity for the local Ukrainian community, participating and organizing various events such as the flag raising for Ukrainian Independence Day at City Hall, the “Doors Open” festival, and various other cultural and religious events and activities. Parishioners have been very active in supporting humanitarian aid projects which have been organized in the wake of Russia’s 2014 and especially 2022 invasions of Ukraine in order to alleviate the suffering of the people of Ukraine who are suffering greatly due to Russia’s illegal and immoral aggression.
The 2020 pandemic brought with it great challenges to church and community life in general, and St. George’s was no exception. With the end of the pandemic restrictions the parish is striving with God’s help to renew itself spiritually, socially, and culturally.
You may click on the following link to view a photomontage of the hierarchical visit of Bishop Andriy to St. George's parish in May of 2011.
Thanks to Sviatoslav Hluchaniuk for his wonderful photography!