St. Clement of Ohrid Macedonian Orthodox Cathedral, Toronto


St. Clement of Ohrid in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, is the first Macedonian Orthodox Church in Canada and one of the oldest in the Macedonian Orthodox Diocese of America and Canada.
The church not only tends to the spiritual needs of Toronto's Macedonian community, but it serves as the home to several prominent educational, cultural, and charitable organizations that actively preserve and promote Macedonian ethnic and cultural awareness. In addition to church services, St. Clement of Ohrid also has three banquet halls.

History

Toronto is the home to the largest concentration of Macedonian Canadians outside of the Balkans, with 43,110 Canadians who claimed full, or partial Macedonian ancestry in the 2016 Canadian Census. Long before the Macedonian Orthodox Church was declared autonomous, early immigrants from Macedonia and their descendants founded churches that were under the jurisdiction of the patriarch in Bulgaria. They were Sts. Cyril & Methody Macedono-Bulgarian Orthodox Church, founded in 1910, and St. George Macedono-Bulgarian Orthodox Church, founded in 1941. However, after the Macedonian Orthodox Church declared autonomy in 1958, many members felt the need to establish a new parish under its jurisdiction.
On 7 August 1962, members of the United Macedonians Organization held a meeting in the King Edward Hotel in Toronto and the decision was made to build a new church in the Thorncliffe Park neighbourhood which will bear the name of the medieval Saint Clement of Ohrid. After this decision was brought forth, an assembly was also formed and a church delegation was sent by the Holy Synod in Skopje, Macedonia. The first holy liturgy of the parish was carried out on 12 August 1962 in the "Zhelevo Hall", a community centre established by Aegean Macedonians from the village of Želevo. On 12 December of the same year, the church received its license from the city of Toronto to officially operate religious services. On 5 April 1964, the foundations of the church were laid by the church's first priest, Rev. Kiril Stojanovski. The event was also attended by Dositheus II, Archbishop of Ohrid and Macedonia. On 18 April 1965, on the Orthodox holiday of Palm Sunday, the church was officially opened for service.
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The inside of the church features murals by Macedonian/Canadian artist Georgi Danevski.
In February 2009, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary celebration of the United Macedonians Organization, the church was visited by the Prime Minister of Canada, Stephen Harper. In August 2009, on the occasion of the Orthodox holiday of the Domition of the Virgin Mary, the church was visited by Nikola Gruevski – the Prime Minister of Macedonia.

Footnotes