Holy Trinity Serbian Orthodox Church (Montreal)

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Holy Trinity Serbian Orthodox Church (Montreal, Quebec) is a Serbian Orthodox Church in Westmount, a suburb of Montreal, Quebec. Holy Trinity is a parish of the Serbian Orthodox Eparchy of Canada under the omophorion of Bishop Mitrofan.

History

Main article: Serbian Canadians

Serbian immigration to Montreal can be traced before the turn of the century, but it was before World War I that led to a wave of immigration from Serbia and Serbian territories under the Austrian and Ottoman empires to the Dominion of Canada, the official name of Canada at the time, where many came to settle. Then, during the Great War when the War Measures Act was enforced, a significant number of Serbs were placed under restrictions of mobility and association while others were sent to internment camps in Montreal, Beauport, Spirit Lake and, Valcartier in Québec. In 1918 when immigration to Canada resumed Captain Antun Vladimir Seferovitchwas appointed honorary consul of Serbia in Montreal whose task was to actively liaise with different departments of the Dominion of Canada government and encourage them to look kindly on ethnic Serbs among the friendly aliens who ought to be exempt from monthly reporting. Under these conditions, the early settlers had little choice but to wait until better days before founding a congregation. In 1930, Serbian women formed a Circle of Serbian Sisters (Kolo Srpskih Sestara, also known as KSS) that was active throughout the Second World II as a branch of the Royal Yugoslav Red Cross and the Circle of Serbian Sisters continues to this day as part of the Holy Trinity Serbian Orthodox Church and community center. In 1938 when Milivoje M. Naumović arrived as the new Royal Yugoslav consul general at Montrealhe took a population count (census) and recorded 15,000 Serbs living in Canada at the time. It was a discerning chore considering that many Serbs were recorded as Austrians or Hungarians and even Romanians by Canadian Immigration authorities over the years.

On 23 February 1954, Bishop Dionisije (Milivojević) named hieromonk Justinian (Ilkić) to the Serbian community of Montreal as their parish priest. Ilkić was a seminary graduate and former monk of the Monastery of Visoki Dečani in the Serbian province of Kosovo whose abbot was Dionisije before he became Bishop (1939) and took over the American-Canadian Diocese in 1940.

Almost immediately Father Justinian gathered all Montreal Serbs on 6 February 1954 and formed a Church School Congregregation at a rented Ukrainian Church hall where they elected the first Church Board. On 3 March 1954 Rev. Ilkić, as guest of the Ukrainian bishop, attended the consecration ceremony of the Ukrainian Orthodox Cathedral Church on Sunday, 3 March 1954. That list of Board names elected (Veljko Arađanin, Marko Poduljak, Jovan Pajić, Blagoje Ačimov, Ćedo Erdeljan, Đuro Cvetin, Savo Lazarov, Petar Oprić, Iva Janošev, and Dina Mikalački) and By-Laws was sent to Bishop Dionisije for approval the next day (4 March 1954). But the response to the call to buy an existing property or build a new church was not there. Between 1956 and 1957, Father Justinian at the time was faced with extenuating circumstances that made him make a life-changing decision and he decided to write a letter of resignation to his Bishop. In the letter, he stated that he wanted to leave monasticism, marry, and have a family, but the bishop's response was far from sympathetic. Dionisje not only had Ilkić defrocked but imposed unwarranted demands and restrictions. Leaving Ilkić no choice but to join the United Church of Canada's Protestant missions to East European immigrants in Montreal. In the meanwhile, another émigré cleric Lazar Vujaklija who once served as a Uniate Church priest in the Independent Satellite State of Croatia during the Second World War applied to Bishop Dionisije for Ilkić's vacant post, but that did not come under consideration.

With the arrival of V. Rev. Dimitrije Najdanović from Derby in England to Montreal in 1960, things began to change for the better.A year later, the Serbian community of Montreal had a Church, a community center and a priest residence all under the same roof on De Bullion Street, thanks to the sacrifices of many individuals and the kind encouragement of the new priest. The commissions for the iconostasis were given to a master woodcarver Vladimir Barač and the icon painting to internationally-renowned, Belgrade-born artist José Majzner . The consecration date was set for 12 June 1963 but it was postponed on several occasions. Soon the numerous complaints that were filed with the Patriarch of the Serbian Orthodox Church against Dionisije during the years before 1963, came to roost and Dionsisje was called into question as to his fitness to serve as a Bishop and his administration of the Diocese.This action of the Mother Church prompted Dionsije to sever all ties and begin a series of lawsuits that were only settled after his death, as a matter of fact, three decades came to pass from the time the schism took hold. The only thing gained was the increase of churches and monasteries on the continent and elsewhere.

At the height of the Dionisije schism, Antonije Abramović, who was employed by the Saints Peter and Paul Russian Orthodox Church in Montreal as assistant to the parish priest, begged his former abbot of Visoki Dečani (now the deposed Bishop Dionisije of North America) to secure him a post in a Serbian parish, preferably in Montreal. Instead, Dionisije sent him to a parish in New Jersey where Abramović's stay was rather short. In the meantime, V. Rev. Dimitrije Najdanović impressed his parishioners to remain loyal to their Serbian Orthodox Church and not listen to the gossip. The consecration of the De Bullion property took place on 6 September 1964 officiated by Bishop Stefan Lastavicaof the Eastern American Diocese and attended by the city's most prominent dignitaries.

By avoiding the schism and costly legal battles, the new Montreal Church Council and Dr. Dragutin "Drago" Papić, a renowned Montreal surgeon, as president of the construction committee, purchased a former Presbyterian Church in 1976 along with a rectory in an established and prestigious Montreal neighborhood of Westmount. Thanks to the good doctor's wife Jelena Papić, Ph.D., who first learned that the church was up for sale. Originally built in 1900 as the Melville Church to the architectural design of architect Edward Maxwell, the building was in need of much repair and reconstruction at the time of the purchase. Still, ten years later, there were more reconstruction and repairs needed to be done. Consecration of the new Holy Trinity church was held on The Holy Apostle and Evangelist Luke – 31 October 1976 -- by Bishop Sava (Vukovich) of the Serbian Orthodox Eparchy of Eastern America in the year of the Summer Olympic Games in Montreal. In the next years, under the same leadership, the Church's success followed with the advancement of the church and the improvement of the iconostasis, and the addition of two notable icons – Saint Sava, and Saint Basil of Ostrog. Also, included in the ongoing advancement was the completion and repair of the church Community Centre, the kitchen, and a refurbished parish residence – used by the parish priest.

Bibliography

The primary source was the Metropolitanate Archives for the history of the Montreal "Holy Trinity" Serbian Orthodox Church, including the letters dated February 23, 1954; March 4, 1954; April 23, 1956; and December 7, 1957, addressed to Bishop Dionisije at the Metropolitanate. Also:

• Civilian Internment in Canada: Histories and Legacies, edited by Rhonda L. Hinther and Jim Mochoruk (2020), page 103-111
• The Dominions Office and Colonial Office List, Great Britain, Office of Commonwealth Relations, 1939, page 139 cites Milivoje M. Naumović
• "Diaspora Serbs: A Cultural Analysis", edited by Earle Waugh and Milan V. Dimić, M.V. Dimić Research Institute, University of Alberta, 2004, pages 143-145 cites: "The Provisional Board informed Bishop Dionisije of their meeting held on February 6, 1954, in the Ukrainian Church".;
• "Consecration Of Serbian Church Set," The Montreal Gazette newspaper, 5 September 1964, page 36;
• "Patron Saint Day Slated", Beaver County Times newspaper, 25 October 1976, page 25;
• "Dear Friends: PM Charms Serbians," The Montreal Gazette newspaper, 6 October 1986, page 2
• Official Reports from the Supreme Court, Volume 431, page 702
• Bishop Stefan Lastavica
• "Serbians Sacrifices Save Melville Church Building." The Montreal Gazette newspaper, 1 November 1976, page 3
• "Ukrainians Salute New Cathedral Here," The Montreal Gazette newspaper, 4 December 1954, page 43
• THE HERITAGE VALUE STATEMENT: HOLY TRINITY SERBIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH, pages 1-12, cites José Majzner on page 10.

References

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