St. Nikola Serbian Orthodox Church
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St. Nicholas or St. Nikola Serbian Orthodox Church in Hamilton, Ontario, inaugurated in 1913, is the first Serbian church to be built in Eastern Canada in 1917 and dedicated to Saint Nikola The Wonderworker by Bishop Mardarije Uskoković.[1]Only the Holy Trinity Serbian Orthodox Church in Regina is older, inaugurated in 1912 and built in 1916[2]. The Hamilton wooden church of 1917 was replaced in 1974 with a new church at 1415 Barton Street East in Hamilton[3]to accommodate the ever-increasing newly-arrived immigrants.[4][5][6]
History[edit]
In 1913 the Church School Congregation was already organized in Hamilton, however, construction of the wooden church did not begin until four years later. On 19 December 1917, Serbian Bishop Mardarije Uskoković consecrated the community’s first formal church building, St. Nicholas’ Church at the corner of Beach Road [7] and Northcote Street in Hamilton.[8]The Hamilton community at the time covered an area from Niagara Falls, Toronto, Sudbury, and smaller places in between. Though a large parish at the time, they could not afford to employ a permanent priest. The services were provided by Greek, Russian, and Ukrainian clergy. Bishop Dionsije (Milivojević) made an attempt to appoint a young priest, Rev. Vladimir Mrvićin. He stayed for only a short time, from August 1941 until 28 November 1941, when he moved to a parish in Gary, Indiana. After his departure, the parish was administered for a short time by Rev. Marko Komljenović and from 1944 until 1948, by Ukrainian-born Miroslav Podorski.[9]
With the arrival of the post-World War II émigrés, the parish grew substantially. V. Rev. Dušan Vukelić arrived from Germany as an émigré on 1 December 1948 and was appointed parish priest of the St. Nikola Church in Hamilton. The existing Church Hall was too small to accommodate all Serbs, and in 1949 it was renovated and extended. At an annual meeting held on 28 December 1952, a decision was made to acquire a new property upon which they would build a new church hall and church. But this decision was not executed until 1957 when the new Community center (Church Hall) was constructed and blessed by Bishop Dionisije (Milivojević) on 2 June the same year. When the schism broke out in 1963, the Serbian Orthodox Eparchy of New Gračanica and Midwestern America was established and defrocked Bishop Dionisije Milivojević elevated himself to metropolitan and consecrated V. Rev. Irinej Kovačević bishop. The parishioners with Bishop Dionisije kept the existing old Church and Church hall. The burning of the mortgage for the church hall took place in 1969. In 1973 when the old church caught fire and burnt to the ground, the need for a new church became obvious. On 10 August 1974, the grounds for a new church were blessed at the 1415 Barton Street East.[10]A year later, the Serbo-Byzantine Church of St. Nicholas was constructed and Bishop Irinej (Kovačević) officiated at the consecration on 21 September 1975.[11]The church retains the bells of the original 1917 church, and a collection of Russian icon prints dating to 1907.
Bibliography[edit]
- Sava Vučković, Bishop of Šumadija, Schematisam of the Canadian Diocese 1983-1993, Toronto, p. 31 mentions the earliest beginnings of St. Nikola Church in Hamilton from 1917 until the 1960s.
See also[edit]
- Saint Nicholas Serbian Orthodox Cathedral (Hamilton, Ontario)
- Saint Petka Serbian Orthodox Church
- Serbian Orthodox Eparchy of Canada
- Holy Transfiguration Monastery
- Holy Trinity Serbian Orthodox Church (Montreal)
- Saint Sava Serbian Orthodox Church (Toronto)
- Saint Arsenije Sremac Serbian Orthodox Church
- All Serbian Saints Serbian Orthodox Church (Mississauga)
- Holy Trinity Serbian Orthodox Church (Regina)
- Saint Michael the Archangel Serbian Orthodox Church (Toronto)
- St. Stefan Serbian Orthodox Church (Ottawa)
- Serbian Canadians
References[edit]
- ↑ https://www.thespec.com/news/hamilton-region/2013/10/15/hamilton-s-st-nicholas-serbian-orthodox-church-celebrates-10-decades.html
- ↑ https://serborth.org/01312018b
- ↑ https://saintnicholas.info/en/
- ↑ http://historicalhamilton.com/the-east-end/st-nicholas-serbian-orthodox-church/
- ↑ http://www.istocnik.ca/en/
- ↑ https://www.novine.ca/ms/www.novine.ca/vazni_linkovi/crkva_church/vt_1_crkve_kanada.html
- ↑ http://historicalhamilton.com/industrial-sector/st-nicholas-serbian-orthodox-church-on-beach-rd/
- ↑ https://www.saintnicholas.info/en/#history
- ↑ http://historicalhamilton.com/special-features/favourite-locations/st-nicholas-serbian-orthodox-church/
- ↑ https://www.saintnicholas.info/en/#history
- ↑ https://orthodox-world.org/en/i/25339/Canada/Ontario/Hamilton/Church/Saint-Nicholas-Serbian-Orthodox-Church
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