Oh boy, Diana: whither the Ukrainian-Canadian Orthodox Christians, indeed. Of course much depends on the individual parish priest and the “chemistry” between him and the parishioners. Part of that chemistry is language – I grew up without understanding a word while attending services and only a bit more in Sunday School – but I was pretty good at dancing.Another is, as you point out, the quality and content of the “preaching.” I’m often torn between appreciating a well-spun homily on Orthodox belief, and deeply wishing that, just once, the sermon would address current events right in our Canadian back yard: where is our Church on the questions of climate change, disappeared and murdered Indigenous women, homelessness, income inequality, and so on? Of course there must be Orthodox priests out there somewhere who do take up these issues as central to Christian faith. But, like you, I fear that the horse is out of the barn, in the sense that, by the time that Bishops and other clergy realized that, to keep the Church vital, it at least had to speak to its people in English (in western Canada), the third – and beyond – generation had already decamped. Now they are the ones who jog, do yoga and meet friends for Sunday brunch as their spiritual exercises (I’m not being sarcastic).

I’m glad you could make sense of it!

As for the growth of the Ukrainian Orthodox church, I understand why at some level it’s floundering. About six years ago, when I attended a service in the parish I grew up with, the priest was very dogmatic in his sermon and manner. If he’s representative of the new order, then he and others will scare away any potential new congregants. The ones I knew as a child and teenager–Bishop Mitiuk, Father Gerus–were very welcoming and generous men in spirit. They seemed to understand the complexities of faith and didn’t condemn those who strayed from the dogma.

Thank you, Roman, for this comment. Much appreciated – as you know how complicated these issues are for a lot of people unfamiliar with our “Byzantine” cosmos. Nevertheless, I hope they can share our relief and satisfaction with the way independence/autocephaly is being granted to our long-suffering Ukrainian Orthodox sisters and brothers. As for “schism,” I repeat what someone (I forget which hierarch) said about this, that what has happened in Ukraine is “unity,” not schism, because all the Orthodox faithful now have the chance to be gathered together and under the mantle of the Mother Church in Constantinople. Thanks also for the reference to Archbp.Iov; perhaps you can reply with a link?