† Holy Resurrection Russian Orthodox Sobor, Vancouver

The first Orthodox Divine Liturgy in Vancouver, B.C. was celebrated at the local YMCA by Archimandrite Antonin (Pokrovsky) on September 14, 1924. A group of the Orthodox believers from Vancouver and surrounding areas of the Mainland pulled together to establish an Orthodox Community, and thus, to lay the foundation for the future Holy Resurrection Church our beloved Church. It was 74 years ago. Only one year divides us from the 75lh anniversary of our Church’s birthday and the preparation of the Jubilee celebration are underway.

The Church was dedicated to the memory of the Restoration of the Holy Resurrection Temple in Jerusalem (335). The first church building was completed and consecrated by then Metropolitan Platon of August 29, 1929, only five years after the celebration of that first liturgy. Can we imagine how strong was the zeal of those first parishioners, how big must have been their sacrifices!

In the time when we are preparing to celebrate the 75th anniversary of our Church we should certainly acknowledge their achievements, and hard work, zeal and sacrifices of the generations of servants of God who provided continuous ministry to this Church through the history of her existence, until now All those who have kept this Church for so many years – the clergy, acolytes, readers and singers, all the faithful parishioners and internal organizations e.g. Russian Orthodox Society, Ladies Auxiliary, Ladies Guild, Sisterhood, Library, Church Schools etc., all should be commended and honored for their great effort.

But at the same time, and with the same eager we shall do everything possible to restore the spirit of those predecessors of ours who accomplished so much for the Glory of God and for their salvation. We should bring to life the original idea of the Restoration of Holy Resurrection Church in Jerusalem, and make all the effort to restore our Church an our Christian Community. We have to restore in us the spirit of the early Christian believers in order to renew the vigor of the Orthodoxy in our Church. Only if we will be able to achieve the above, only then our celebration of the 75th Jubilee of our Holly Resurrection Church will have any meaning for the future generations of our parishioners.

One year divides us from the celebration of the 75th anniversary of Holy Resurrection Church in Vancouver. The Church Council began the preparation, so did also the Jubilee Planning Committee, and their activities will be unrolling accordingly lo their plans. Now is important that everybody of us at Holy Resurrection will create own individual plan of action for the above celebration. Think only what we can do by pulling together, giving our resources and talents for the restoration of our church, growing together spiritually, building up the Jubilant Church for the next generations of Orthodox believers in Vancouver!

May the Almighty God help us in our endeavors!