From: The Encyclopedia of Canada's Peoples/Bulgarians/Mariela Dakova
Historically, most Bulgarians have belonged to the Bulgarian (Eastern) Orthodox church headed by a patriarch who directs a council of bishops known as the Holy Synod. In 1907 the synod sent two priests to serve Bulgarian immigrants from Macedonia and Bulgaria. In 1910 the first Macedono-Bulgarian Eastern Orthodox church in Toronto, SS Cyril and Methody, was founded. Hieromonak Theophilact came from Granite City, Illinois, as priest and guided the church until 1921. In 1926 members began to raise funds for a parish hall, completed in 1928. The church became the central institution for Macedono-Bulgarians in Toronto. It has maintained a Bulgarian-language school, a Sunday school, a course on folk dancing, and a mixed choir. It has about 300 members.
The Holy Synod founded the Diocese of Bulgarian Church Mission in North America and in 1938 appointed Bishop Andrey Velicki administrator. As a result of political events in the Balkans, in 1948 Bishop Andrey rejected the jurisdiction of the Holy Synod in Bulgaria. In 1963 fourteen parishes in North America announced their independence. Since that time North America has had a Bulgarian Holy Synod, headed today by Metropolitan Joseph; and a Bulgarian diocese based in Toledo, Ohio, headed by Bishop Kyril Jonchev, which is a part of the Orthodox Church in America. The former has eight churches, and the latter, nine.
Political disagreements in Toronto led to the founding, within the Orthodox Church in America, of St George Church in 1942. The church had about thirty members in 1942 and grew to about 250 in the 1970s. This church community took care of the 2,000 refugees who arrived via Newfoundland in 1989–90. In the 1990s SS Cyril and Methody and St George have cooperated in cultural and ethnic programs.
In 1972 the Sveta Troica (Holy Trinity) Macedono-Bulgarian Eastern Orthodox Church was established in Toronto, mostly for political reasons. Many members belonged to the Bulgarian National Front (BNF) and the Macedonian Patriotic Organization (MPO) and firmly believe that Slavic Macedonians are part of the Bulgarian nationality. The parish was initially within the Bulgarian diocese of the Orthodox Church in America, during the late 1970s within the Russian Church Abroad, and since 1982 under the Holy Synod in Bulgaria. It has about 150 members and is strongly committed to promoting Bulgarian identity and language.
