From: The Encyclopedia of Canada's Peoples/Macedonians/Lillian Petroff
As Christians and adherents of the Eastern Orthodox faith, Macedonians established Sts Cyril and Methody church in Toronto’s east end in 1910. Having waged a constant and bitter battle in the name of jurisdictional freedom from the Greek patriarch in the homeland, the sojourners and settlers of the early community had by necessity decided to place their church under the spiritual jurisdiction of the Bulgarian exarchate. Sts Cyril and Methody became the centre for an ethnic group in transition from a temporary way of life in Toronto to one of permanence. It united an immigrant flock from many different villages into a single ethno-religious community.
Macedonian immigrants to Toronto and their descendants founded two additional churches that are either under the spiritual jurisdiction of the patriarch in Bulgaria or are part of a Bulgarian diocese within the Orthodox Church in America. St George Macedono-Bulgarian Orthodox Church was established in 1941, and Holy Trinity Macedono-Bulgarian Church dates from 1976. Post–World War II arrivals to the city founded several Macedonian Orthodox parishes under the spiritual jurisdiction of the metropolitan of the Macedonian Orthodox Church in Skopje. They include St Clement of Ohrid in Toronto (1962), St Dimitria of Solun in Markham (1992), St Ilija in Mississauga (1979), St Sunday in Ajax (1993), St Naum of Ohrid in Hamilton, and St Nikola in Windsor.
Administered by elected executive committees, all these churches organized or supported – as they still do today – various educational, athletic, and cultural programs. They became centres of Bulgarian or Macedonian language instruction. They hosted teas, dances, and entertainment evenings (vecherinki) and mounted elaborate celebrations of the major religious holidays, including Easter and those held in honour of patron saints. The churches benefited from a revolution in folk-ways and mores regarding the role of women in religious and community life. In the Old World, women had entered the church only as worshippers, candle makers, and caretakers. In Toronto they became enthusiastic participants in athletic activities and instructors in heritage language programs. They also enjoyed the opportunity to sing in the choir and to perform in plays and concerts.
A small number of Macedonians who called themselves Patriarchists and owed spiritual allegiance to the Greek patriarch chose to remain outside this sphere of religious activity. They first conducted informal religious meetings in their homes and subsequently attended the Greek Orthodox churches in the city.
