TORONTO – In the city of St. Catharines, which neighbors Niagara Falls, the Clergy-Laity Assembly of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Canada was held at the Holiday Inn, which is owned by the five Nitsopoulos brothers. This was the first Clergy-Laity Assembly in five years because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Canada is the second largest country by area after Russia, being seventy-six times larger than Greece. Approximately 350,000 Greek Orthodox Christians live there. They are organized into 78 Communities under the auspices of our Archdiocese. Sixty-three are regular Communities with a parish priest and parish council, and all other supporting organizations. Fifteen are organized as missionary communities, which means they have few families and without a full-time priest. Instead, they are served by neighboring clergy.

At the Assembly, 117 representatives, including priests, participated. Ninety-two representatives participated from Philoptochos chapters, and 155 young men and women participated from MetYouth.

The Assembly began and ended with church services – four Divine Liturgies were celebrated, led by Archbishop Sotirios. The fourth Divine Liturgy, which took place at the Church of St. Catharine’s, was led by Archbishop Sotirios, with the participation of Bishop Bartholomew of Kerama – Bishop Athenagoras of Patara was absent due to illness – along with 44 clergymen. The parish was filled with delegates from the Assemblies and devout Christians from the area.

The MetYouth Assembly was led by Fr. Timoleon Prattas and Fr. Nikodimos Kontogiorgakis.

Archbishop Sotirios presided over the sessions of the Philoptochos Sisterhood and the Communities, as always. He believes and always preaches that the Church is a family and should act with the spirit of a true Hellenic-Christian family. This spirit prevailed in all the meetings. It is noted that the President of the Archdiocesan Council of Philoptochos Sisterhood is Zoe Veroutis.

Among the issues discussed was the compensation of clergy. The annual salary of priests begins at $62,000 and increases by $1,000 per year. In the Communities Assembly, Archbishop Sotirios proposed that due to the prevailing inflation, priests’ salaries should start at $65,000 or $68,000 and increase by $1,000 annually for up to 10 years. Mr. Vanikiotis, President of the Ottawa Community – the capital of Canada – took to the floor and proposed that Priests’ salaries in Communities should start at $68,000 annually. The proposal was seconded, discussed, and unanimously agreed upon.

There was also a well-attended meeting of the Archons of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Canada. This year’s Assembly theme was: “Faith is the substance of things hoped for” (Heb. 1:11), and His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew sent an message which was read in both Greek and English.

Archbishop Sotirios said: “sincere appreciation and thanksgiving are expressed to the Greek Orthodox Community of St. Catharines who: a) arranged for a chapel to be set up in the hotel. b) undertook to organize two major Divine Liturgies at the Church of St. Catharines. c) organized three official meals-dinners with hundreds of attendees and covered all expenses – everything was bountiful and impeccable. We express our love, admiration, and thanks for the well-organized Community of St. Catherine.”

Indeed, Archbishop Sotirios expressed his thanks and gratitude to all the delegates.

All the sessions began and ended with prayer and the end of the sessions (MetYouth, Philoptochos, and Communities), the ‘polychronion’ of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew was always chanted.