Letter from His Beatitude Sviatoslav to the Most Reverend Bryan Bayda on the occasion of His enthronement to the see of the Eparchy of Toronto and Eastern Canada

With this letter we wish to greet you on the occasion of an important event in your life – your enthronement to the see of the Eparchy of Toronto and Eastern Canada. This event is a sign of God’s great blessing for our entire Church, as in your person the Lord Himself leans down towards our faithful in order to serve each of them. On behalf of our entire Synod, we express to you our sincere greetings and assurances of prayers, that the time of your governance be marked by bountiful divine blessing, which through an abundance of fruit will become evident in the Eparchy of Toronto.

Two years ago, the Holy Father nominated you as Apostolic Administrator of the Eparchy. For you, the clergy, and faithful laity this was a time of getting to know one another. In spite of the coronavirus pandemic, which afflicted the entire world, you managed to visit almost all the parishes of the Eparchy of Toronto, moved the location of the eparchial chancery, organized an Eparchial Assembly-Sobor, established an eparchial finance council, and implemented numerous other necessary changes, which, naturally, will help you fulfill your office more effectively. For all these efforts, we express our respect and recognition.

Today we greet you as the ruling hierarch of the Eparchy of Toronto, as successor to your predecessors, especially Bishop Isidore Borecky, who accompanied this ecclesial structure as it was being formed, and the bishops who worked with dedication on its development—Cornelius Pasichny and Stephen Chmilar. Our beloved brother, Bishop Stephen, is blessed by God, that he is able to pass on to you his cordial blessing and assurances of prayers. The prayer of an elder-starets is a source of generous divine gifts. In this celebratory time for your eparchy, Metropolitan Laurence Huculak, the spiritual father of our Canadian Metropolia, will be praying with you. Work together with him for the deepening of spiritual life in the Metropolia, and for its development.

On this day, we wish to remember our illustrious predecessor, Patriarch Josyf, who in the 70s and 80s of the last century visited the Eparchy of Toronto. From the words of the patriarch himself, who spent 18 years in Soviet labour camps, we see how impressed he was with the blossoming of the eparchy and its great possibilities. He foresaw its spiritual ascent, that it would give birth to numerous vocations to priestly and monastic vocations.

Today, your mother Church in Ukraine, which flows with the blood of its sons and daughters as it wages war against Russian invaders, prays for you and sincerely believes that you will not neglect the gift of the Holy Spirit, who has generously descended on you on this important day. We pray to the merciful God that you preserve and multiply the gift of holy faith, and also make every effort to pass it on to future generations who, with God’s blessing, will be children worthy of their Martyr-Church and native Ukraine.

“We offer to You Yours of Your own in behalf of all and for all.” These words are spoken by each priest as he raises the Holy Mysteries in preparation for distribution to the faithful. Dear Bishop Bryan, as a son of the land of Canada, you have absorbed the best that she was able to offer you. Today, we present you to the eparchy “for them as one of their own,” who with your very life will offer the sacrifice of your ministry “in behalf of all and for all”.

In all things we entrust you to act according to Christ’s pastoral mandate: to proclaim the Word of God, to celebrate the Divine Mysteries, and to lead the flock entrusted to you on the path of Christian love and justice. In exercising your authority, always remember the words of our Saviour: “The Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve and give his life as a ransom for many” (see Mt 20:28). Above all, be guided by love, for this is the commandment that we have received from the Lord: “Whoever loves God shall also love his brother” (1 Jn 4:21). 

We place your entire ministry into the hands of our heavenly Father. May He receive the gift of your ministry on His altar as a pleasing sacrifice, and send down upon you from above His abundant blessing, through the prayers of the Most Holy Theotokos, for whose protection and care you can always assuredly hope.

Continue to be for our people and for all you encounter a bright luminary of divine truth and an example of a perfect disciple of Christ our Lord. We pray that you may receive God’s generous blessing. This greeting we send to you from the banks of the age-old Dnipro river in a time of war against a Russian aggressor, with great hope for victory.

For many and happy years, Most Reverend Bishop!

 (На многії і благії літа, Преосвященний Владико!)

† SVIATOSLAV