Saturday Divine Liturgy Resumes — Every Saturday at 10:30 AM

Effective September 1, 2026 | Announcement of the Church Board

The Church Board informs its parishioners that, beginning September 1, 2026, a Divine Liturgy will be celebrated in the church every Saturday at 10:30 a.m., led by Father Valeri Choumarov.

After the service, coffee and other refreshments brought by the parishioners will be served in the hall. This will be an opportunity for us to remain together, see one another, and socialize in a pleasant and friendly atmosphere.

In addition, with the exception of Sundays, various church rites — prayers, baptisms, weddings, and memorial services — may be performed in the church by prior arrangement.

May everyone feel welcome and accepted as part of our church community. Together, let us maintain the church as a place of prayer, fellowship, friendship, and spiritual closeness.

The Church Board

The Beginning of the Church New Year — the Indiction

September 1, 2026 (Tuesday) | The first day of the liturgical year

The Orthodox Church begins her year not in January but on September 1, the day the Church calls the Indiction. From this day the great circle of feasts unfolds once more: the Nativity of the Theotokos opens the year in September and her Dormition closes it in August, so that the whole year is held between the birth and the repose of the Mother of God.

The date is ancient. It marked the beginning of the civil year in the Christian Roman Empire, and the Church kept it because on this day, according to the Gospel of Luke, the Lord entered the synagogue in Nazareth, opened the book of the Prophet Isaiah and read: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me… to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.”

On this day the Church also prays for the creation — for good weather, for the fruits of the earth and for a peaceful year for all people. It is a fitting moment for each of us to begin again: to return to prayer, to confession and to the Holy Chalice, and to ask God’s blessing upon the year that lies before us.

The Beheading of St. John the Baptist

August 29, 2026 (Saturday) | A day of strict fasting

On August 29 the Church commemorates the martyrdom of the Forerunner, the greatest man born of woman, who was beheaded by Herod for rebuking his unlawful marriage. Of all the saints, only the Forerunner and the Mother of God are honoured by the Church with a commemoration of their death as a feast of the whole year.

The day is kept as a strict fast, even when it falls on a Saturday, in reverence for the innocent blood that was shed. By old Bulgarian custom the faithful abstain on this day from red fruit and vegetables, and from anything cut with a knife on a plate, in remembrance of the manner of his death.

St. John is the last of the prophets and the first of the martyrs — the voice crying in the wilderness who prepared the way of the Lord, and who bore witness to the truth to the very end. His example teaches courage: to speak the truth in love, whatever the cost.

Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos — Golyama Bogoroditsa (August 15, 2026)

August 1–15, 2026 | The Dormition Fast and the Great Feast

On August 15 the Orthodox Church celebrates the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos — the falling asleep of the Mother of God. It is the last of the Twelve Great Feasts of the church year and, in Bulgarian tradition, is known as Golyama Bogoroditsa, the Great Feast of the Mother of God.

Holy Tradition tells us that the Apostles were gathered miraculously from the ends of the earth to be present at the repose of the Theotokos in Jerusalem. Her Son received her most pure soul, and on the third day her tomb was found empty — for she who bore the Life was not held by death. This is why the feast is a celebration and not a mourning: the Church sings not of a funeral but of a passage into life.

The feast is preceded by the Dormition Fast, which runs from August 1 to August 14. It is one of the four fasting periods of the church year — brief but strict — and is kept in honour of the Mother of God. During the fast, the beautiful service of the Paraklesis (the Supplicatory Canon to the Theotokos) is traditionally chanted.

August 1 also marks the Procession of the Precious Cross, and many parishioners take this occasion to begin the fast with confession. The faithful are warmly encouraged to prepare themselves through prayer, fasting, and Holy Confession, so as to receive Holy Communion on the feast itself.

Holy Transfiguration of the Lord — Preobrazhenie (August 6, 2026)

August 6, 2026 | One of the Twelve Great Feasts

On August 6 the Church celebrates the Holy Transfiguration of our Lord Jesus Christ — one of the Twelve Great Feasts. Taking with Him the Apostles Peter, James, and John, Christ went up Mount Tabor and was transfigured before them: His face shone like the sun, and His garments became white as the light.

Moses and Elijah appeared with Him, speaking of the departure He was to accomplish at Jerusalem, and from a bright cloud the voice of the Father was heard: "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye Him." The disciples fell on their faces in fear, and Christ came and touched them, saying, "Arise, and be not afraid."

The Fathers teach that it was not Christ who changed on Tabor, but the eyes of the disciples that were opened to see the uncreated light of His divinity, which He had always possessed. The Transfiguration is given to us as a foretaste of the glory of the Kingdom, and it was shown to the disciples before the Passion so that, seeing Him suffer, they would understand that He suffered willingly.

In Bulgarian tradition the feast is called Preobrazhenie, and it is customary to bring grapes and the first fruits of the harvest to the church to be blessed at the end of the Divine Liturgy. Parishioners are warmly invited to bring fruit for the blessing.

Procession of the Precious Cross — the Dormition Fast Begins

August 1–14, 2026 | The shortest and strictest fast of the year

August 1 opens the Dormition Fast, the two-week preparation for the Great Feast of the Falling Asleep of the Mother of God. On the same day the Church brings out the Precious Cross for veneration — a custom that began in Constantinople, where the Cross was carried through the streets in August to sanctify the city and protect it from sickness.

The day is also the commemoration of the Holy Seven Maccabee Martyrs, their mother Solomonia and their teacher Eleazar, who suffered for their faithfulness to the Law of God. In many Orthodox lands this day is marked with the lesser blessing of water, and in some places with the blessing of honey from the new harvest.

The Dormition Fast is short but strict, and it is kept with joy rather than heaviness, for it leads to one of the most beloved feasts of the year. During these days the Paraklesis — the Supplicatory Canon to the Most Holy Theotokos — is traditionally chanted in Orthodox churches.

St. Panteleimon the Healer — Sveti Panteleimon (July 27, 2026)

July 27, 2026 | Great Martyr and Unmercenary Healer

On July 27 the Church honours the Holy Great Martyr and Healer Panteleimon, one of the most beloved saints of the Orthodox world and among the most venerated in Bulgarian tradition, where the day is known as Sveti Panteleimon.

Born in Nicomedia in the third century to a pagan father and a Christian mother, he was trained as a physician and served in the imperial court. Brought to faith by the priest Hermolaus, he came to understand that true healing belongs to Christ, and thereafter treated the sick without ever accepting payment — which is why the Church calls him an Unmercenary Healer. He was martyred during the persecution of Diocletian.

His name, Panteleimon, means "all-merciful," and he is invoked in the Sacrament of Holy Unction alongside the other unmercenary physicians. The faithful turn to him in illness, and he is regarded as a patron of doctors, nurses, and all who care for the sick.

St. Mary Magdalene, Equal-to-the-Apostles

July 22, 2026 (Wednesday) | The first witness of the Resurrection

St. Mary Magdalene stood by the Cross when almost everyone else had fled, and she was the first to come to the tomb while it was still dark. To her the Risen Lord first appeared, and to her He said: “Go to My brethren and say to them, I ascend to My Father and your Father.” For this the Church calls her Equal-to-the-Apostles and the Apostle to the Apostles.

Tradition tells that she preached the Gospel as far as Rome, and that standing before the Emperor Tiberius she held out an egg and said, “Christ is Risen!” The egg turned red in her hand. From this account comes the Paschal custom, kept in every Bulgarian home, of dyeing the first egg red on Great Thursday.

Her life is a reminder that the Gospel was first entrusted to a faithful heart rather than to worldly authority, and that the Resurrection is proclaimed by those who have loved much and been forgiven much.

Holy and Glorious Prophet Elijah — Ilinden (July 20, 2026)

July 20, 2026 | Prophet of the Old Testament

On July 20 the Church commemorates the Holy and Glorious Prophet Elijah the Tishbite, one of the greatest prophets of the Old Testament. In Bulgarian and Macedonian tradition the day is called Ilinden, and it has long been among the most widely kept feasts of the summer.

Elijah lived in the ninth century before Christ, in a time when the people had turned to the worship of Baal. Filled with zeal for the living God, he was fed by ravens in the wilderness, multiplied the widow's flour and oil, and raised her son from the dead. On Mount Carmel he called down fire from heaven before all the people, who then cried out that the Lord alone is God.

Yet the same prophet, fleeing in fear and despair, was taught on Mount Horeb that God was not in the great wind, nor the earthquake, nor the fire, but in a still small voice. At the end of his earthly life Elijah did not die, but was taken up into heaven in a chariot of fire — and he appeared again, centuries later, beside Moses at the Transfiguration of Christ on Mount Tabor.

For our Macedono-Bulgarian community this day carries an additional remembrance. The Ilinden–Preobrazhenie Uprising of 1903 began on St. Elijah's Day and continued into the feast of the Transfiguration — the two feasts from which it takes its name. Each year the community remembers with prayer those who suffered in those events, and the generations who carried their faith and language to this country.

St. Marina the Great Martyr

July 17, 2026 (Friday) | Marinovden

St. Marina was a girl of fifteen from Antioch of Pisidia who, having come to faith in Christ, refused both the marriage and the gods offered to her by the governor. She endured torture with a courage that astonished her persecutors, and many who watched her suffering believed and were baptized before she was beheaded in the third century.

She is honoured throughout the Bulgarian lands as a healer and a protector against fire and storm, and her name is among the most beloved given to daughters. Her icon shows her holding the cross of martyrdom — the sign that a young girl overcame the strength of an empire.

Her feast falls in the heart of summer, and in village tradition it was kept as a day of rest from work in the fields, out of respect for the saint who guards the home from fire.

Summer Service Schedule — Saturday Liturgies Pause Until September

July 2026 | Notice to Members and Friends of the Cathedral

Dear members and friends of the Sts. Cyril and Methody Macedono-Bulgarian Eastern Orthodox Cathedral, we wish to inform you that the Saturday Divine Liturgies are temporarily discontinued during the months of July and August.

The Saturday services will resume in September, and a follow-up announcement with the exact date will be sent to our members and published here on the parish website. We thank you sincerely for your understanding.

The clergy remain available throughout the summer for baptisms, memorial services, house blessings and pastoral needs. Please contact the church office to make arrangements.

Sts. Cosmas and Damian, the Holy Unmercenaries

July 1, 2026 (Wednesday) | Physicians who took no payment

Cosmas and Damian were brothers and physicians who healed the sick without ever accepting payment, saying that they had received the gift freely and would give it freely. The Church calls them Unmercenaries — those who serve without silver — and honours them as patrons of doctors, nurses and all who care for the suffering.

Their medicine was prayer as much as skill. They anointed with oil, they made the sign of the Cross, and they spoke of Christ to those they healed, so that bodies and souls were mended together. Many came to faith through their hands.

On their feast the Church prays especially for the sick of the parish and for those who work in hospitals — a prayer that our community has learned to value deeply in recent years.

Synaxis of the Twelve Holy Apostles

June 30, 2026 (Tuesday) | The day after Sts. Peter and Paul

The day after the feast of the chief Apostles, the Church gathers in one commemoration all Twelve whom the Lord chose and sent out — Peter, Andrew, James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, Thomas, Matthew, James of Alphaeus, Jude, Simon the Zealot and Matthias, who was numbered with them in place of Judas.

They were fishermen and tax collectors, men without schools or standing, and yet through them the world was changed. Nearly all of them ended their lives as martyrs in distant lands, and the Church that we belong to today rests on their preaching.

Our own parish stands in that same succession: the Gospel came to the Bulgarian lands from the apostolic preaching of St. Andrew in the Balkans, and reached our people in their own tongue through Sts. Cyril and Methody.

Sts. Peter and Paul, the Chief Apostles — Petrovden

June 29, 2026 (Monday) | The close of the Apostles’ Fast

The Apostles’ Fast ends on this day with the feast of Peter and Paul — two men as different as any two could be. Peter was a fisherman who denied his Lord three times and wept bitterly; Paul was a scholar who persecuted the Church until Christ met him on the road to Damascus. Both were made new, and both gave their lives in Rome.

The Church places them together on one day to teach that there is no sin too great for repentance and no past too dark for grace. The one who fell became the rock, and the one who persecuted became the apostle to the nations.

Petrovden is one of the most beloved name days in the Bulgarian calendar, and in tradition it is the day when the first apples may be blessed and eaten, and when families gather at the table after the weeks of the fast.

Nativity of St. John the Baptist — Enyovden

June 24, 2026 (Wednesday) | Six months before the Nativity of Christ

Only three birthdays are celebrated in the Orthodox calendar: that of the Lord, that of His Mother, and that of the Forerunner. John was born to Zachariah and Elizabeth in their old age, and at his birth his father’s tongue was loosed and he prophesied over the child: “And you, little one, shall be called the prophet of the Most High.”

The feast stands exactly six months before the Nativity of Christ, as the Gospel itself sets it, and the Church reads into that order the words of the Forerunner: “He must increase, but I must decrease.” From this day the daylight begins to shorten; from Christmas it begins to grow.

In Bulgarian tradition Enyovden is the great day of herbs, when healing plants are gathered before sunrise and woven into wreaths — a folk memory of the Forerunner who lived in the wilderness and whose life was given wholly to God.

The Saturday Divine Liturgy Begins — with Father Valeri Choumarov

June 20, 2026 (Saturday) | The first of the Saturday Liturgies

On Saturday, June 20, 2026, at 10:30 a.m., the first of the parish’s Saturday Divine Liturgies was celebrated. Father Valeri Choumarov kindly agreed to serve the Liturgy every Saturday for our parish community — a turning point for a cathedral that had been without regular services since the winter.

The Board of Trustees invited all members and friends of the cathedral to join in prayer and worship as this new Saturday ministry began, and after the Liturgy everyone was welcome to stay for coffee, light refreshments and fellowship.

The Saturday Liturgies continued through the end of June, paused for July and August, and resume on September 1 — see the announcement at the top of this page.

Sunday of All Bulgarian Saints — June 14, 2026

June 14, 2026 | 2nd Sunday after Pentecost

The second Sunday after Pentecost is dedicated to all the saints who have shone forth in the Bulgarian lands — martyrs, hierarchs, monastics, righteous men and women — from the time of the Apostles to the present day. This feast is unique to the Bulgarian Orthodox Church and expresses our deep gratitude to God for the great cloud of witnesses He has given to our people.

Among the saints commemorated on this day are:

This feast invites us to look upon our own heritage with gratitude and to seek the intercessions of the Bulgarian saints who have gone before us. We are not alone — we are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses who pray for us and for all the Bulgarian people scattered across the earth.

The Apostles' Fast (Petrovi Posti) — June 8 to 28, 2026

June 8 – June 28, 2026 | Ends with the Feast of Sts. Peter & Paul

Following the Sunday of All Saints, the Orthodox Church enters the Apostles' Fast (also called Petrovi Posti or the Apostolic Fast). This fast begins on June 8 and lasts until the feast of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul on June 29. In 2026, it is a relatively short fast of twenty days.

The Apostles' Fast has ancient roots, commemorating the period the Holy Apostles spent in prayer and fasting before going out to preach the Gospel to all the world. Just as Christ fasted forty days before His public ministry, the Apostles prepared themselves through fasting and prayer before undertaking their mission. The fast invites us to join in their spiritual discipline and to intercede for the spread of the Faith.

During the Apostles' Fast, fasting is observed from meat and dairy. Fish, oil, and wine are generally permitted on weekdays except Wednesdays and Fridays. For specific guidelines, please consult with the parish priest.

The feast of the Holy First-Supreme Apostles Peter and Paul (Petrovden) on June 29 concludes the fast with a joyful celebration. All who bear the names Petar, Pavel, Pavlina, and related names celebrate their name-day on this day.

Sunday of All Saints

June 7, 2026 (Sunday) | The first Sunday after Pentecost

The Sunday after Pentecost gathers into one celebration every saint of every age and every land — the apostles and martyrs whose names we know, and the countless faithful whose names are known to God alone. It is placed immediately after Pentecost because the saints are the fruit of the Holy Spirit in human lives.

Holiness, the Church teaches on this day, is not the achievement of a few extraordinary people but the calling of every baptized Christian. The saints were not made of different clay; they simply allowed God to finish His work in them.

From the following day begins the Apostles’ Fast, so that the joy of the Paschal season passes at once into ascetic effort — the Church never leaves us long without something to work at.

Monday of the Holy Spirit — Duhovden

June 1, 2026 (Monday) | The day after Pentecost

The day after Pentecost the Church honours the Holy Spirit Himself — the Comforter, the Spirit of Truth, who proceeds from the Father and who was poured out upon the Apostles in tongues of fire. What was given to the Twelve in the upper room is given to every Christian in the mystery of Chrismation.

In Bulgarian tradition Duhovden is one of the great days of remembrance of the departed. On the Saturday before Pentecost the Church serves a general memorial, and the whole period is kept as a time when the living and the dead are held together in one prayer.

Green branches and walnut leaves brought into the church at Pentecost remain through these days — a sign that the Spirit gives life, and that what seemed dry can put out leaves again.

Holy Pentecost 2026 — The Birthday of the Church

May 31, 2026 | Fifty Days after Pascha

On May 31, 2026 — fifty days after Pascha — we celebrate the Great Feast of Pentecost: the Descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles and the birth of the Church. Pentecost is one of the Twelve Great Feasts and, together with Pascha, one of the most ancient and solemn celebrations of the Christian year.

As described in the Acts of the Apostles (Acts 2:1–11), the disciples were gathered together in one place when suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, which filled the entire house. Tongues of fire appeared and rested on each of them, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues. On that day, three thousand souls were baptized — the Church was born.

The Orthodox Church has celebrated Pentecost with special prayers and rites from the earliest centuries. Among the most moving is the Kneeling Vespers service (Коленопреклонна Вечерня) served immediately after the Divine Liturgy. During this service, the faithful kneel for the first time since Pascha — a sign that the Paschal season has concluded — and three lengthy prayers are offered: for the living, for the departed, and for those in bondage.

The feast is also called Trinity Sunday, as the coming of the Holy Spirit completes the revelation of the Holy Trinity — Father, Son, and Holy Spirit — to the world. Churches are traditionally decorated with green branches, flowers, and greenery, symbolizing the renewal of life poured out by the Holy Spirit.

All parishioners and visitors are invited to this radiant feast. Come and receive the Holy Spirit!

Day of Bulgarian Alphabet, Culture & Slavic Literature (May 24, 2026)

May 24, 2026 | National Day of Bulgaria

May 24 is one of the most beloved holidays of the Bulgarian people — the Day of the Bulgarian Alphabet, Education, Culture, and Slavic Literature. It celebrates the creation of the Slavic alphabet by Sts. Cyril and Methody and the extraordinary cultural heritage that followed.

The holiday has deep roots. In Bulgaria, May 24 is a day of parades, school celebrations, and cultural events. Children carry portraits of the Holy Brothers, students lay flowers before their statues, and choirs sing in their honour. For Bulgarian communities around the world, including Toronto, it is a day to gather and reaffirm the cultural and spiritual identity that the Holy Brothers made possible.

The Sunday nearest to May 24 — which this year is May 24 itself — is also the 7th Sunday after Pascha, the Sunday of the Holy Fathers of the First Ecumenical Council. After the Divine Liturgy, a special supplication service (molieben) is served in honour of the Holy Brothers Cyril and Methody.

For our Cathedral, May 24 holds particular significance. We are named after Sts. Cyril and Methody, and this day — together with May 11 — stands at the heart of our parish identity. We invite all parishioners and guests to join us for the Divine Liturgy and the special commemorative service.

Sts. Constantine and Helen, Equal-to-the-Apostles

May 21, 2026 (Thursday) | Kostadinovden

The Emperor Constantine saw the sign of the Cross in the sky with the words “By this conquer,” and with the Edict of Milan in 313 he ended three centuries of persecution, giving the Church freedom to worship openly. His mother Helen travelled to Jerusalem in her old age and there found the Precious Cross of the Lord.

Because of them the churches of the Holy Land were built, the first Ecumenical Council gathered at Nicaea in 325, and the Creed which we still confess at every Liturgy was set down in words. The Church calls them Equal-to-the-Apostles for what their faith made possible.

In Bulgarian folk tradition this day is remembered for the ancient rite of the nestinari — the fire-dancers of Strandzha, who carry the icons of the two saints across the embers. It is one of the most striking survivals of old Christian custom in the Balkans.

Ascension of the Lord — Spasovden (May 21, 2026)

May 21, 2026 | One of the Twelve Great Feasts

Forty days after Pascha, we celebrate the Ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ into Heaven — one of the Twelve Great Feasts of the Orthodox Church. On this day we remember that having conquered death and shown Himself alive to His disciples for forty days, Christ ascended bodily into Heaven and was seated at the right hand of the Father.

The event is described in the Acts of the Apostles (Acts 1:1–12): the disciples gathered on the Mount of Olives, and as they watched, Christ was lifted up and a cloud received Him out of their sight. Two angels then appeared and declared: "This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven."

The Ascension does not mark the end of Christ's presence among us — He promised to be with us always, "even to the end of the age" (Matthew 28:20). Rather, it is the glorification of our human nature, raised with Christ and seated at the right hand of the Father. It is the sign of hope for our own resurrection and the promise of the coming of the Holy Spirit, whom Christ sent ten days later at Pentecost.

In Bulgarian tradition, Spasovden (from "Spas" — Saviour) is celebrated with great joy. Services are often followed by blessings of fruit and natural water sources. The feast falls on a Thursday this year, forty days after Pascha (April 12 + 40 days = May 21, 2026).

The Sundays of the Paschal Season

April 19 – May 17, 2026 | From Thomas Sunday to the Sunday of the Blind Man

The forty days between Pascha and the Ascension are not ordinary time. Each Sunday reads a different Gospel of the Risen Christ meeting particular people, so that the Resurrection is not an idea but a series of encounters: with Thomas who doubted, with the women who came with myrrh, with a paralytic, with a Samaritan woman at a well, with a man born blind.

At the midpoint of these weeks stands Mid-Pentecost, when the Church stops halfway between the two feasts and sings of Christ as the fountain of living water. In many parishes the lesser blessing of water is served on that day.

Throughout this season the greeting in church and at home remains “Christ is Risen!” — “Truly He is Risen!” — and the faithful do not kneel in prayer until the day of Pentecost.

Patron Saints Day 2026 — Sts. Cyril & Methody, Equal-to-the-Apostles

May 11, 2026 | Annual Parish Celebration

May 11 is the most important day in the calendar of our parish — the feast of our patron saints, the Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Brothers Cyril and Methody, Enlighteners of the Slavic peoples and creators of the Slavic alphabet.

The brothers were born in Thessaloniki — Cyril (Constantine) in 826 and Methodius in 815. Both were brilliant scholars, fluent in Greek, Slavic, and several other languages. In 862, Prince Rastislav of Moravia invited them to bring Christianity to his people in their own tongue. The brothers accepted the mission, and before departing, Constantine created the Glagolitic alphabet — the first writing system designed for the Slavic language — translating the Holy Scriptures and liturgical texts. This monumental act gave the Slavic peoples not only literacy, but a language in which they could meet God.

St. Cyril (Constantine) reposed in Rome on February 14, 869, having taken monastic vows shortly before his death. His brother Methodius continued the mission until his own repose in 885. Their disciples — most notably Sts. Clement and Naum of Ohrid — brought the Slavic alphabet to Bulgaria, where it was further developed into the Cyrillic script that bears St. Cyril's name.

For our Cathedral, this feast is a homecoming. Every year, our community gathers to honour the saints whose gift of the written word made it possible for our ancestors — and for us — to hear the Gospel and offer worship to God in the Bulgarian language.

All parishioners, families, and friends are warmly invited. This is a day for the entire Bulgarian Orthodox community of Toronto. Contact the church office for details on the banquet.

St. George the Trophy-Bearer — Gergyovden

May 6, 2026 (Wednesday) | One of the great days of the Bulgarian year

St. George was an officer of high rank in the Roman army who, when Diocletian began his persecution, gave away his possessions, freed his servants and confessed Christ before the emperor himself. He was tortured for seven days and beheaded in the year 303, and the Church has honoured him ever since as the Trophy-Bearer — the victorious one.

The icon of the saint on horseback, piercing the dragon, is one of the most familiar images in Orthodoxy. The dragon is not merely a beast but everything that devours the innocent; the victory is Christ’s, won in a young soldier who would not bow.

Gergyovden is also the day of the Bulgarian shepherd and of the Bulgarian Army, and in every Bulgarian community it is kept with the blessing of the first lamb, with kurban shared among neighbours, and with one of the largest gatherings of name-day celebrations in the year.

Sunday of the Myrrh-Bearing Women

April 26, 2026 (Sunday) | The second Sunday after Pascha

On the second Sunday after Pascha the Church honours the women who came to the tomb at first light with myrrh and spices — Mary Magdalene, Mary the wife of Cleopas, Salome, Joanna, Martha and Mary, and Susanna — together with Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus, who took the Lord’s body down from the Cross.

They came expecting to anoint a dead body, and asking one another who would roll away the stone. They did not come with faith in the Resurrection; they came with love. And love brought them to the empty tomb before anyone else.

This Sunday is kept in the Orthodox world as the day of Christian women — of mothers, grandmothers and all who quietly carry the life of the parish, as the myrrh-bearers carried their vessels through the dark.

Thomas Sunday — Antipascha

April 19, 2026 (Sunday) | The eighth day of Pascha

Eight days after the Resurrection the Lord came again through closed doors and said to Thomas: “Put your finger here, and see My hands; and do not be unbelieving, but believing.” Thomas answered with the shortest and greatest confession in the Gospels: “My Lord and my God!”

The Church does not call him a doubter but the one who touched. His demand for proof became the proof for everyone who came after him, and the Lord’s answer was not rebuke but wounds offered to be touched.

This Sunday closes Bright Week and renews the feast of Pascha, which is why it is called Antipascha — “in place of Pascha.” In Bulgarian tradition the days that follow are the time of visiting the graves of relatives with red eggs, to share the Paschal joy with the departed.

Holy Week & Pascha 2026 — "The Feast of Feasts"

April 4–12, 2026 | Lazarus Saturday through Pascha

The most solemn and most joyful week of the Orthodox Church year begins on Palm Sunday, April 5, 2026, and culminates in the Resurrection of Christ — Pascha — on April 12, 2026.

Holy Week (Страстна Седмица) is a week of intense liturgical services that walk the faithful through the final days of Christ's earthly life: His triumphal entry into Jerusalem, the Mystical Supper, the betrayal, the Passion, the Crucifixion, the burial, and finally the glorious Resurrection. Each service is unique, deeply moving, and rich in theology and hymnography.

Christos Voskrese! — Voistinu Voskrese! — Христос Воскресе!

All parishioners, families, and visitors are warmly welcome to all Holy Week services. These are the most sacred services of the Church year — come and experience the Paschal joy!

Palm Sunday — Tsvetnitsa, the Entry of the Lord into Jerusalem

April 5, 2026 (Sunday) | The gateway into Holy Week

Six days before the Passover the Lord entered Jerusalem seated on a young donkey, and the crowds spread their garments and palm branches before Him, crying “Hosanna to the Son of David!” Within five days the same city would cry “Crucify Him.” The Church sets these two days side by side and asks us to know ourselves in both.

The willow branches blessed in church are taken home and kept through the year — a sign that the household has come out to meet the Lord. In Bulgarian tradition Tsvetnitsa is also the name day of everyone who bears the name of a flower or a plant, one of the most joyful gatherings of the year.

This is a feast with the shadow of the Cross across it. We hold green branches and sing Hosanna, and on the evening of the same day the Bridegroom Matins begin, and Holy Week opens.

Lazarus Saturday — the Raising of Lazarus

April 4, 2026 (Saturday) | The day before Palm Sunday

Four days after his burial, at the word of Christ, Lazarus came out of the tomb still bound in his grave clothes. It is the last and greatest of the signs before the Passion, and the shortest verse of the Gospel stands at its centre: “Jesus wept.” God weeps at the grave of His friend before He calls him back.

Lazarus Saturday and Palm Sunday form one feast, joined by a single hymn: “By raising Lazarus from the dead before Thy Passion, Thou didst confirm the universal resurrection.” What was done for one man is the promise made to all.

In Bulgarian villages this is the day of the lazarki — young girls who go from house to house singing blessings for health and marriage. It is one of the oldest surviving Christian customs among our people.

Sunday of St. Mary of Egypt

March 29, 2026 (Sunday) | The fifth Sunday of Great Lent

Mary of Egypt spent seventeen years in every kind of sin before an unseen power held her back at the doors of the church in Jerusalem. She wept before the icon of the Mother of God, crossed the Jordan, and lived forty-seven years alone in the desert, seen by no one until the priest Zosimas found her.

The Church places her at the end of Lent as the answer to every despair. If she could be received, no one is beyond return; if she could persevere forty-seven years, our own forty days are not too much to ask.

On the Thursday of the preceding week her life is read in full in church, together with the Great Canon of St. Andrew of Crete — one of the longest and most searching services of the year.

Annunciation of the Most Holy Theotokos (March 25, 2026)

March 25, 2026 | One of the Twelve Great Feasts

The Annunciation (Blagoveshteniye — Благовещение) celebrates the moment the Archangel Gabriel appeared to the Virgin Mary and announced that she would conceive and bear the Son of God: "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy — the Son of God." (Luke 1:35). Mary's response — "Let it be to me according to your word" — is the great act of faith that opened the way for the Incarnation.

The feast falls this year in the midst of the 5th week of Great Lent. Despite the Lenten fast, fish is permitted on this day — a sign of the great joy of the feast. The Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom is served (rather than the Presanctified Gifts Liturgy).

Sunday of the Veneration of the Cross

March 15, 2026 (Sunday) | The third Sunday of Great Lent

At the midpoint of Great Lent the Cross is carried in procession to the centre of the church and laid on a bed of flowers and basil for the faithful to venerate. Travellers on a long road are given a resting place; the Church gives the weary the Cross itself.

The hymn of the day sings: “Before Thy Cross we bow down in worship, O Master, and Thy holy Resurrection we glorify.” The Cross is set before us not as an instrument of death but as the tree of life, and as the sign of where the fast is leading.

The Cross remains in the middle of the church for the following week, so that the faithful may come and venerate it through the days of the fourth week of the fast.

The Forty Holy Martyrs of Sebaste

March 9, 2026 (Monday) | A day when wine and oil are blessed in the fast

Forty soldiers of the Roman legion at Sebaste, in Armenia, refused to sacrifice to the idols and were driven naked onto a frozen lake, with a warm bath set on the shore to tempt them. One of them broke and ran to the bath, and died there; a guard who saw crowns descending from heaven over the remaining thirty-nine threw off his clothes and joined them, making the number forty again.

Their prayer that night has come down to us: “Forty we entered the contest; grant, O Lord, that forty may be crowned.” It is one of the most moving accounts of the early Church, and it is read in Orthodox homes to this day.

On this day the strictness of Great Lent is relaxed a little, and in Bulgarian tradition the day is marked with forty small offerings — forty prayers, forty prostrations, or forty pieces of bread given to neighbours.

The Sunday of Orthodoxy — the Triumph of the Holy Icons

March 1, 2026 (Sunday) | The first Sunday of Great Lent

In the year 843, after more than a century of struggle in which icons were broken and those who defended them were exiled and killed, the holy icons were restored to the churches of Constantinople. That restoration is celebrated on the first Sunday of Great Lent and is called the Triumph of Orthodoxy.

The question was never about art. If God truly became man, then He can be depicted; to deny the icon is to deny that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. The icons on our walls are a confession of the Incarnation.

On this day the faithful carry icons in procession around the church, and the Synodikon of Orthodoxy is proclaimed — the ancient declaration of the faith held by the Church from the Apostles until now.

St. Theodore Tyro — Todorovden

February 28, 2026 (Saturday) | The Saturday of the first week of Great Lent

In the fourth century the Emperor Julian ordered that all food in the market of Antioch be secretly sprinkled with the blood of idol sacrifices, so that the Christians would be defiled during the first week of the fast. St. Theodore appeared to the archbishop in a vision and warned him, telling the faithful to eat boiled wheat — kolyvo — instead.

From that day the Church blesses kolyvo on this Saturday, and the same blessed wheat is used at every memorial service for the departed, with the words of the Gospel: unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone.

In Bulgarian tradition Todorovden is also the day of horses and horsemen, when races are held in the villages and the first Saturday of the fast is kept with a family gathering.

Great Lent 2026 — A Season of Prayer, Fasting & Repentance

February 23 – April 11, 2026 | 40-Day Lenten Fast

Great Lent — the longest and most solemn fast of the Orthodox Church year — begins on Clean Monday, February 23, 2026, and continues for forty days until the eve of Palm Sunday. Together with Holy Week, this is a fifty-day period of intensified prayer, fasting, and repentance in preparation for the Feast of Feasts — Holy Pascha.

During Great Lent, the Orthodox Church offers a rich cycle of special services not served at any other time of year: the Presanctified Gifts Liturgy (on Wednesdays and Fridays), the Great Canon of St. Andrew of Crete (in the first and fifth weeks), the Akathist Hymn to the Theotokos (on the fifth Saturday), and the Lenten Sunday Liturgies of St. Basil the Great.

Forgiveness Sunday — Sirni Zagovezni

February 22, 2026 (Sunday) | The eve of Great Lent

On the last day before Great Lent the Gospel is read in which the Lord says: “If you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.” At the end of Vespers that evening the faithful come to one another, bow, and ask forgiveness face to face, each answering: God forgives, and I forgive.

The fast cannot begin any other way. Forty days of prayer are of no use to a heart that is still holding an account against a brother, and the Church will not let us enter Lent carrying it.

In Bulgarian homes the evening is kept as Sirni Zagovezni: the youngest ask forgiveness of the eldest, the ritual halva is hung on a thread for the children to catch, and the family shares its last meal with cheese and eggs before the fast.

St. Haralambos the Hieromartyr

February 10, 2026 (Tuesday) | Protector against sickness and plague

St. Haralambos was a priest of Magnesia who was already 113 years old when he was brought before his persecutors. He endured his torments with such calm that the soldiers who tormented him came to believe, and before his death he asked God that wherever his relics were kept, there would be no hunger and no plague.

For this prayer he is honoured throughout the Bulgarian lands as the protector against illness and epidemic, and his icon is found in almost every village church. He is also remembered as a patron of beekeepers, and honey is traditionally blessed on his day.

His feast falls in the depth of winter, when sickness is closest, and the prayers of the day are for the health of the household and of the whole community.

Presentation of the Lord in the Temple — Candlemas (February 2, 2026)

February 2, 2026 | One of the Twelve Great Feasts

Forty days after the Nativity of Christ, the Holy Family brought the infant Jesus to the Jerusalem Temple, fulfilling the Mosaic Law (Leviticus 12). There, the elderly righteous Simeon — who had been promised by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before seeing the Messiah — took the child in his arms and uttered the famous words: "Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation." This canticle, the Nunc Dimittis, is sung at Vespers every day in the Orthodox Church.

This feast marks the "meeting" (sretenie) of the Old and New Testaments — the aged prophet representing all of Israel's longing meets the infant who is the fulfillment of that longing. Candles are blessed at the Divine Liturgy on this day, hence the Western name "Candlemas."

St. Tryphon the Martyr — Trifon Zarezan

February 1, 2026 (Sunday) | The Triodion opens the same day

St. Tryphon was a young man from Phrygia who tended geese and healed the sick and the possessed by prayer alone. He was martyred under the Emperor Decius in the third century, and the Church honours him as a healer and as the protector of gardens, fields and vineyards.

In the Bulgarian lands his day is the day of the vine-dressers: the first vines are pruned, the cuttings are sprinkled with wine, and a blessing is asked for the harvest. It is one of the oldest and most joyful customs of our people, kept in every wine-growing region.

This year the day coincided with the Sunday of the Publican and the Pharisee, which opens the Triodion — the book of the pre-Lenten and Lenten services — and so the first step towards Pascha was taken on the same day.

The Three Holy Hierarchs — Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian and John Chrysostom

January 30, 2026 (Friday) | Patrons of Christian learning

In the eleventh century the people of Constantinople argued bitterly over which of the three great teachers was the greatest. The three saints appeared together to Bishop John of Euchaita and said that they were equal before God, and asked that one common feast be kept for all of them. Since then they are honoured together on January 30.

Basil wrote the Liturgy we serve ten times a year and built the first Christian hospital; Gregory gave the Church her language for the Holy Trinity; John Chrysostom, whose Liturgy is served on almost every Sunday of the year, preached until an empress exiled him for it.

The day is kept as the feast of teachers and of Christian education, and in Bulgarian tradition it is the day on which schools and their teachers are blessed.

Hierarchical Divine Liturgy with His Grace Bishop Kliment

January 24–25, 2026 | The visit of His Grace, and the Annual Members Meeting

His Grace Bishop Kliment arrived at the cathedral on Friday, January 23, 2026. At his own wish there was no official reception — he asked instead to be available to the parishioners, and met with those who wished to speak with him.

On Saturday evening His Grace led the Hierarchical Vespers, and on Sunday morning the Hierarchical Divine Liturgy — Matins at 10:00 and the Liturgy at 10:30. For a parish that has been without a permanent priest for much of this year, these two services were a day of great consolation.

A light lunch followed the Sunday Liturgy, and after it the Annual Members Meeting, at which the parish elected its new Board of Trustees.

St. Euthymius, Patriarch of Tarnovo

January 20, 2026 (Tuesday) | The last patriarch of the Second Bulgarian Kingdom

St. Euthymius was the last patriarch of medieval Bulgaria, a scholar and a reformer of the Bulgarian literary language, whose school at Tarnovo shaped the written word of the Slavic Orthodox world. When Tarnovo fell in 1393 and the boyars had gone, it was the patriarch who stayed and stood before the conquerors on behalf of his people.

He was sent into exile, and there he continued to write letters of encouragement to a Church that had lost its state. His disciples carried the Tarnovo school to Serbia, Wallachia and Russia, so that what was destroyed in Bulgaria took root elsewhere and returned centuries later.

For a parish like ours, built by people who left their homeland and kept their faith and language in a new country, his life is not distant history. It is the same story told again.

St. Athanasius the Great, Archbishop of Alexandria

January 18, 2026 (Sunday) | Atanasovden

Athanasius was a young deacon at the Council of Nicaea when he stood almost alone against an empire that had accepted the teaching of Arius — that the Son was a creature and not truly God. Five times he was driven into exile, and five times he returned, until the Church confessed what we still sing: “true God of true God, begotten, not made.”

Of him it was said, Athanasius against the world. His life is the proof that truth is not decided by majorities, and that one faithful man can hold a door open until others find their way back through it.

In Bulgarian tradition Atanasovden is counted as the middle of winter, the day when — as the saying goes — St. Athanasius puts on a silk shirt and goes out to look for summer.

St. Anthony the Great, Father of Monasticism

January 17, 2026 (Saturday) | Antonovden

At about twenty years of age Anthony walked into a church in Egypt and heard the Gospel read: “Go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and come, follow Me.” He did exactly that, and went out into the desert, where he lived for more than eighty years and died at the age of 105.

He founded no order and wrote no rule, yet thousands followed him into the desert, and from his example came the whole monastic tradition of the Church — from Egypt to Athos, and from Athos to the Rila Monastery of St. John.

His sayings are still read for their plainness: “I saw the snares of the enemy spread over the whole earth, and I groaned and said: who can pass through them? And I heard a voice saying: humility.”

Cathedral Choir — New Members Welcome for 2026

2026 — Open Auditions | Rehearsals by arrangement

The Cathedral Choir of Sts. Cyril and Methody is at the heart of our parish worship. For over a century, the choir has lifted the Divine Liturgy with sacred song, chanting the ancient Byzantine and Bulgarian Orthodox musical traditions that connect us to our ancestors in the faith.

We are actively seeking new members — both experienced singers and those willing to learn. Whether you have a background in sacred music or simply a love for Orthodox hymnody and a desire to serve the Lord through song, we invite you to join us.

To express interest or to arrange an audition, please contact the church office at 416-368-2828 or by email at scmcathedraltoronto@hotmail.com.

"Sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord, all the earth." (Psalm 96:1)

Synaxis of St. John the Forerunner — Ivanovden

January 7, 2026 (Wednesday) | The day after Theophany

The day after the Baptism of the Lord the Church honours the hand that baptized Him. John had said, “I need to be baptized by You, and do You come to me?” — and the Lord answered, “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfil all righteousness.”

The Forerunner is the bridge between the Old Testament and the New — the last of the prophets and the first to point at Christ and say, “Behold the Lamb of God.” His whole calling was to step aside so that another could be seen.

Ivanovden is one of the largest name days of the Bulgarian year, and in tradition it follows the water of Theophany: those who bear the name are sprinkled with water for health in the year to come.

Holy Theophany — Epiphany — The Great Blessing of Waters (January 6, 2026)

January 6, 2026 | One of the Twelve Great Feasts — Yordanovden

On January 6, the Orthodox Church celebrates Holy Theophany (Богоявление) — the Baptism of the Lord Jesus Christ in the Jordan River by St. John the Baptist. This is one of the oldest and most solemn of the Twelve Great Feasts. At His Baptism, the Holy Trinity was manifested to the world: the Father spoke from heaven ("This is my beloved Son"), the Son stood in the Jordan, and the Holy Spirit descended in the form of a dove. Hence the name "Theophany" — the manifestation of God.

The most distinctive liturgical element of this feast is the Great Blessing of Waters — a solemn rite in which water is sanctified through prayer and the invocation of the Holy Trinity. The blessed water (Светена вода) is kept throughout the year and used for blessing homes, vehicles, and people during times of illness or difficulty.

In Bulgarian tradition, Yordanovden (January 6) and Ivanovden (January 7) are among the most celebrated winter feasts. On Yordanovden, all who bear the name Yordan are celebrated; on Ivanovden (feast of St. John the Baptist), all named Ivan.

Circumcision of the Lord and St. Basil the Great — Vasilyovden

January 1, 2026 (Thursday) | The first day of the civil year

On the eighth day after His Nativity the Lord was brought to be circumcised according to the Law and was given the name Jesus, as the angel had said before He was conceived. God, who gave the Law, submits to it — the first act of a life lived entirely under obedience for our sake.

On the same day the Church commemorates St. Basil the Great, archbishop of Caesarea, who wrote the Liturgy served on this day, composed the rule that still governs Orthodox monasticism, and built at Caesarea a whole town of hospitals, hostels and workshops for the poor — one of the first works of organized Christian charity in history.

In Bulgarian homes this is Vasilyovden, kept with the survachka of the children and with the banitsa in which a coin is baked for the year’s blessing — a day of good wishes at the threshold of the new year.