Today, Sunday, December 15, 2013, is the day of commemoration of St. Barbara. She was the daughter of a wealthy pagan and is known as a Great Martyr because when her father learned that she was a secret Christian, he ordered to kill her. St. Barbara chose to die rather than to renounce her strong faith in Christ the Savior. Our Patriarchal Orthodox Cathedral in Edmonton is named in honor of St. Barbara. Today all our parishioners celebrate the Name day of our Cathedral.

While the parishioners are gathering, the priests in the altar prepare for the Divine Liturgy, in particular, they perform Proskomidiya. Altar servers and sub-deacons prepare the vestments for the Bishop, light candles and read psalms. At 9:45 am the bells sound and our Bishop Job enters the Church. He is welcomed by the president of this Cathedral Roman Lopushinsky. He greets the Bishop with the bread and the salt according to an old Russian tradition. After this, the clergy greets the Bishop. The Rector of St. Barbara’s Cathedral, Father Sergey, welcomes the Bishop with words from the Bible and invites him to lead the festive service in our Church.

Our parish is more than 100 years old. The first Church was built in 1908. Prior to that, there was just a wooden house with a cross on the roof. It was the first and only Orthodox Church in Edmonton. Fifty years later, the new brick Church building was erected and received the high rank of the Cathedral. The Cathedral has one central dome surrounded by six smaller  domes. The total of seven domes symbolizes the seven major Sacraments of the Church and seven Ecumenical Councils. Next to the Cathedral there is a bell tower with three sonorous bells.

During a Small Entrance, Bishop Job enters the altar, censes the Church and blesses the praying parishioners. Our priests sing along with him and read prayers. The choir sings beautiful divine chants. Many children and adults go to Holy Communion.

After a brief prayer service in front of the relics of St. Barbara, Bishop Job gives a sermon about the life of St. Barbara and urges people to follow Her example. At the end of the service everyone venerates the relics and the icon St. Barbara and Bishop Job anoints everyone with the holy oil. In the meanwhile, a lovely banquet prepared by the sisterhood is awaiting all the parishioners in a refectory downstairs.

This year, the Feast Day was full of Divine grace. Saint Barbara filled the hearts of all the participants of the service with joy and peace. St. Barbara, always pray to God for us!

Altar server Leonid Kalashnikov, grade 6 student (11 years old)