On February 27, the 45^th annual general meeting of the Patriarchal Parishes in Canada was held after the Divine Liturgy in the Cathedral of the Nativity of the Most Holy Mother of God in the place of Nisku under the chairmanship of Bishop of Kashira Iov, the administrator of the Patriarchal Parishes in Canada.

The Liturgy and the lity for the dead priests, churchwardens and members of the Patriarchal Parishes were performed by all clerics of the Moscow Patriarchate in the Province of Alberta.

According to the tradition the meeting began with the communal prayer and the blessing of the Bishop. Then the moderator and the secretaries of the meeting were elected and the agenda was approved.

After reading and approval of the minutes of the previous 44^th meeting there were reports of the administrator of the Patriarchal Parishes  and the clerics of the Patriarchal Parishes and also annual reports of the presidents of the Cathedral of St.Barbara, parishes “Orthodox V” and “Orthodox IX”. Then there was financial report of the treasurer of the Patriarchal Parishes, approval of the budget for 2010. The date and time of holding a festive moleben on the Day of Orthodoxy in Canada were also fixed.

Then plans of measures and new projects for the current year were considered: organization of children orthodox camp “Barvinok” and changing its administration, the development of web-site of the Patriarchal Parishes , fixing the day of service in the church of the Ukrainian village-museum (May 24, 10:00 AM), fixing the place and date of the next annual meeting (the Cathedral of St. Barbara, January 29, after the Liturgy at 10:30 AM).

The rector of parishes “Orthodox V” priest George Sergeev gave presentation of the new version of web-site of the Patriarchal Parishes which was approved by the meeting. It was decided to open a new site in April of the current year. Before the official opening the test version of the web-site will be at the address: http://www.orthodox-canada.com.

Main discussions were held after the financial report. Their main theme is to find funds to keep Bishop’s residence, churches and support clergy. As the number of members of our parishes is decreasing on the background of general lowering of religiousness in Canada, it’s becoming more and more difficult to keep churches and support priests. However, several churches have been repaired for the last three years – in Skaro (major repairs), Chahor, North Star, Boil, Wostok and cathedral church in Edmonton.

The meeting was held in warm friendly atmosphere. Before the final prayer Bishop Iov presented the president of the Cathedral of the Nativity of the Most Holy Mother of God in Nisku  David Boris the right to wear sticharion during Divine Services.

After the meeting all clergy took part in Sunday All-Night Vigil.