Wasyly (Fedak) of Winnipeg

His Beatitude Metropolitan Wasyly (Fedak) of Winnipeg (November 1, 1909 - January 10, 2005) was the primate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada (UOCC) from 1985 until his death in 2005. Metropolitan Wasyly was the fourth metropolitan of the UOCC.
==Early life and Priesthood==
Metropolitan Wasyly was born Wasyl' Fedak on November 1, 1909, in Kadobivtsy, Ukraine. Together with his parents and five siblings, he immigrated to Canada and settled in Sheho, Saskatchewan. In young adulthood, he became a teacher, a career that lasted 14 years. He then studied at the UOCC's seminary in Winnipeg (St. Andrew's College (Winnipeg, Manitoba)) from 1941 to 1944. He was ordained to the diaconate on September 27, 1944 and shortly thereafter into the priesthood on October 1. As a priest, he served parishes in Manitoba and Ontario, at first, but then in 1951 he arrived in Hamilton, Ontario. In Hamilton he served the Sobor church of St. Vladimir. He served this parish for 29 years, seeing the parish grow from 47 to 500 families.
==Episcopacy==
His wife, Paraskeviya Tymofij, whom he married in 1932, died in April 1976. Two years later, an extraordinary sobor (Church Council) of the UOCC elected him as its candidate for bishop. On July 16, 1978, he was consecrated as the Bishop of Saskatoon at Holy Trinity Cathedral in Winnipeg by Metropolitan Andrew, Archbishop Boris, and Bishop Nicholas. Following the death of then Archbishop Nicholas in 1981, Bishop Wasyly became the acting Bishop of the Eastern Eparchy. He was elevated to Archbishop of Toronto in 1983. Then in 1985, the 17th Sobor of the UOCC selected Wasyly to be its Metropolitan and Primate with the honorific "His Beatitude," and he will be the last Hierarch to hold that title in the UOCC, as decided by His All Holiness Patriarch Bartholemew I. As Primate, he was the spiritual leader of the Ukrianian Orthodox Church of Canada and chancellor of its seminary, St. Andrew's College. He was known to be very close with the Church's youth, who affectionatly called him "the Met." He was a strong leader who was known to be very kind, and he had something in common with all of the Church's membership throughout the country (due to the fact that he was born in Ukraine, grew up in Saskatchewan, and was a parish priest in Ontario for over 30 years).
Under the leadership of Metropolitan Wasyly, the UOCC came into full communion with the Ecumenical Patriarchate in 1990. In 1993, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada.
==Repose==
Metropolitan Wasyly reposed on January 10, 2005, and his funeral took place on January 21–22 at Holy Trinity Metropolitan Cathedral in Winnipeg. There were many Orthodox Christians of many nationalities who attended the funeral services, including eight bishops. Of note were the appearances of His Eminence Metropolitan Iakovos of Chicago, who represented Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, and His Eminince Archbishop Mark of Suma (UOC-MP) as the official representative of Patriarch Aleksy II and the Moscow Patriarchate. He is buried at Glen Eden Cemetery. He had three sons with his wife Parskeviya: Eugene (who has served on the Church's consistory board twice), Yaroslaw and Emil.
==External links==
* Obituary from UOCC
* Biography on receipt of UCC Nation Builder award
* Hamilton Gallery of Distinction
Category:Bishops