Ukrainian Orthodox Cathedral of St. Vladimir

The Ukrainian Orthodox Cathedral of St. Vladimir stands on the north side of Barton Street East, just west of Gage Avenue, in the east end of the lower city. The parish was organized at a meeting on 19 January 1926, and its first Divine Liturgy was served in a rented hall on 16 May 1926 by Father Chomitsky of Cleveland, Ohio. In 1933 it took the name of St. Vladimir (Volodymyr) the Great.

The parish bought the Barton Street property in April 1945. Its history records that the lower part of the church opened on 22 May 1949 and that Metropolitan Ilarion and Archbishop Michael blessed the completed church on 11 July 1954, when Father Wasyl Fedak, later Metropolitan Wasyly, was its priest. The City’s heritage inventory credits the design to George Kodak and George Billson and describes a red-brick church in the Ukrainian Baroque or Byzantine style, with a large central dome and four smaller ones, built mostly by volunteer labour, and dates its elevation to a cathedral to 1980. The parish’s centennial celebrations, planned for 2026, have been postponed because of delays in renovating the church hall.

The Divine Liturgy is celebrated every Sunday at 10:00 a.m., in Ukrainian and English, and at the same hour on feast days.

What to expect

The parish welcomes visitors to the Divine Liturgy and invites them afterwards to coffee, sweets and fellowship, held in the school auditorium while the church hall is being renovated in autumn 2026. Offerings are not collected by passing a plate: envelopes go into a donation stand at the church entrance.

What Orthodox Christians believe and how they worship