Metropolitan Wasyly or Basil, (

secular name A legal name is the name that identifies a person for legal, administrative and other official purposes. A person's legal birth name generally is the name of the person that was given for the purpose of Civil registry, registration of the birth ...

William Fedak; November 1, 1909 – January 10, 2005) was the

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of the

Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada The Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada (UOCC; ; ; ) is an Eastern Orthodox church in Canada, primarily consisting of Orthodox Ukrainian Canadians. Its former name (before 1990) was the Ukrainian Greek Orthodox Church of Canada (UGOCC). The C ...

(UOCC) from 1985 until his death in 2005. Metropolitan Wasyly (Vasylii) was born Vasyl' Fedak on November 1, 1909, in Kadubivtsi in Austrian-ruled northern Bukovina (now Chernivtsi Oblast in Ukraine). Together with his parents and five siblings, he immigrated to

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

and settled in Sheho,

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada. It is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and to the south by the ...

. In young adulthood, he became a teacher: a career that lasted 14 years. He then studied at a seminary of the UOCC from 1941 to 1944. He was ordained into the

diaconate A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian denominations, such as the Catholi ...

on September 27, 1944, and shortly thereafter into the

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deity, deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in parti ...

hood on October 1. As a priest, he served parishes in

Manitoba Manitoba is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population ...

and

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

. In 1951, he arrived in

Hamilton, Ontario Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Ontario. Hamilton has a 2021 Canadian census, population of 569,353 (2021), and its Census Metropolitan Area, census metropolitan area, which encompasses ...

to serve the parish of St. Vladimir. He served this parish for 29 years, seeing the parish grow from 47 to 500 families. His wife, Paraskeviya Tymofij, whom he married in 1932, died in April 1976. Two years later, an Extraordinary Sobor (general 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 (Metiuk)of Winnipeg, Archbishop Borys (Yakovkevych), and Bishop Mykolai (Debryn)]of Toronto. Following the death of then Archbishop Mykolai 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 An honorific is a title that conveys esteem, courtesy, or respect for position or rank when used in addressing or referring to a person. Sometimes, the term "honorific" is used in a more specific sense to refer to an Honorary title (academic), h ...

''His Beatitude'' (because he was the head of his own church. After the UOCC joined the Patriarchate of Constantinople, the honorific for metropolitans is now ''His Eminence''), and he will be the last hierarch (bishop) to hold that title in the UOCC, as decided by Patriarch Bartholemew I. As primate, he was the spiritual leader of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada and Chancellor of its seminary, St. Andrew's College. Under the leadership of Metropolitan Wasyly, the UOCC came into

full communion Full communion is a communion or relationship of full agreement among different Christian denominations or Christian individuals that share certain essential principles of Christian theology. Views vary among denominations on exactly what constit ...

with the

Patriarchate of Constantinople The Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople (, ; ; , "Roman Orthodox Patriarchate, Ecumenical Patriarchate of Istanbul") is one of the fifteen to seventeen autocephalous churches that together compose the Eastern Orthodox Church. It is headed ...

in 1990. In 1993, he was made an Officer of the

Order of Canada The Order of Canada () is a Canadian state order, national order and the second-highest Award, honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the Canadian Centennial, ce ...

. Metropolitan Wasyly reposed on January 10, 2005. His funeral took place on January 21–22 at Holy Trinity Metropolitan Cathedral in Winnipeg. He is buried at Glen Eden Cemetery. With his wife Parskeviya, he had three sons: Eugene (who has served on the church's Consistory board twice), Yaroslaw and Emil.

References

External links

Obituary from UOCC

Hamilton Gallery of Distinction
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fedak, Wasyly 1909 births 2005 deaths Officers of the Order of Canada Eastern Orthodox bishops in Canada Canadian Eastern Orthodox bishops Ukrainian emigrants to Canada Primates of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada 20th-century Eastern Orthodox archbishops 21st-century Eastern Orthodox archbishops