All Saint's Greek Orthodox Church of Toronto

During Services

During Services
We enter the Church with love and respect at all times.
The Church Committee members are here to assist all parishioners
Only Church Committee members will take your Prosforo (church bread), list of names to be read by the priest and any questions you may have, to the Altar during Church services.
Please do not disturb the priest during or after the Divine Liturgy

Please call the Church Office to make an appointment.
Parishioners are not permitted to enter the Nave of the Church while:
The Gospel is being read At the time of the Great Entrance
When the priest is censing at the time of the kneeling
During the Lord’s Prayer While the Creed is being read

Holy Communion:
There is no talking at the time of Communion; this is a time of prayer for all.
Absolutely no lipstick or gum is allowed when coming to receive Holy Communion.

Memorial and Other Services:
Please note that there are many Sundays of the year that our Church does not allow memorials and/or other sacraments. Please contact the Church Office ten days in advance to request your 40-Day Blessing, Memorial, St. Phanourios pita prayer, or Artoclasia.
Both the Artoclasia and the St. Pharourios prayer have been placed before Divine Liturgy, in the order prescribed by the regulations & canons of the Orthodox Church.
Artoclasia: Please bring the 5 Artous (sweet bread), olive oil and sacramental wine
(‘Samos’ brand preferred) no later than 30 minutes before the Divine Liturgy begins.
Phanouropita: Is also to be brought 30 minutes before Divine Liturgy begins.
Memorial: Kolyva (boiled wheat), 1 loaf of Prosforo bread & olive oil are to be brought
to the Church no later than 15 minutes before Matins begin. Please note that
memorial services cannot be chanted from the Saturday of Lazarus through the
Sunday of Thomas, on any Feastday of the Lord or any Feastday of the Theotokos.

Sacraments & Frequently Asked Questions
Baptisms & Marriages:
When calling the Church Office to book your sacrament:
Please book your date 6-12 months in advance whenever possible Please supply 3 possible dates in order to avoid disappointment A person who wishes to sponsor a candidate for Baptism, Chrismation or Marriage must be an Orthodox Christian in good standing and a supporting member of an Orthodox parish. A person may not serve as a godparent, koumbaro or koumbara if the Church has not blessed his or her marriage or, if civilly divorced, he or she has not been granted an ecclesiastical divorce, or for any other reason he or she is not in communion with the Orthodox Church.
Baptisms may not be performed from Christmas Day through the Feast of Theophany
(December 25 – January 6), during Holy Week, or on any of the Great Feastdays of the Lord.

Marriages are not performed on fasting days or during fasting seasons or on the feasts of the Church as indicated: September 14 (Exhaltation of the Holy Cross), December 13-25 (Nativity), January 5 and 6 (Theophany), Great Lent and Holy Week, Pascha (Easter), Pentecost, August 1-15 (Dormition Fast and Feast), and August 29 (Beheading of St. John the Baptist). Please note that the above dates are also listed on the 2nd last page of your annual ecclesiastical calendar.

Holy Confession: It is not permitted for the priest to read the prayer of absolution without first hearing confession.

Funerals: The Church does not grant funerals to persons whose marriage has not been blessed in the Orthodox Church, or for any other reason he or she is not in communion with the Orthodox Church.

Donation of Organs: Although nothing in the Orthodox tradition requires the faithful to donate their organs to others, this practice may be considered an act of love, and as such is encouraged. The donation of an organ from a deceased person is an act of love that helps to make a longer, fuller life possible for the recipient. Such donations are acceptable if the deceased donor had willed such action, or if surviving relatives permit it providing that it was in harmony with the desires of the deceased.

Cremation: The Church considers cremation to be the deliberate desecration and destruction of what God has made and ordained for us. The Church instead insists that the body be buried so that the natural physical process of decomposition may take place. The Church does not grant funerals, either in the sanctuary, or at the funeral home, or at any other place, to persons who have chosen to be cremated.
Additionally, memorial services with kolyva (boiled wheat) are not allowed in such instances, inasmuch as the similarity between the “kernel of wheat” and the “body” has been intentionally destroyed.