Saint Nicholas Church, Hamilton (Barton Street)

Mar 5, 2025 - 13:08 Updated: Oct 5, 2025 - 20:46

Saint Nicholas Church, Hamilton (Barton Street)

Address: 1415 Barton St. E. L8H 2W6

Fr. Vojislav Pavlovic
Email: protavoja@gmail.com
Phone: 905 517 7684

Fr. Vojislav was born in the village of Lopatanj, Osecina Municipality, to father Sinisa and mother Petrija (nee Ivanovic). He completed elementary school in Lopatanj and Osecina. On the recommendation of the local parish priest Fr. Milomir Cosic, he received the blessing of Bishop Jovan (Velimirovic) and in 1979 he enrolled in the Seminary of St. Sava in Belgrade, which he successfully completed in 1984. He entered the Holy Sacrament of Marriage with Ljiljana Tesic from Lopatanj in 1986. After Bishop Jovan fell ill, he was ordained to the rank of deacon by Bishop Vasilije (Kacavenda) of Zvornik and Tuzla at the Holy Liturgy in the Tavna Monastery, on Pentecost, June 22, 1986. He was ordained to the rank of presbyter the next day, June 23, in the Cathedral Church in Tuzla. After his ordination, Fr. Vojislav returned to Sabac. Under the watchful eye of Bishop Jovan, he spent two weeks in practice at the Cathedral Church in Sabac. His first place of service was assigned to the vacant parish of Novaci, in the Tamnava Deanery. He received the parish on September 1, 1986. After the repose of the Diocesan Dean and parish priest of Koceljeva, Fr. Sreja Gavrilovic, Bishop Lavrentije (Trifunovic), on December 25, 1991, appointed Fr. Vojislav to the vacant parish of Koceljeva. In a relatively short time, he built a church building in the Koceljeva parish, with Fr. Milos and the faithful, and covered the church with copper. For this zealous and fruitful work in Novaci and Koceljeva, Bishop Lavrentije awarded him the right to wear a red sash at the church Slava in his native village of Lopatanj, on October 31, 1992. At the beginning of September 1994, Fr. Vojislav took canonical leave and became a cleric of the Metropolis of New Gracanica. On September 14, 1994, Metropolitan Irinej appointed him to a vacant parish in Elizabeth, New Jersey. He spent a little over a year in that parish, because on October 20, 1995, Metropolitan Irinej appointed him as a parish priest at the Saint Nicholas Church on Barton Street in Hamilton from January 1, 1995. Fr. Voja replaced Fr. Djuro Vukelic, who had been the parish priest in this church community for 47 years and who, together with the faithful people of the city of Hamilton, built the church and hall. Fr. Voja continued in the footsteps of his predecessor and, during his service in Hamilton, in one of the most beautiful churches on this continent, was awarded the rank of protopresbyter in 2005 by the Bishop of New Gracanica Longin (Krco) on the occasion of the consecration of the frescoes in the church, which lasted five years. For his zealous and fruitful priestly and pastoral work for the benefit of the Serbian Orthodox Church and the parish entrusted to him, he was awarded the right to wear a pectoral cross and the rank of protopresbyter-stavrophor at the Holy Hierarchical Liturgy in the Saint Nicholas Church in Hamilton by the Bishop of Canada Georgije on February 20, 2011. Fr. Vojislav and his wife protinica Ljiljana have three children: Stefan, Dusan and Aleksandar.

History

St. Nicholas Church on Barton Street in Hamilton is the spiritual centre of the oldest Serbian Orthodox parish in eastern Canada. Serbs began to settle in Hamilton in 1904. At the initiative of a group of Serbs already living in Hamilton, mainly from the territory of the former Austro-Hungarian Empire, the parish was founded in 1913. These hardworking workers managed to buy a house on Sherman Street, where they arranged a priest's apartment on the first floor and a chapel-church on the ground floor for their spiritual needs. The parish was founded under the auspices of the Russian Orthodox Church, but came under the jurisdiction of the Serbian Orthodox Church in 1920.

On St. Nicholas Day itself, December 19, 1917, Bishop Mardarije (Uskokovic) consecrated the first Saint Nicholas Church, on the corner of Beach Road and Northcote Streets in Hamilton. Beach Road was once a small Slavic enclave, because in addition to our church and home, there were many shops and stores owned by Serbs, Croats, Poles, Ukrainians, Russians, and Slovenes. Hamilton experienced a large wave of Slavic immigration after World War II, and the cultural development of the community accelerated at that time. In the years between 1948 and 1952, the Circle of Serbian Sisters, a choir, a school, and a theatre were founded. As the Serbian community grew, it soon outgrew its small home, and in 1957, a large hall was opened on Barton Street. The need for a larger church soon became apparent.

The magnificent church (constructed in the Serbian-Byzantine architectural style) was consecrated in 1974. The consecration was officiated by Bishop Irinej (Kovacevic). The church retained the bells of the old church, and a collection of Russian icons from 1907. The monumental mosaic, the icon of St. Nicholas, above the entrance door is the work of artist Sava Rakocevic from Chicago.

The iconostasis, a donation of Milka Stojancevic, is the work of Cretan craftsmen from the workshop of Argyrios Kavroulakis in Heraklion on the island of Crete, in 1977. It is richly carved from walnut. The same workshop made the balcony for the choir box. The frescoes were painted from 2001 to 2004, and are the work of Fr. Theodore Jurevich, a Russian priest and icon painter from Ira, Pennsylvania. In 2003, a copy of the miraculous icon of the Virgin Mary of Three Hands was brought to us from Hilandar, on the occasion of the 90th anniversary of the parish. The icon stands under a beautiful ciborium carved in Belgrade, from Slavonian oak. The shroud table and the entrance door are also from the same Belgrade workshop.

The parish and community have shared the joys and sorrows of our people for a century, including two World Wars, the Great Depression, periods of economic boom and bust in Hamilton, and the tragedies of the wars throughout the former Yugoslavia during the 1990s. The parish has always led and supported humanitarian aid to our people at home as well as to refugees and newcomers to Canada. As we celebrate our centennial, we can be proud of our past and look forward to a bright future.