This history is deliberately short: it is a bearing, not a study. Every entry can be checked against the official sites of the church structures linked in the Parishes section.
- 1891The first Ukrainian families from Galicia settle in Canada; within a quarter of a century there are more than a hundred Ukrainian settlements.
- 1918In Saskatoon the Ukrainian Greek Orthodox Church of Canada is founded — the church of settlers who wanted to keep their own language and rite.
- 1929On 9 April, in Allentown, Pennsylvania, clergy and laity resolve to establish a Ukrainian Orthodox diocese in the United States.
- 1945The post-war displaced-persons camps in Germany and Austria: in July 1945 the first council of the Ukrainian Orthodox emigration in Europe gathers in Germany.
- 1990On 1 April the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada is received into the Ecumenical Patriarchate.
- 1995On 12 March the remaining Ukrainian Orthodox hierarchy outside Ukraine, including the UOC of the USA, is received under the omophorion of Constantinople.
- 2019On 6 January the Orthodox Church of Ukraine receives the Tomos of autocephaly from the Ecumenical Patriarch.
- 2022The full-scale invasion. Millions find themselves abroad; parishes across Europe become at once a shelter, a humanitarian depot and a place where one's own language is heard again.
- 2023On 1 September the OCU adopts the Revised Julian calendar: the fixed feasts move to new dates, Christmas falls on 25 December, while the Paschalion remains the old one.
One thing repeats throughout. Church life abroad almost never began with permission from above: first came people who wanted to pray together, then a room, then a priest, and only then a structure. So it was on the prairies of Manitoba, in the camps of post-war Bavaria, and in the Polish parishes of 2022 that suddenly began to serve in Ukrainian.
First come people who want to pray together. Everything else is a question of time.From the history of diaspora parishes