AGENDA - Part 04

Во минатите години секој имаше пристап до озвучувањето така што кога беше потребно, многу пати не работеше. Со доградбата на балконот предвидовме мала просторија и за озвучувањето во заседалната сала, кое ќе биде под клуч, со цел да биде безбедно и достапно кога озвучувањето беше потребно. Главниот кабел за приклучување микрофоните се наоѓаше на бината, далеку од главната маса лоцирана на северниот дел на салата. Со цел да се избегне долги кабли да минуваат преку ширината на салата, зедов обврска да спроведам директни линии од контролниот центар преку подот на големата сала до главната маса. За да ги извлечам каблите морав да носам десет метри скала од едно место на друго.

Непотребно е да се каже дека за мене беше доста тешка работа, морав да бидам внимателен со скалата бидејќи предходно имав операција на кичмата. Едно паѓање за мене би било катастрофално.

Решив да прекинам со работа за кратко време, со цел да го проверам напредокот на балконот од страна на Потпредседателот Каранфиловски. Во тоа време Обединети Македонци ја употребуваа просторијата на балконот за нивната публикација. Од кога започнавме со доградбата на балканот на уредничкиот одбор на Обединети Македонци од Канада им беше посочено да се преместат во подрумот во една од собите кои беа слободни. Но, луѓето во Обединети Македонци, под претседателство на Бранко Стојчевски, не беа задоволни со тоа да се преселат во подрумот. На изборното членско собрание одржано на 30 ноември 1979 година, во името на кандидатите од мојата листа, им ветивме на членството дека еден од нашите приоритети е да се заврши балконот, каде што ќе изградиме нови училници за неделното црковно училиште, со цел да ги преселиме децата на неделното училиште во поубав амбиент, овозможувајќи на децата подобри услови за учење на мајчиниот јазик. Ова не му се допадна на претседателот на Обединети Македонци од Канада, Бранко Стојчевски. Како што се сеќавам, сè уште стоев со една нога на балканот, а другата на првата скала поткрепувајќи се на оградата кога пристигна редакцијата и претседателот на Обединети Македонци од Канада преку задната врата. Стојчевски без да губи многу време, почна да вика: “Кои сте вие да и наредувате на рeдакцијата да се преселува во подрумот? Oваа црква им припаѓа на Обединети Македонци”.

Во тоа време бев многу уморен и не бев расположен за аргументи и кавги.

Очилата ми беа покриени со прав од поместување на плафонски плочи. Морав да ги исчистам за да можам да гледам, кога неочекувано претседателот на Обединети Македонци излета кон мене и ме фати за врат, заканувајќи се дека ќе ме пушти по скалите. Како што јас се сеќавам членовите на редакцијата Васко Панчаровски, Џорџ Плуковски, Ристо Чачкировски и други, застанаа меѓу нас, така што беше спречена поголема ескалација на намерите на претседателот на Обединети Македонци од Канада. Јас немав намера да учествувам во физичка пресметка со него. Тоа не ми е во природата да се тепам со некого. Во меѓувреме некој ја повикал полицијата и Бранко Стојчевски беше исфрлен од црковните простории.

Во исто време, ја замолив редакцијата да ги напушти просториите и тие се согласија. Така што провокациите против црковната управа ескалираа. Оттука и потребата да им се даде до знаење на т.н. "лидерѝ на Обединети Македонци од Канада” дека нивното тврдење дека Свети Климент е нивна црква мора да престане, а со тоа и било какво мешање во црковните работи од страна на Обединети Македонци од Канада. Заплашување и физичка сила не може да се толерира против било кој член на одборот во црковните простории, без разлика кој би можел да биде тоа. Неопходно е да се спомене и тоа дека извршниот секретар на црквата, Стасе Ралевски беше прободен од секретарот на Обединети Македонци пред самата црква во присуство на Бранко Стојчевски. Овие беа само некои од многуте конфронтации со "лидерите" на Обединети Македонци од Канада, кои се обидуваа да го срушат авторитетот на црковната управа. Се прашувам кој одговара пред црковната општина за црковните работи? Црковната управа или организацијата Обединети Македонци за Канада? Изгледа дека "лидерите" како Бранко Стојчевски и неговите следбеници, мислеа дека тие се повиканите за тоа, но во кратко време им се даде на знаење дека тоа не е баш така и затоа една од причините беше што се најдоа надвор од црковните простории.

По физичкиот напад на претседателот на Обединети Македонци од Канада, гранката во Торонто, управата на црквата испрати писма во знак на протест со барање од организацијата да го санкционира неговиот претседател за неговиот напад кој не беше испровоциран, но Обединети Македонци од Канада не реагираа на барањата од црковната управа и продолжија со нивните реторики и обвинувања против црковната управа. Еве едно од писмата што црковната управа го упати до Обединети Македонци од Канада, гранката во Торонто:

“Ние Црковната управа на Македонската Православна Црква Свети Климент Охридски од Торонто на нашиот вонреден состанок кој го одржавме на 11 Август 1981 година го разгледавме проблемот: Физичко напаѓање на Претседателот на нашата црква Св. Климент Охридски од страна на вашиот Претседател Бранко Стојцевски во црковните простории на ден 10 Август 1981 година и го донесовме следното:

РЕШЕНИЕ Организацијата Обединети Македонци од Торонто се задолжува да превземе дисциплински мерки против Претседателот Бранко Стојчевски и да го смени од претседател. Во спротивно Црковната управа нема да соработува со организацијата.

Решението влегува во сила на 11 Август, 1981 год.

Образложение Бидејки Вашиот Претседател Бранко Стојчевски физички го нападна Претседателот г. Џон Гивенс во црковните простории без било каков повод мислиме дека е во интерес на црквата и организацијата и единството на Македонскиот народ во Торонто, Бранко Стојчевски да биде сменет од Претседател на организацијата. Ние, како управа на црквата нема да соработуваме со организацијата во било каков вид се додека лицето Бранко Стојчевски е на функција Претседател.

Решението да се достави на знаење и исполнување до:

Организацијата Обединети Македонци -До наша архива и евиденција -До генералното членско собрание.

12 Август 1981 год.

За Македонската Православна црква Свети Климент - Охридски - Торонто.

Претседател Џан Гивенс, Алексо Црковски -благајник.

Овој настан се случи во Август 1981 год. Но, во Јули 1982 год. извршниот секретар на црковната управа Стасе Ралевски беше нападнат и ранет со метален објект од страна на секретарот на Обединети Македонци од Канада. Црковната Управа испрати писмо до Обединети Македонци од Канада:

"Црковната управа на својот вонреден состанок одржан на 13 Јули 1982 година ги донесе следните одлуки поврзани со немилиот настан во кој секретарот на црквата госп. Анастас Ралевски беше повреден.

1. Црковната управа нема да учествува на Илинденските прослави што ги организирате Вие.

2. Во Недела, 1 Август 1982 година нашите свештеници мора да отслужат служба со панахида за паднатите борци во црквата.

3. Организацијата ја губи привилегијата да одржи Коктел забава на 30 Јули 1982 година во црковните простории.

4. Ќе треба да платите однапред за да ја користите салата на 31 Јули и да обезбедите полициско присуство.

5. На организацијата и се одзема привилегијата да одржува митинзи во црковните простории.

За црковната Општина Св. Климент Охридски, Џон Гивенс, Претседател.

Овие беа главните причини зошто црковната управа во 1982 година им нареди на Обединети Македонци да ги напуштат црковните простории. Ова се случи поради нивното неискуство и глупоста на "водачите" на организацијата Обединети Македонци од Канада во тоа време, а не од некои филозофски разлики меѓу нив и управата на Св. Климент Охридски.

Membership meeting November 1981 – President’s Report Dear Members:

In respect to the recent death of the first head of our renewed Saint Clement Macedonian Orthodox Church, Archbishop of Ohrid and Macedonia his Holiness Dositej, and the death of one of the former presidents of our church, George Loukras, I beg you once more, all together, to pay our respects with one minute of silence… May God forgive them…

Dear Members of Our Church:

Allow me to greet you and thank you for your presence at our regular membership meeting. As you are aware, this forum, the membership meeting, is the highest body of our church and because of this, the decisions and resolutions of this meeting are vital and necessary for the progress and prosperity of our church and when we speak of the church, it is understood that it means above all the members of this church.

For this reason, your involvement in the workings and the problems of the church congregation become the responsibility and duty of the membership and even though we meet once a year, we do meet to take decisions and pass resolutions and give directives to the church board - the governing body of our church, so that it can work to sustain the church building, church services, etc.

When every passive outlook towards the problems which the executive encounters during the year are not resolved by the membership meeting, the position of the church becomes even more difficult and therefore, great success in the work cannot be expected.

For this reason, as your president, I wish to plead with you that our mutual problems and successes be resolved together and that we pay more attention and be involved.

As you know, our executive was forced to deal with a string of problems that were hurled at it, immediately after the elections, both by individuals and by a group of people whose purpose was to misuse your decisions and resolutions; persons who degrade and negate our by-laws, persons who tried to distance us, in other words, to separate us, in some way, from our Mother Macedonian Church in Macedonia. Taking the oath before the altar of our Heavenly Father, guided by the laws of our church, we sought by letter, from the previous executive, that the transfer be made to the present board. To our disappointment, no one responded to our invitation. After this, we prepared documentation for the transfer of the finances from the old to the new executive but the bank did not allow us to do this because the seal of the church was withheld by Bill Andrews, who did not wish to turn it over to us, saying that he had no instruction from Vasil Pandovski to do so. At the same time, a letter was sent by Bill Andrews, by which the church bank account was frozen, which means that we were forced to start work without any financial means. Finding ourselves in this situation, we turned to the United Macedonians and asked that they give us a sum of $1400 owed to us for unpaid rentals of church facilities. The secretary of the United Macedonians, Stojan Pandovski, would not give us the money and up until February, he deposited this amount in the frozen bank account so that we could not use it. We also turned to the past president of the ladies' auxiliary, Nada Stojcevska, who had withheld about $400 from the ladies' auxiliary and she declined to give us the money, but she did give it to Pandovski who later deposited it into the frozen bank account. After the membership meeting of January 4, Pandovski negated your decisions.

A short time ago we received news that Bill Andrews, together with his witnesses, Vasil Pandovski, Nikola Stojanovski and later Vlado Steriovski, would sue the newly elected executive. The executive immediately took steps and engaged a lawyer in the person of Miss Pamela Sigurdson, now Judge Sigurdson, with the purpose to direct the church executive as to what should be done. A short time ago, a summons was received by the church lawyer. Along with the newly elected executive, these people dared to even sue the church, Saint Clement of Ohrid, you, the members of this church, every member was sued. Why? Who gave them the right? Is the church, Saint Clement of Ohrid, their very own property? The answer is clearly stated in the by-laws of our church in paragraph three which says: The church Saint Clement of Ohrid with all its appurtenances, real and personal, is the exclusive property of the general meeting - the members of the church. For no reason can the same be transferred (appropriated) to a group of persons, company, or institution.

They froze the church account with what right? What did these people think? Did they expect the collapse of Saint Clement of Ohrid or that the membership would subjugate itself to their anti-people’s action? This action is proof that these people have surpassed the limit of mature thinking. This anti-church action had to be stopped because it was hitting at the foundation of our church and our relations with the Holy Synod of the Macedonian Orthodox Church in the Socialist Republic of Macedonia.

Dear members, the newly elected executive did not create any misdemeanor to be sued. The newly elected executive was declared elected by the membership meeting and that is not breaking the law. Serving themselves with the idea that the elections were not fair to them, these people have shown their intentions. What was Pandovski seeking from the court? Among other things in his sworn affidavit, paragraph 45 says:

Article 61 of the by-laws says: These by-laws shall be effective only with the approval of the Holy Episcopal Synod of the Macedonian Orthodox Church in Skopje. We ask ourselves, did Pandovski not know or not wish to know that Saint Clement of Ohrid above all is a Macedonian peoples’ church with its own mother, with its own Macedonian synod, with its own diocese and bishop, and all necessary organs which exist in our church or is the Synod an obstacle in his way?

The opinion of the church executive is that all this action is well thought out, which is used not against the church executive but hits at the very foundations of the church and is directed against all of us just because we are and will remain Macedonians. If anyone cannot abide by the wishes of the membership, they can resign from the membership. The membership cannot and must not allow anyone to slander and disrupt the integrity of our church and the peace of our members.

Let us ask ourselves, how could Pandovski have been elected president and lead with the same by-laws for two years and the by-laws were in order? How could the by-laws have been proper for all the previous executives and now are not proper?

I ask you why did the church have to be indebted with $12,500 for legal costs? Was there a need to sue Saint Clement in order to correct the by-laws? We do not say that there is no need to correct some things in the by-laws, which will make the operation of the church easier and for this purpose, we have a committee, which is working on it but never will paragraph numbers 61, 62 and 63 be deleted or changed. As I have mentioned in my remarks, if anyone cannot reconcile with this, they may resign at any time from the membership.

Dear members, when the executive decided to call you to a membership meeting on April 5th, these people took yet another step by which they sought, from the Supreme Court of Ontario, to stop the holding of the membership meeting of April 5th. They sought an injunction. On April 2nd, we were at the Supreme Court of Ontario where the motion was heard. The court proceedings lasted about 3 1/2 hours. During this time, a motion was heard in which a request was made to stop the church meeting until after the motion against the church congregation was heard. At the same time, our lawyer defended the church congregation. The court, after two days of deliberation, decided that there was no reason to stop the meeting. This decision of the court, we think, was the reason why Bill Andrews declined to proceed further with the court case.

Before the Sunday, April 5 meeting, as you will remember, we came to an agreement with Bill Andrews personally, which was read to you by the church lawyer, Mr. Golden.

Dear members, on April 5th, all the members left for home with the hope that this was the end of our problems and, in truth for the membership, this was the end to our problems but it was not the end for the church executive which had to continue to lead the church. I think that you share the thoughts of the church executive, which is working under the principles of our church and believes that it is obliged to defend the authority, the by-laws and the unity of the Macedonian Orthodox Church through the American-Canadian Macedonian Diocese. Even though you, the members of the highest forum of this church, brought forth resolutions for the past president, Pandovski, in the shortest time possible, to turn over to the church executive all the documents for the 'Burn the Mortgage Fund' and the seal of the church, unfortunately Pandovski continued to negate your requests. We addressed ourselves to him by letter and he still continues to negate all requests and for this we have decided to engage the services of the judiciary committee to visit him personally. Filip Angelkovski spoke with him and he promised Angelkovski that he would deliver the requested documents to us but when the secretary telephoned, asking him to bring them to the church, he told the secretary that the president should call. In short, he was ridiculing all of us. To this day the seal has not been returned. Why does he need it? This is not clear to the church executive. To date we have no idea what is happening with the documents for the 'Burn the Mortgage Fund'. This is the reason the church executive came to the conclusion that Pandovski be expelled from the membership of the church and for this we ask your support.

Dear Members, The relations of our church executive with the board of the church congregation St.

Ilia of Mississauga are on a high and enviable level in a manner anyone could wish, about which we are all happy.

However, with great regret, relations with the United Macedonians lately have not been pleasant. The fault for these unpleasant relations lies with the leadership of the United Macedonians. We cannot reconcile ourselves with the fact that some members within the leadership of United Macedonians hold thoughts that the church, Saint Clement of Ohrid, is a branch of the United Macedonians. This is openly said by their president, Branko Stojcevski. We, as a church executive, stand firmly by our by-laws that the church must be independent and not rely on any organization or party.

We are prepared to cooperate with any organizations and societies who respect the order and by-laws of the church. In contrast, our cooperation will be broken with anyone if it contradicts the by-laws and interferes with the internal work of the church.

Dear members, we ask ourselves if these premises belong to the church membership meeting and if they are led by its own church executive or do they belong to the executive of the United Macedonians which wants to dictate to the church executive its own terms. The church board condemned this act as interference in the internal works of the church. All of this was not to the liking of the president of the United Macedonians, Branko Stojcevski, and as a result, on the 10th day of August of this year, he dared physically attack me as president of our church on the church premises, without any reason.

We all ask ourselves, is this the wish of the United Macedonians as a whole or is it the wish of a small group of people in its leadership, and what they are doing, is that in the interest of the Macedonian community as a whole?

The church executive, at its meeting on the 11th of August, decided to permanently expel Branko Stojcevski from the church membership because, by his own actions, he is working against the interests of our church. We therefore seek a resolution from the membership to support this permanent expulsion as approved by the executive board. It was not enough that he attacked me brutally; he then sent a letter to the board, written by Bill Andrews, to defend his name.

Cooperation with the executive of the United Macedonians was severed and will remain severed until the United Macedonians take measures against Branko Stojcevski and when the executive board of the United Macedonians declares that the organization belongs only to its membership and has no right to interfere in the organization and in the financial workings of the church; then we will consider re-connecting with them.

As I said in my presentation, Macedonian life may have sputtered but did not stop. We started without a penny and today we have implemented many of the long awaited things:

1. We succeeded in building the bar in this hall.

2. We painted this hall with volunteer labour from the membership and from the executive. Many thanks to George Lazarevski and our secretary manager, Trajce Simovski, for their contributions.

3. We bought a new coffee making machine for this hall.

4. We installed ceiling fans which will help with the heating and cooling of this hall.

5. We installed new aluminum doors on the north exit of this hall.

6. We installed a public address system in this hall so that we can make announcements.

7. We succeeded in beautifying this hall even though the whole plan is not yet realized. This beautiful work was done by the Woodcraft Company, with a relatively small amount of money. We would like to thank Tirko Josevski, owner of Woodcraft, and member of our church. We would also like to thank Ratko Cacorovski, one of our board of directors, who worked hard with his soul to realize that which we see today. We hope they will continue to work hard until all the work is completed and our entire plan is realized and our hall becomes one of the best halls in Toronto.

8. We sealed the building with caulking to protect it from the elements.

9. We bought a new set of dishes, enough for 750 persons.

10. We built a new classroom, where the balcony used to be, for our children, for our youth, so that they can comfortably learn our Macedonian mother tongue. We also bought a sufficient number of school books for the children.

11. We succeeded in building a boardroom.

12. We began the publication of Duhovna Iskra, organ of our church congregation.

13. We bought a public address system for the downstairs hall. This system will be used by our folklore group Makedonka and the folklore school.

14. We repaired the public address system in the church.

15. We have succeeded in acquiring the Very Reverent Ilija Dimitrievski, a second priest for our church to meet our future needs and the growth which we are experiencing.

16. The church choir, under the leadership of Evgenia Kordic, is working successfully and has achieved great success in the short time since its inception. It has greatly enriched our church services. It also took part in the consecration of the Macedonian Orthodox Church, St. Cyril and Methody, in Buffalo.

17. The dance group Makedonka, a mirror of our Macedonian culture in North America, is successfully performing Macedonian songs and dances, which represent our culture and identity. It is performing not only for the Macedonians in Canada and America but also for all the various people living here in Canada. Its success is highly rated and that is why Makedonka is called a professional group but in order to achieve this extraordinary success, it is required to work tirelessly with its choreographer, Alex Petlichkov. It is also important to mention that there is great love for our oro and songs by our very own young dancers - members of Makedonka. Makedonka’s success is visible in the school of folklore where Makedonka, with its 116 members, practices every week. This is why we take pride in Makedonka’s successes. In the name of the church executive and from all of us here, thank you Makedonka, we wish you much success in the future.

18. The church executive sent a delegation to the old country, which participated in the funeral of Dositej, Archbishop of Macedonia. Included in this delegation were our president and George Vanpardjiev, President of the church congregation of St. Ilia of Mississauga. We sent a delegation to the national church convention in Ohrid in the month of August. Included in this delegation were: Vice-President Nikola Karanfilovski and Secretary Stase Ralevski. Their travel expenses were paid by the diocese.

19. Thanks to the most beautiful decor created by Peter Ilias, Vice President of the St.

Ilia church congregation in Mississauga, we were able to successfully demonstrate our culture at the international Caravan in the month of June. Also thanks to Makedonka for the beautiful programs it presented at this year’s Caravan. Many thanks to the ladies auxiliary led by President Dragica Ristevska and her executive for their hard work and contributions.

20) Many thanks to you and to our church committee, this has been the biggest and most successful church manifestation and gathering held here in our church thus far.

21. We bought the same type of furniture for both priests.

22. Plans for the future:

a) Not far from now we plan to build an addition above the hallway between the church and the hall, for which we will have to spend large sums of money. Plans for this addition have been provided by architect George Christie and have been approved by the East York building department. Included in this new addition will be an office for the priests, a baptismal room and some other needed space with its own entrance and exit from the parking lot. A separate entrance from the church and a separate entrance to the balcony of this hall will be provided.

b) Regarding air conditioning. For the time being we wired electrical outlets on the balcony which will sufficiently power the air conditioning unit.

c) We intend to improve the by-laws of our church.

d) We intend to re-surface the parking lot with asphalt.

e) We intend to help out with the construction of Saint Ilia Church in Mississauga.

That is all for now. Thank you for your attention. John Givens, President Role of the Church Administration and the “United Macedonians” The then president of the church administration at St. Clement of Ohrid Macedonian Orthodox Church in Toronto was Simo Gadzhovich. He was one of the most offensive culprits in the talks for uniting the Toronto Branch of the United Macedonians with the United Macedonians of North America. Gadzhovich was the person who held the unity key in his hand and, as president of the church, he had the ability to make things happen.

He had the capacity to unite two sets of opposing organizations and whichever group had his support would have an advantage. The group that had his support was the group led by Aristotelis Morihovitis and Anton Pavlov.

Vrazhinovski, in his book, Obedineti Makedonci, (United Macedonians) has published the minutes of one of the meetings during which we were trying to come to a peaceful and joint working agreement. According to Vrazhinovski, Simo Gadzhovich, who was the church president, among other things said; “I would like to inform those here in attendance about this special committee which will, in effect, lead the 100 year celebration of Gotse Delchev’s birth. The Special Committee will be comprised of the church administration of St. Clement of Ohrid Macedonian Orthodox Church in Toronto, the church administration of St. Naum Church in Hamilton, the Toronto United Macedonians Branch, under the presidency of Anton Pavlov - Opashinov and United from Hamilton and some other people who are not part of the mentioned church administrations or the administrations of the organization.” “We will expand this committee by inviting members from the women’s section and from the dance groups and thus, in this structure it will be possible to base the proper task to lead the Ilinden Picnic.” However, the Ilinden picnic and the Gotse Delcev celebrations were always sponsored, exclusively by the organization, United Macedonians and not the Macedonian Church. Why did Gadzhovich involve the church?

According to the United Macedonians of Canada Toronto branch, St. Ilia of Mississauga had no right to sponsor and celebrate the Ilinden picnic in their own church park. Why?

This is because United Macedonians claimed ownership to Ilinden picnic celebrations and this is the case, even today.

Based on the quote above, what was Simo Gadzhovich actually trying to tell us? He was telling us that he was disconnecting all kinds of participation from the “United Macedonians of North America” and connecting the church administrations with the splinter group; those who split the organization in the first place. Gadzhovich was the main promoter for the division of the organization. That means that those who were actually “causing” the division were recommended by Gadzhovich to lead the celebrations, with Anton Pavlov leading the pack. This was done in spite of the fact that all efforts were being made to unite the organization.

By doing this, Gadzhovich in fact was “promoting” the prolongation of the division in the organization. This deed, demonstrated by the church president Gadzhovich, not only undermined all of our efforts but also eliminated any chance that we may have had a patching up our differences in the ranks of the organization. Knowing that church president Gadzhovich held the key to the outcome of this problem and to having a joint picnic, which had been our priority here and in the Republic of Macedonia, Mitko Chalovski, the then Yugoslav General Consul in Toronto, called on us to meet with Gadzhovich. The place and time of the meeting were to be determined by Chalovski.

Chalovski managed to get hold of Gadzhovich and organized a meeting to be held later at a hotel located near Eglinton and Pharmacy, near to where Gadzhovich lived.

After three hours of talks, assurances, drinking beer, one after another, and running to the washroom every 5 to 10 minutes, Chalovski finally posed the question; “United Macedonians of North America agree to have one picnic. What do you think?” To this Simo Gadzhovich said, “I cannot say whether there will be one picnic or two. I am president of the church administration and not of the United Macedonians. They will have to decide on that question.” As a result, our meeting ended without a decision.

I don’t want to talk about the general reaction to this but I would like to emphasize that Chalovski was very disappointed with Gadzhovich’s answer and if Chalovski was modest with his words, this time he reacted with great disappointment. If there was no agreement from Gadzhovich, we could not possibly expect to have a single joint picnic.

Ratka Shapas, even though she did not know which side to take, in her book, Istoria na Makedonskoto Iselenstvo vo Kanada i SAD (History of the Macedonian Immigrants in Canada and the USA) wrote about Simo Gadzhovich and his church administration, and emphasized that the splinter group could not have survived on its own as an organization.

A meeting to unite with the splinter group was held on April 22, 1974. The meeting was attended by Teli Morihovitis, Peter Vasilevski, Vlado Steriovski, Jimmy Bilkas, John Givens, Spiro Bassil (Vasilev), John Tsarvenkov, Paul Bassil and Vangel Stoikovski.

Guests attending the meeting were Father Michael Teoharev from St. Clement, Filip Angelkovsi and Simo Gadzhovich. The meeting agenda was: 1) To unite the disunited “United Macedonians” organization. 2) To hold a joint picnic and 3) If an agreement was reached to unite the groups, to pick a date for new elections in Toronto.

From our side we had 12 points of discussion. After a long debate, we insisted that at least 5 points be accepted. These were: 1) For uniting the organization, the solution arrived on November 27, 1973 at 10:15 must be accepted and respected. 2) Both charters were to be combined into one. 3) To hold democratic elections and to elect a new administration. Elections to take place on May 26, 1974, with all members being invited with a 21 day prior notice before the election meeting. 4) To accept the preliminary text of apology given by the United Macedonians of Canada on November 27, 1973, and 5)

To hold the picnic on August 4, 1974.

Anton Pavlov, from the United Macedonians of Canada, proposed the following five points for discussion: 1) To hold a cocktail party on May 15, 1974. 2) To pay the debt owed by the United Macedonians of North America, Toronto Branch, as indicated by the United Macedonians of Canada. 3) To invite guests from the Macedonian Orthodox Church in Macedonia, representatives of the government of the Republic of Macedonia and representatives from the House of Immigrants to attend the Ilinden Picnic. 4) To hold cultural events and award the best performances. and 5) To have traditional Macedonian music at the picnic. All these points were accepted.

The meeting ended well and all agreements were signed by all those who were present, except for Simo Gadzhovich, who refused to sign even though his signature carried greater meaning because he was president of the church administration. This indeed was unfortunate for all of us.

Улогата на црковната управа и Обединети Македонци Тoгашниoт Претседател на цркoвната управа при Свети Климент Oхридски вo Тoрoнтo, Симе Гаџoвски беше најгoлемиoт винoвник за неуспехoт на прегoвoрите за oбединување на oгранoкoт на Обединети Македонци за Северна Америка во Торонто. Гаџoвски беше тoј штo гo држеше клучoт вo cвoи раце. Преднoста помеѓy двете спрoтивставени групи на Oбединети Македoнци ја имаше групата кoја ја имаше пoткрепата на цркoвната управа значи групата на Аристoтелис Мoрихoвитис и Антoн Павлoв. Вражинoвски вo cвoјата книга "Oбединети Македoнци" гo oбјавува записникoт на еден oд сoстанoците вo кoј се oбидуваме да дoјдеме до некаквo пoмирување и заеднички да мoжеме да рабoтиме. Симo Гаџoвски какo Претседател на цркoвната управа, меѓу другoтo вели: "Јаc би сакал да им oбјаснам на присутните кoј е тoј специјален кoмитет штo ракoвoди сo прoславата за 100 гoдишнината од раѓањето на Гoце Делчев. Специjалниoт кoмитет гo сoчинуваат: Црковната Управа при Македoнската Правoславна Црква Свети Климент Oхридски вo Тoрoнтo, цркoвната управа при Македoнската Правoславна Црква Свети Наум вo Хамилтoн, огранокот Обединети Тoрoнтo пoд Претседателствo на Антoн Павлoв- Oпашинoв, Обединети oд Хамилтoн и некoи други луѓе кoи не се oпфатени вo спoменатите цркoвни управи и управите на oрганизацијата"."Oвoј кoмитет ќе гo прoшириме сo учествo на женската секција и играoрната група. Вo такoв сoстав ќе мoже да ја оствари престoјната задача и да го води Илинденскиoт Пикник".

Знаејќи дека прославите на Илинден и Гоцевите денови беа секогаш спонзорирани од Обединети Македонци, а не од Македонските црковни управи зошто сега се вклучуваат и црковните општини?

Црковната општина Св. Илија од Мисисага немаше право да одржува Илинденски пикник во својот црковен парк затоа што Обединети Македонци тврдеа дека Илинденскиот пикник им припаѓа само на нив. Симо Гаџович лично го промовираше расцепот на организацијата.