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THE SHIFTING IDENTITIES OF THE BULGARIAN-CANADIAN DIASPORA, 1900-2015 community were Archimandrite Theofilact, also known as Dr Dimitar G. Mallin (Malincheff) and John Grudeff. Dr Malincheff (Theofilact) was born in the village of Vrachesh, near the Bulgarian town of Botevgrad (Orhanie), whereas John Grudeff was born in the village of Gramatikovo in 1894, near the Black sea coast.?7 Archimandrite Theofilact was sent to North America in 1908 by the Bulgarian Holy Synod. During his mandate he initiated the creation of four Bulgarian orthodox churches in North America, among which was the first Bulgarian church in Toronto in 1911 — the Macedono-Bulgarian Orthodox Cathedral of Sts. Cyril and Methody. In 1913, Theofilact published The First Bulgarian-English Pocket Dictionary with 18,000 words,”* which became very popular among the Bulgarian communities in both Canada and USA, as it contained not only words, but also a great number of useful common phrases for various situations, related to accommodation, job search, physical wellbeing, and travelling between Canada and the United States.” Archimandrite Theofilact left the priesthood and in 1921 graduated from the Medical Faculty of the University of Toronto to become the first Bulgarian physician in Canada and to open the first Bulgarian pharmacy in Toronto in 1922.°° John Grudeff left his native village of Gramatikovo to study atthe American School in Salonica. Grudeff came to Canada in 1910, when he was only sixteen years old. Initially, he worked at the railway construction and in a sugar factory. He was determined, however, to continue his education. He graduated from the University of Toronto with a BA in Literature and Fine Arts in 1922 and from the Faculty of Law in 1926, becoming the first Bulgarian-Canadian lawyer. John Grudeff was a good friend of Dr. Malincheff (Archimandrite Theofilact) and he founded one of the first Bulgarian benevolent societies in Toronto — the William Gladstone Benevolent Society.*' This charity organization provided sick and funeral benefits for its members, translation services, accommodation and employment information. The members also organized ethnic holiday celebrations to preserve their Bulgarian cultural traditions. Dr Malincheff edited the first Bulgarian weekly newspaper in Toronto, Balkanska Zvezda [Balkan Star], published in the period 1912-1913 in Bulgarian. The Bulgarian settlers did not believe that they could lose their Bulgarian ethnic identity even if they had to face the discrimination of mainstream society. They often feared, however, that their children would lose interest in Bulgaria and its culture and language and they would completely assimilate Gurdev, Bulgarskata emigraciya, 218. 28 Dimitar D. Malincheff, The First Bulgarian-English Pocket Dictionary, Toronto, n.p., 1913, MHSO Macedonian Collection (Microfilm). > Ibid. Gurdev, Bulgarskata emigraciya, 218. 31 Ibid. +61 +
