: Patriarchal Greeting to the Council of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia

To His Eminence, the Very Most Reverend Hilarion Metropolitan of Eastern America & New York First Hierarch of the Russian Church Abroad

To the Eminent Archpastors, Members of the Council of Bishops of the Russian Church Abroad

Beloved in the Lord Metropolitan Hilarion, Eminent Archpastors!

I sincere greet all of you, the hierarchs of the Russian Diaspora, who have gathered in Munich to convene a Council of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia.

It is significant that your gathering is held on the 10th anniversary of the signing of the Act of Canonical Communion, an event of great historic breadth, which put an end to the long division of the Russian nation incurred by the tragic troubles in our Fatherland 100 years ago.

I am overjoyed that many of you were able to participate in the great consecration of the Church of the Resurrection of Christ and the Holy New Martyrs & Confessors of Russia in Sretensky Monastery, which took place on the feast day of the Ascension of the Lord. It was on this very feast in 2007 that, on the ambo of Christ the Savior Cathedral in Moscow, His Holiness, Patriarch Alexey II of Moscow & All Russia, and His Eminence Laurus, Metropolitan of Eastern America & New York, inscribed their signatures on the historic Act, opening for us the possibility of praising and glorifying the most-holy name of God “with one mouth and one heart,” and of partaking from one Chalice of Christ. Our joint services in this newly built church became our common grace-filled prayer to the Lord, Who by His omnipotent right hand led us to the desired unity. Today, a decade later, we bear witness to the good fruits of this unity, fully sensing ourselves members of a single ecclesiastical organism.

Expressing my gratitude to you for your selfless Orthodox witness, I call upon you to continue with the same fervor to “edify the body of Christ” (Ephesians 4:12).

To mark the 10th anniversary of the signing of the Act of Canonical Communion, and in recognition of the your zealous labors in strengthening the spiritual unity we have recovered, I deem it worthy to bestow upon the First Hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, His Eminence Hilarion, Metropolitan of Eastern America & New York, the right to wear two panagias within the spiritual territory entrusted to him.

I invoke God’s blessings upon the efforts of the Council of Bishops of the Russian Church Abroad.

+KYRILL
Patriarch of Moscow & All Russia