wfn.org | Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew Congratulates New Moscow Patriarch

[Worldwide Faith News <wfn@igc.org>]

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> Stavros Papagermanos
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> FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
> January 28, 2009

> ECUMENICAL PATRIARCH BARTHOLOMEW
> AND ARCHBISHOP DEMETRIOS
> CONGRATULATE NEW PATRIARCH OF MOSCOW

NEW YORK ? Yesterdayy, Jan. 27, the Locum Tenens of the Moscow Patriarchate, Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad was elected the 16th Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia. Immediately upon his election, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew sent a congratulatory telegram. The message of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew reads, in part:

On the occasion of your well-deserved election today as the new Head of the most holy sister and chosen daughter Russian Church, we convey to you our heartfelt brotherly salutation, both of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople and of our Modesty. ? We are certain thatt in the course of Your Patriarchy, which we pray will be long and glorious, we shall work together in harmony for the glory of God and for the shared witness of Orthodoxy in our contemporary troubled world. In the coming months, we await receiving you in the courts of the Mother Church, so that we may renew our common journey into the future through a sacred concelebration of the Divine Liturgy. Most Blessed and Most Honored Brother, we greet you with a holy kiss and echo the voice of our brother Hierarchs in Christ who surround us: Axios!

Archbishop Demetrios also extended congratulations. In his letter, he wrote:

I have the great honor and profound joy in the Lord to congratulate you upon your election to be Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia. Not only do I convey these warmest wishes on behalf of the Holy Eparchial Synod of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, but I do so with a deeply held personal conviction that the election of Your Holiness marks an important step forward in the cause of Orthodox unity worldwide, and especially in the Diaspora. ? I look forward to continuing our cooperative eefforts with the Representation of the Moscow Patriarchate in the USA. With Godâ??s help and by His grace, we shall enjoy new opportunities to expand the message of the Gospel and affirm our unity in Christ.

The Enthronement of Patriarch Kirill will take place on Sunday February 1st at Christ the Savior Cathedral in Moscow.

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