Department for External Church Relations
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Patriarchal congratulatory message to Metropolitan Rostislav on the occasion of his ascension to the Primatial throne of the Orthodox Church of the Czech Lands and Slovakia
His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia has sent His Beatitude Metropolitan Rostislav of the Czech Lands and Slovakia the following congratulatory message on the occasion of his enthronement:
To His Beatitude Rostislav
Archbishop of Presov
Metropolitan of the Czech Lands and Slovakia
Your Beatitude,
Beloved in the Lord Brother and Concelebrant at the Throne of God:
I cordially congratulate you on your ascension to the Primatial throne of the Orthodox Church of the Czech Lands and Slovakia.
You have been elected to this lofty service by the will of the Holy Spirit and the people of God, who live in the place where Brother Cyril and Methodius of Thessaloniki carried out their apostolic work. Proclaiming the gospel in Great Moravia, they left to their disciples the precious treasure of the truth of Christ and, together with it, the Slavonic written language.
The salvific efforts of the Teachers of the Slavs brought forth abundant fruit and helped to communicate the faith to many peoples in Holy Rus, and we together with Your Beatitude celebrated the 1025th anniversary of their baptism last year in Moscow, Kiev and Minsk.
Seeking to multiply the fruits of the mission of the equal-to-the-Apostle brothers and to help revive and reinforce Holy Orthodoxy in the land that was the cradle of the Slavic church tradition, the Moscow Patriarchate in 1951 granted autocephaly to the Czechoslovakian Orthodox Church.
Bound by love, our two Churches have always cherished “the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Eph. 4:3) by supporting each other in the task of bearing witness to the truth of holy Christian faith before the modern secular society and contributing together to the cooperation of Local Orthodox Churches in dealing with topical issues facing the world Orthodoxy. I hope you will be a worthy continuer of these good traditions.
Greeting Your Holiness on this day solemn for you and for the whole Church of the Czech Lands and Slovakia, I lift up ardent prayers to the Lord of heaven and earth that He may strengthen you in the primatial ministry, helping you to steer the church boat through all the tribulations to the safe harbour of salvation. In your Primatial work you can always rely on the support of the Russian Orthodox Church.
May the Lord, the merciful Lover of mankind, preserve Your Beatitude and your flock in peace, good health and prosperity, sending you His great and rich blessings.
With brotherly love in Christ,
+ Kirill
Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia
Patriarch
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