Primates of Local Orthodox Churches send condolences over demise of the Honorary Exarch of All Belarus Metropolitan Philaret

Metropolitan Philaret (Vakhromeyev), Honorary Exarch of All Belarus, age 85, passed in the Lord on 12 th January 2021. His Holiness and Beatitude Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia Ilia II, His Beatitude Metropolitan Sawa of Warsaw and All Poland, and His Beatitude Metropolitan Rastislav of the Czech Lands and Slovakia expressed condolences to His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia over the demise of His Eminence.

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Your Holiness:

I was deeply grieved to learn about the demise of His Eminence Metropolitan Philaret, the Honorary
Exarch of All Belarus.
On behalf of the Georgian Orthodox Church and on my own behalf I extend condolences to the clergy
and flock of the Russian Orthodox Church and to spiritual children of the late archpastor. His death is
undoubtedly a great loss for the God’s Church to which he had devoted long years of his selfless ministry.
We lift up our prayers for the soul of the newly-deceased Metropolitan Philaret. May the Lord rest his
soul in the mansions of the righteous.
With love in Christ,

+ILIA II, Catholicos –Patriarch of All Georgia

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Your Holiness:

On behalf of the Orthodox Church of Poland and on my own behalf I extend to Your Holiness the most
sincere condolences upon the demise of Metropolitan Philaret of the blessed memory, the former
Patriarchal Exarch of the Byelorussian Church.
An outstanding hierarch of the Church who had devoted his whole life to the selfless ministry to his
Orthodox Church and to the entire Christian world had left us for eternity.
The late Metropolitan Philaret had set the life of the Byelorussian Church in perfect order. During his
many visits to the Orthodox Church of Poland, he gave examples of love and fraternal unity of the Local
Churches. He will always be present in our memory.
The Church of Poland prays for the rest of his soul. May his memory be eternal!
With love in the Lord to Your Holiness,

+ SAWA, Metropolitan of Warsaw and All Poland

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Your Holiness, beloved brother in the Lord and concelebrant:

I was deeply grieved to learn about the demise of His Eminence Philaret (Vakhromeyev).
The newly-departed hierarch had been one of the most authoritative bishops of the Russian Orthodox
Church. Having been raised in the pious and intellectual family and educated in the traditions of the
Moscow theological schools, he had been very competent in church diplomacy and culture, working
diligently and assiduously and accomplishing all tasks entrusted to him by church authorities.
Byelorussia had played a special role in his life. As the head of the Minsk see of the Byelorussian
Exarchate, he had adhered to his principles and even more to the words of St Paul, having become “all
things to all people,” thus earning sincere love and respect of the Byelorussians people.
We sincerely condole with You, Your Holiness, His Eminence Metropolitan Veniamin of Minsk, the
Synod of the Byelorussian Exarchate, and the plenitude of the Church. We offer ardent prayers for the
deceased and believe that the All-Merciful Lord, who is “God not of the dead, but of the living,” will rest
him in the dwellings of the righteous.
With brotherly love in the Lord,

RASTISLAV,
Archbishop of Prešov,
Metropolitan of the Czech Lands and Slovakia

Patriarchia.ru/DECR Communication Service

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Primates of Local Orthodox Churches send condolences over demise of the Honorary Exarch of All Belarus Metropolitan Philaret

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