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His Beatitude Metropolitan Tikhon greeted His Beatitude Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, Chairman for the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate on his birthday.


July 24, 2020
Protocol 07/011

Your Eminence, Dear Brother and Concelebrant in the Lord’s Mysteries,

I greet you on this joyous occasion of your birthday. I hope and pray that you are able to celebrate the day in peace and thanksgiving, together with those dear to you. Many years, Your Eminence!

Laboring in the public ministry of external church relations, you strive to follow the internal ascetic path, which you learned so well in your studies of St. Isaac the Syrian. Following the example of our Lord Jesus Christ, who “humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross”, you have taken up your particular cross in the life of episcopal leadership, inter-Orthodox discourse, and ecumenical relations, and willingly “lose your life” for the sake of Christ. You have been a good friend of the Orthodox Church in America now for some time, and we hope that our friendship continues for many more years, as you continue, through Christ’s strength, in your particular ministry in His Holy Body, the Church!

Offering my sincerest prayers for your ongoing labors and your wellbeing,
I remain,

+TIKHON
Archbishop of Washington
Metropolitan of All America and Canada