July 10, 2013
Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for External Church Relations, sent a message to His Holiness Patriarch Neophyte of Bulgaria, in which he expressed his condolences over the tragic death of Metropolitan Kirill of Varna and Veliki Preslav. The text of the message is given below:
Your Holiness,
With my heart full of grief, I offer you my deep condolences over the tragic death of Metropolitan Kirill of Varna and Veliki Preslav.
During his life-time, the late hierarch worked much for the benefit of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church. Among other duties, he was appointed Locum Tenens of the Patriarchal Throne after the demise of His Holiness Patriarch Maxim of Bulgaria.
The newly dead hierarch sincerely loved the Russian Orthodox Church. He was an author of a number of books dedicated to the heroic deed of the Russian soldiers who fought for the liberation of Bulgaria. Metropolitan Kirill graduated from the Moscow Theological Academy and served as a rector of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church’s Representation in Moscow for four years, having left grateful memories of himself.
I met with the late archpastor on numerous occasions. He used to come to the Department for External Church Relations on his frequent visits to the Russian Church. Metropolitan Kirill was a distinguished hierarch and a good man, humble, and friendly; he loved his neighbours. His Eminence Metropolitan Kirill spent all his life, serving God. May our Lord Jesus Christ honour him with His heavenly glory and give rest to his soul in the mansions of the righteous.
With respectful love in the Lord,
+Hilarion
Metropolitan of Volokolamsk,
Chairman Department for External Church Relations
Moscow Patriarchate
Source: DECR
