His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia sent the following greeting to the new Primate of the Orthodox Church in America:
HIS BEATITUDE TIKHON
ARCHBISHOP OF WASHINGTON
METROPOLITAN OF ALL AMERICA AND CANADA
Your Beatitude,
Dear Brother in the Lord:
I congratulate you on your election to the primatial throne of the Archbishops of Washington, Metropolitans of All America and Canada.
By the will of the plenitude of the Orthodox Church in America, a high responsibility has been placed on you for the future of the youngest Local Orthodox Church, which has experienced a difficult time in her history in recent years. I hope that through the efforts of Your Beatitude the American Church will restore full-fledged relations with other Local Orthodox Churches, restore peace and harmony within herself and make comfortable the further life of your predecessor at the Metropolitan See of Washington.
I prayerfully wish that through the intercession of the great apostle of America, St. Tikhon the Patriarch of All Russia, the Lord Pantocrator will give you strength and wisdom as you will work in the difficult field of Primatial ministry.
With brotherly love in the Lord,
+ KIRILL
PATRIARCH OF MOSCOW AND ALL RUSSIA
Source: Official website of the Department for External Church Relations
