Condolences upon the death of Raisa Maximovna Gorbacheva

CONDOLENCES UPON THE DEATH OF RAISA MAXIMOVNA GORBACHEVA

His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russian sent a telegramme of condolences to Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev upon the death of his wife on September 22:

‘It was with grief that I learnt of the demise of your wife, Raisa Maximovna Gorbacheva. I sincerely condole with you, deeply respected Mikhail Sergeyevich, and with all your near and dear, sharing the pain of your loss and lamenting with all of you. I pray for the rest of your late wife’s soul in the heavenly mansions. May the Lord strengthen and support you in your trial. With sincere respect Patriarch Alexy’.

That same day a telegramme of condolences to Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev was sent by His Eminence Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad, Chairman of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate:

‘Deeply respected Mikhail Sergeyevich! On these days of grief for you and your family may I express my support to you and your relatives. I pray to the All-Merciful Lord, Who has time and years in His power, to give you spiritual and bodily strength. The example of a loving husband and a good family man which you gave in hard time to our society, which has lost many moral guiding lines, can be compared with historic transformations linked with your name in its significance and may even exceed them. May God rest the soul of the deceased in the mansions of the righteous. Memory eternal to her.’