Message from Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and all Russia to the Reverend Dimitry Netsvetaev and parishioners of the churches of the Resurrection of Christ in Tunis and the Holy Prince Alexander Nevsky in Bizerta

PATRIARCH ALEXY II OF MOSCOW AND ALL RUSSIA

Russian version

The Reverend Dimitry Netsvetaev
and parishioners of the churches of the Resurrection of Christ in Tunis
and the Holy Prince Alexander Nevsky in Bizerta

Reverend and all-honorable Father Rector,
Beloved in Christ Children and Compatriots:

I cordially congratulate you all on the 80th anniversary of the Russian Orthodox community in Tunisia. On the occasion of this significant event in the life of your community, I lift up ardent prayers thanking the Lord for the opportunity for you who live far from your Motherland to participate in full measure in the spiritual and liturgical life of the Church.

Thousands of Russian refugees found asylum in Tunisia after the tragic revolutionary events of 1917. For some time they were deprived of an opportunity to pray in Orthodox churches. However, looking back at the history of the Orthodox parish in Tunis, we recall that our compatriots, who came in 1920 to Bizerta with the last surviving ships of the Imperial Squadron of the Russian Fleet, believed it unthinkable to live in a foreign land without an Orthodox church. The building of church life in exile became one of the most important tasks for them.

For a long time, divine services were conducted in temporary facilities in the Chapel of the Holy Resurrection in the capital city of Tunis. The first Orthodox church was build by our compatriots in 1938 in Bizerta in commemoration of the Russian Imperial Fleet. It was dedicated to the Holy Prince Alexander Nevsky. We cannot but remember today the work of those through whose prayers and efforts this church was built. The same is true for the church of the Holy Resurrection built in 1956 in Tunis. May the Lord remember all those who love the magnificence of His house.

Today the churches of the Resurrection and Alexander Nevsky unite descendants of Russian emigrants, our compatriots who work in Tunisia and all those for whom Russia is Motherland and the Russian Orthodox Church is Mother.

May the Lord preserve your faith and assert the unshakable edifice of spiritual life. May He augment peace and unanimity among His children. I wish God’s help to the rector of the churches of the Resurrection and St. Alexander Nevsky in Tunis, Father Dimitry Netsvetaev, in his pastoral efforts. I wish him the love of his flock and strength in his service of God. I wish you all to be faithful to God’s guidance in His inscrutable ways which we are to follow under His wise judgment. May the churches of the Russian Orthodox Church in Tunisia be for you all a reminder of your Fatherland, both earthly in Russia and heavenly in the Kingdom of Christ.

May the Lord’s blessing be with you and may God protect you through His mercy.

PATRIARCH OF MOSCOW AND ALL RUSSIA