Metropolitan Kirill congratulates Archbishop Georg Krechmar on his jubilee

Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad, Chairman of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate sent his greetings to Archbishop Georg Krechmar, former head of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Central Asia, who celebrated his 80^th birthday on August 31, 2005. See the full text below.

To: Archbishop Georg Krechmar

Dear Brother in Christ,

I wholeheartedly congratulate you on this festive and remarkable day of your 80^th birthday.

I know you as an outstanding theologian, talented church leader and influential participant in the inter-Christian dialogue.

You came to our country in the late 1980s with a difficult task to revive the work of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of the German tradition on the territory of the former USSR. Your task was even more difficult because of the fact that Russian and German Lutherans lived in different social, political and cultural contexts and you had not only to revive church life, but also reconcile inevitable contradictions between people of West and East in their understanding of faith and religious life. After the Soviet Union had collapsed you had to unite Lutheran believers living in different countries.

As head of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Central Asia you brilliantly coped with all these tasks. You also managed to keep clear of one of the danger of proselytism toward traditionally Orthodox people who have been forcefully torn away from the faith of their fathers by the Godless power, while many representatives of Western Christianity who came to our country in the late 1980s – early 1990s stumbled on this hidden rock. We can happily speak about good relations between our Churches based on the firm position of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in this matter. We cannot help mentioning the theological Orthodox-Lutheran dialogue that has successfully developed for forty years with your active participation.

I sincerely hope that you will participate in the development of the relations of peace, mutual understanding and dialogue between the Evangelical Lutheran Church and the Russian Orthodox Church at a new stage of your life. I wish you good health, long life and God’s help in your work.

With love in the Lord,

+Kirill,

Metropolitan of Smolensk and Kaliningrad

Chairman

Department for External Church Relations

Moscow Patriarchate