His Holiness Patriarch Kirill greets President Elect of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela

His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia sent the following greeting to Nicolás Maduro, President Elect of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela:

Dear Mr. Madura:

Please accept my cordial greeting with your election as head of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. Your victory in presidential election testifies to the confidence given you by the citizens of your country.

I have warm recollections of my visit to Caracas in October 2008 and our talk. It is gratifying to recall that your compatriots could get a closer acquaintance with Russian spiritual culture in the framework of the Days of Russian Culture.

People coming from Russia, Ukraine, Byelorussia and other countries, for which the Russian Orthodox Church takes spiritual care, have lived in Venezuela for many decades. Our churches function in the capital and other cities of the Republic, and we highly appreciate benevolent attitude of state leaders and power authorities to the presence of the Orthodox Church in Venezuela.

I wish you spiritual and physical strength and success in your upcoming noble ministry, and peace and prosperity to the people of Venezuela.

Yours truly,

/+KIRILL/

Patriarch of Moscow and all Russia