DECR chairman sends greetings to His Holiness and Beatitude Catholicos-Patriarch Ilia II of All Georgia on his Name Day

Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, chairman of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate, congratulated His Holiness and Beatitude Ilia, Archbishop of Mtskheta and Tbilisi, Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia, on his Name Day.

Your Holiness and Beatitude,

Please accept my cordial greetings with the commemoration day of your heavenly patron, the Holy Prophet Elijah.

By imitating in zealousness this saint, pleasing unto God, you have gained spiritual wisdom, being a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth (2 Tim. 2:15), and have won the love of your flock: the clergy, laypeople and monastics who revere you as their spiritual father and guide. As one of the oldest First Hierarchs among the Primates of the Local Orthodox Churches, you enjoy high authority not only in your homeland, but in the whole Orthodox world as well. We greatly appreciate the work of Your Holiness and Beatitude, aimed at strengthening traditionally good relations between the Russian and the Georgian Orthodox Churches and their faithful.

I wholeheartedly wish Your Holiness and Beatitude God’s inexhaustible help in your Primatial ministry, physical and spiritual strength, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit for many years.

With respectful love in the Lord,
/+Hilarion/

Metropolitan of Volokolamsk

Chairman

Department for External Church Relations

Moscow Patriarchate