Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk sent Easter greetings to the heads of foreign states and to the state and public figures in far abroad

Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for External Church Relations, sent Easter greetings to Her Majesty Elizabeth II, Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland;  King  Felipe VI of Spain; Duke Hans-Adam II of Lichtenstein; President Heinz Fischer of the Republic of Austria; Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel of the Federal Republic of Germany; President Juan Manuel Santos Calderon of the Republic of Columbia; President Andrzej Duda of the Republic of  Poland; President Tomislav Nikolić of Serbia; head of the Bulgarian Royal family Tsar Simeon II; head of the Prussian Royal House Prince Georg Friedrich of Prussia, and other dignitaries. The text is given below.

Please accept my heartfelt congratulations on the feast of Christ’s Passover. Today all Christians are united in joy in the risen Saviour, who has granted to us ‘who believe in his name the right to become children of God’ (Jn 1:12).

The Lord has renewed human nature through his Resurrection and has engendered in our soul the striving for righteousness and goodness. This radiant feast encourages us to minister with diligence to the needs of the entire human community and to the spiritual and moral renewal of the human person, so that peace, harmony and mutual understanding may define relationships among countries and peoples.

May I wish you spiritual joy from the risen Christ, prosperity, and success in your labours.

Respectfully,

/+Hilarion/

Metropolitan of Volokolamsk

Chairman

Department for External Church Relations

Moscow Patriarchate