MOSCOW: December 22, 2011
Patriarchal Greetings to Bishop Jerome of Manhattan

To Your Grace Bishop Jerome of Manhattan, Vicar Bishop of the Eastern American Diocese:

Accept my heartfelt congratulations on this important day in your life, your 65th birthday.

In the mysterious ways of His Unfathomable Providence, the All-Holy Creator brought you to knowing the true Christian faith, which is established “not… in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God” (1 Corinthians 2:5). Having received Orthodoxy in your youth, you have come to love the Savior and Redeemer of humanity with your entire soul. The Lord granted you the opportunity to spend time with various eminent Church figures of the Russian Diaspora, many of whom were your spiritual fathers.

Having received ordination into the priesthood, you spent many years performing pastoral obediences, and gained valuable experience in tending to human souls. The Almighty has deemed you worthy of being included among the successors of Apostolic Grace, and now, as Bishop of Manhattan, you zealously labor that all the faithful be “made heirs according to the hope of eternal life” (Titus 3:7).

By the intercession of the Most-Pure Queen, our Mother of God and Ever-Virgin Mary, may the Merciful Lord grant you strength, spiritual joy and His bountiful help in serving the Holy Church.

With love in Christ,

+KIRILL,
PATRIARCH OF MOSCOW AND ALL RUSSIA

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