NEW YORK: December 18, 2014
The First Hierarch Congratulates Protodeacon Victor Lochmatow on the 40th Anniversary of His Clerical Service

To the Reverend Protodeacon Victor Lochmatow Dear in the Lord Fr Victor:

On behalf of the Synod of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, I wholeheartedly congratulate you on the fortieth anniversary of your clerical service, and prayerfully wish you good health, many years, wisdom and grace-filled strength in your future service to the glory of God, the benefit of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, as well as good fortune for your beloved Holy Trinity Monastery in Jordanville, NY, where you have served faithfully your whole life, and where your Abbot of blessed memory, Metropolitan Laurus, is buried.

As you piously consume the Holy Mysteries of Christ I humbly ask that you lift your prayers for me and for the flock abroad entrusted to my unworthiness, that the Lord grant us help in the fearsome execution of our duties to Him and to mankind!

With love in the Lord, and beseeching your prayers,

+ HILARION,
Metropolitan of Eastern America and New York,
First Hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia.

19 December 2014.