His Eminence Nicholas
Metropolitan of Eastern America & New York
First Hierarch of the Russian Church Abroad
Your Eminence, dear Vladyka!
With great sadness, I received the news of the unexpected repose of our concelebrant, His Eminence Peter, Archbishop of Chicago & Mid-America.
The ever-memorable Vladyka was for all of us the personification of a very important era in the life of the Russian Orthodox Church, the era of New Martyrs and Confessors, connecting us with Saint John of Shanghai, who called the future archpastor to church service and tonsured him a reader.
Always welcoming and open to communication, but a strict follower of church traditions and rubrics, Archbishop Peter, with fatherly wisdom and love, raised an entire generation of young people who today worthily carry out their service to the Mother Church not only in the United States of America, but also in all countries of the Russian diaspora.
All this has earned the ever-memorable hierarch eternal and grateful memory, and inspires us to pray fervently to the Risen Christ our Savior, that He may grant His faithful and hardworking servant the Kingdom of Heaven and eternal rest with all the saints who have pleased Him from the ages.
On my own behalf and on behalf of all the clergy and laity of the parishes of the Moscow Patriarchate in the United Kingdom, the United States & Canada, I express to you, dear Vladyka Metropolitan, and to the flock of the late Archbishop Peter, deep and heartfelt condolences
With reverent love in the Lord, Bishop of Sourozh, Interim Administrator of the Patriarchal Parishes in the United States & Canada
+MATTHEW
November 8th, 2024