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25th Sunday after Pentecost
December 7, 2008

Your Eminence, The Most Rev. Metropolitan KIRILL of Smolensk and Kaliningrad
The Venerable Members of the Synod of Bishops
Reverend Clergy and Laity of the Russian Orthodox Church

Master, bless!

On behalf of the Orthodox Fellowship of All Saints of China, please accept our condolences on the repose of the soul of your beloved First Hierarch Patriarch Alexy II.

The pastoral labors of the Russian Orthodox Church, across ethnic and national boundaries, in particular of China, under the spiritual guidance of Patriarch Alexy, continue to be an inspiration for the work of our Fellowship. His paternal burden has prompted addressing the practical needs of the flock in China, which is currently without any indigenous leadership as required by current religious regulation, by appointing of your Eminence to be in charge of solving practical questions regulating Orthodox life in China within the bounds of Chinese legislation. As we entered into our third year of existence, the OFASC Board of Trustees has been blessed with the active participation of Fr. Dionisy Pozdnyaev of Hong Kong under your omophorion to coordinate the Chinese publication of liturgical texts and practical articles for living the Orthodox Christian life for the flock in China. May the newly elected role of your Eminence as Patriarchal Locum tenens provide a smooth transition and pastoral continuity of the legacy left by His Holiness.

Vladika Alexy will be remembered with affection for his pastoral zeal, and his resolute and loving desire to care for the flock of Our Lord Jesus Christ entrusted to his archiepiscopal care around the world. May his memory be eternal!

With sincere sympathies and fond condolences in Our Lord Jesus Christ,

Nelson Mitrophan Chin
under Most Rev. Metropolitan PHILIP, of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America
President & Clerk, OFASC

cc: Board of Trustees: Archpriest Dionisy Pozdnyaev under Most Rev. Metropolitan KIRILL of Smolensk and Kaliningrad, Moscow Patriarchate; Dn Martin Watt under Most Rev. Archbishop JOB of the Diocese of Chicago and the Midwest; Peter C. McCarty under Most Rev. Metropolitan GERASIMOS of San Francisco, Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America; Hieromonk Damascene (Christensen) under Right Rev. Bishop MAXIM, Serbian Orthodox Diocese of Western America; Fr. Geoffrey Korz under Most Rev. Archbishop SERAPHIM, Archdiocese of Canada, Orthodox Church in America; Fr John Whiteford under Right Rev. Bishop PETER, Diocese of Chicago and Mid-America (ROCOR)