To the Holy Synod of the
Serbian Orthodox Church

Your Eminences, Your Graces, Beloved Brother-Archpastors:

Having learned of the repose of His Holiness, Patriarch Irinej, we deeply empathize with you all, and hastened to church with special urgency and commemorated his departed soul during the Divine Liturgy celebrated today at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Sign in New York City, marking the 100th anniversary of the establishment of the Russian Church Abroad. Our church at that time received a warm canonical welcome on the territory of the Serbian Orthodox Church. Therefore, it is especially significant for us that the Lord called His Holiness to Himself on this "chosen and holy day," reminding us of the fraternal bonds uniting our Churches and our peoples.

His Holiness, Patriarch Irinej, was a most worthy successor of the Primates of Serbia, worthily laboring and selflessly performing the work of God in the Serbian land, always lovingly supporting also the fraternal Russian Orthodox Church. Today, the thoughts and prayers of the fullness of the Russian Church Abroad are with the archpastors, pastors, monastics, and the entire God-preserved nation of the great Saint Sava! Praying before the Kursk Root Icon of the Mother of God "of the Sign," we ask the help of the Queen of Heaven for all in these sorrowful days!

With brotherly love in the Lord,

+HILARION
Metropolitan of Eastern America & New York
First Hierarch of the Russian Church Abroad

November 20, 2020