To His Grace, the Right Reverend
LUKE
Bishop of Syracuse
Vicar of the Eastern American Diocese
of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia

Your Grace!

Please accept my heartfelt congratulations on your 70th birthday.

Since childhood, you have loved the Lord, the "beauty of His house" (cf. Psalm 25:8) and the splendor of divine services, and you firmly decided to devote your life to the Creator of all. In your youth, you offered Him monastic vows, being ordained to the diaconate and priestly order, for many years zealously carrying out the monastic and priestly tasks, earnestly fulfilling all sorts of obediences.

After many years, beholding your efforts, the Creator called upon you to a higher hierarchical calling – that of the episcopacy. Accepting the bishop’s staff, you steadily continue to declare "eternal life which was with the Father" to those near and far (І John 1:2).

Your entire life in the Church has been inseparably bound to Holy Trinity Monastery in Jordanville. Now, as the abbot of this monastery and rector of its seminary, you tirelessly tend to the brethren entrusted to you and the development of theological education in this Orthodox Christian corner of the North American continent.

In view of your service and to mark this important date, we deem it just to grant you the Order of St Seraphim of Sarov, 3rd Class.

May the Almighty Lord strengthen your spiritual and physical powers, grant you peace and joy, and bestow upon you great and abundant mercies.

With love in Christ,

+KYRILL
Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia