December 9, 2008

GENEVA – His Holiness Patriarch Alexei II of the Russian Orthodox Church "was a rock of great faithfulness and stability" during years of great challenge and change in his country and church, said Rev. Dr Ishmael Noko, general secretary of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) in a letter of condolence to the church's Moscow Patriarchate, following the patriarch's death on 5 December.

The LWF general secretary paid tribute to Alexei II, patriarch since 1990 until his death at the age of 79, for providing crucial leadership for both the Russian Orthodox Church and the country through difficult times. "As Lutherans, we have a special gratitude for his encouragement of good relations between our churches in your country," he said in the letter addressed to the Chairman of the Department for External Relations Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad, acting head of the church.

Noko made reference to his 1996 meeting with the patriarch in Moscow, during which "we could celebrate these good relations and look together toward a common future." He said he held Alexei II in "high respect for the honesty and courage with which [he] faced the complicated and fast-changing realities in which the Church found itself during his patriarchate." That the Russian Orthodox Church had in recent years shown such resilient strength in rebuilding public structures for Christian life, he noted, "is surely due significantly to his leadership."

While affirming the LWF's continued cooperation with the Russian Orthodox Church toward common witness in the world, Noko pointed out that the world Christian family "needs a vital and confident Russian Orthodox Church." He underlined the anticipation for a church which would continue both to nurture the Russian people in their faith and also reach out to other Christians and people of faith to work together for a world of peace.

Noko promised the LWF's prayers that the "next Patriarch will be a person of faithful vision to continue all the good for which Patriarch Alexei gave his life's energy."

Lutheran World Information