To the Right Rev. Justin Welby, Bishop of Durham
Dear Brother and Lord Bishop,
I would like to extend to you wholehearted congratulations on your election
as Head of one of the oldest episcopal chairs founded by St. Augustine of
Canterbury in the 7th century.
You have been entrusted with the spiritual guidance of the entire Anglican
Communion, a unique union of like-minded people, which, however diverse the
forms of its existence in the world may be, needs one ‘steward of God’ (Tit.
1:7) the guardian of the faith and witness to the Truth (cf. Jn. 18:37).
The Russian Orthodox Church and the Churches of the Anglican Communion are
bonded by age-old friendly relations initiated in the 16th century.
For centuries, our Churches would preserve good and truly brotherly relations
encouraged both by frequent mutual visits and established theological dialogue
and certainly by a spirit of respect and love which used to accompany the
meetings of our hierarchs, clergy and ordinary believers.
Regrettably, the late 20th century and the beginning of the third
millennium have brought tangible difficulties in relations between the Russian
Orthodox Church and the Churches of the Anglican Communion. The introduction
female priesthood and now episcopate, the blessing of same-sex ‘unions’ and
‘marriages’, the ordination of homosexuals as pastors and bishops – all these
innovations are seen by the Orthodox as deviations from the tradition of the
Early Church, which increasingly estrange Anglicanism from the Orthodox Church
and contribute to a further division of Christendom as a whole.
We hope that the voice of the Orthodox Church will be heard by the Church of
England and Churches of the Anglican Communion, and good fraternal relationships
between us will revive.
I wish you God’s help in your important work.
‘May the God of love and peace be with you’ (2 Cor. 13:11).
Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk
13 November 2012
From the Department of External Relations of the Russian Orthodox Church Moscow Patriarchate