1371 November 05, 2008
Your Reverence, Venerable father and rector! Dear brothers and sisters in Christ!
I shall use the occasion to greet you with all my heart on the eve of this memorable event in the life of your community – the decision of the Russian Orthodox Church to bestow upon your community a full status of parish.
Taking notice of the aforementioned event, I, on behalf of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, send over to you a particle of the Holy Relics as well as an iconographic Image of the newly glorified Saint of Ukrainian lands – Saint Gury (Karpov), Archbishop of Tauris.
The life journey of the Saint has been intimately connected with the history of Orthodoxy in China. Eighteen years of his life were dedicated to the spiritual well-being of the Orthodox faithful living in that country. A remarkably great accomplishment of his has been the translation of the Holy Scripture and the liturgical books into Chinese. This made to the effect of enlightening thousands upon thousands of people with the Light of Christ’s faith. Now, having passed from us to the heavenly abode, he has shown himself as an irreplaceable steadfast intercessor for all of us. I hope, from now on, Saint Gury shall be an ever fervent protector of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul Parish in Hong Kong.
On this memorable day I wish you all peace, longevity and God’s help in accomplishment of good deeds for the benefit of the Church. Let the blessing of God abound upon all of you.
†Vladimir
METROPOLITAN OF KIEV AND ALL OF UKRAINE
