On May 12, 2008 His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia sent President of the People's Republic of China Hu Jintao a message of condolence in connection with the earthquake in Sichuan Province of China, that caused a death toll of thousands. The text of the message is published in full below.
To the President of the People’s Republic of China Hu Jintao
Your Excellency!
The Russian Orthodox Church shares Chinese people’s grief at the thousands dead from the earthquake in Sichuan Province of China. We present our condolences to the bereaved families. We pray God for all victims and disaster control.
His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia
The Chairman of the Department of External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad sent President of the People's Republic of China Hu Jintao a message of condolence in connection with the earthquake in Sichuan Province of China, that caused a death toll of thousands and a lot of destructions. The text of the message by the Chairman of the Department of External Church Relations is published in full below.
Please accept our condolences upon the disaster that overtook Chinese people – the earthquake in Sichuan Province of China. Thousands of people died, tens of thousands are injured, homeless, with many towns in southern China destroyed.
God give salvation and spiritual strength to all the injured, to family members and close ones of dead. We wish courage and energies to the government of People’s Republic of China in negotiation of tragic consequences of the disaster.
Sincerely yours,
The Chairman of the Department of External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad