St Nikolai of Zica, 2nd Tuesday of Lent March 18, 2008
His Eminence, The Most Rev. Archbishop HILARION of Sydney and Australia The Venerable Members of the Synod of Bishops Reverend Clergy and Laity of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad
On behalf of the Orthodox Fellowship of All Saints of China, please accept our fraternal condolences on the repose of the soul of your beloved First Hierarch Metropolitan Laurus.
The missionary labors of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia, across diverse culture, under the pastoral guidance of Metropolitan Laurus, continues to be an inspiration for the work of our Fellowship. Not only has he inked history with the restoration of the canonical communion of the Russian Church in the diaspora with her motherland, pan-Orthodox collaboration on the grassroots level has responded enthusiastically. As we entered into our second year of existence, OFASC unanimously voted Fr John Whiteford to join the Board of Trustees, which brought about ROCOR's representation for the first time in our Fellowship's pan-Orthodox effort in providing a united witness to Orthodoxy among the Chinese people.
Vladika Laurus will be remembered with affection for his pastoral zeal, and his resolute and loving desire to share the Holy Orthodox Faith of Our Lord Jesus Christ with people around the world. May his memory be eternal!
With sincere sympathies and fond condolences in Our Lord Jesus Christ,
Nelson Mitrophan Chin under Most Rev. Metropolitan PHILIP, of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America President & Clerk, OFASC
cc: Board of Trustees: Archpriest Dionisy Pozdnyaev under Most Rev. Metropolitan KIRILL of Smolensk and Kaliningrad, Moscow Patriarchate; Peter C. McCarty under Most Rev. Metropolitan GERASIMOS of San Francisco, Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America; Hieromonk Damascene (Christensen) under Right Rev. Bishop MAXIM, Serbian Orthodox Diocese of Western America; Fr. Geoffrey Korz under Most Rev. Archbishop SERAPHIM, Archdiocese of Canada, Orthodox Church in America; Fr John Whiteford under Right Rev. Bishop PETER, Diocese of Chicago and Mid-America (ROCOR)