Patriarch Kirill of Moscow sent a greeting letter to the President of China, Xi Jinping, on the occasion of his 70th birthday.
As the Patriarch states in his letter to the Chinese president, “during the long years of your term, you have proved that you are a far-sighted and wise politician, capable of thinking strategically and achieving your goals.”
Patriarch Kirill continues: “To a large extent, the Celestial Empire is today one of the world’s leading powers thanks to your work and it demonstrates great success in the economic-social field.”
He also thanked China’s president “for paying special attention to establishing the principles of justice in Chinese society and for making great efforts to strengthen the friendship between the peoples of Russia and China and to develop business and cultural ties between the two countries.”
The Patriarch of Moscow states that “the faithful of the Chinese Autonomous Orthodox Church, which was created thanks to the actions of the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission, also make efforts to contribute to this.”
Concluding his greeting letter, Kirill stressed that he hoped for further development of the dialogue “between the leadership of the People’s Republic of China and the Russian Orthodox Church”.
Patriarch Kirill’s letter to the Chinese president comes as no surprise, since the Moscow Patriarchate has fully aligned itself with the decisions and policies of the Kremlin.
It is also known that relations between the two states are good and are expected to remain so as long as the war in Ukraine lasts.
International analysts comment that this “cooperation” between the two countries has increased beyond any previous expectation of most Western observers.
