Dear Fathers, Brothers and Sisters,
Christ is risen!
I am happy to communicate with you today, on the Feast of the Holy Apostles Cyril and Methodius, the Thessalonian Illuminators of the Slavs, to congratulate you on this anniversary.
The beloved and admirable Saints were sent to Moravia by the Patriarch Photius the Great to preach the great mystery of piety.
We know that by divine grace they led the peoples of those regions to divine truth: to redemption in Christ, to the glory of the evangelical state, to the eternal benefits of the Kingdom of Heaven.
And they achieved all this by their full surrender to the divine Will, with various labours and sufferings, with principal dangers.
And they became trumpets of truth and luminaries of grace, for they have calmed in the light of the knowledge of God countless souls.
And we today, as distant descendants of the Saints in spirit, are called to appreciate their holy heritage, to adhere to the principles of the Orthodox Christian faith, to be enlightened and sanctified, so that we may be a shining example for our fellow human beings.
May the Holy Apostles prove us as Missionaries of Truth. May they strengthen us in our struggles for the faith and strengthen us in the new difficulties and challenges we face in our evil times!
May we remain in the faith to the end with patience, that we may merit by their divine intercessions the Kingdom of Heaven!
With paternal wishes and blessings
The least Bishop in the Lord
+Clement of Gardicion
