UKRAINIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH OF THE USA
COUNCIL OF BISHOPS OF THE UOC OF THE USA

5 December, 2012
Righteous Yaropolk-Peter, price of Volodymyr in Volyn (1086)

His Eminence Metropolitan Philip
Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America
358 Mountain Road
Post Office Box 5238
Englewood, NJ 07631-5238

Your Eminence Metropolitan Philip,
Brothers in the Holy Archpastoral ministry,
Clergy and faithful of Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America

It is with deep sorrow that we heard the news of the death of our beloved brother in Christ, His Beatitude Ignatius IV, Patriarch of Antioch and All the East, who served our Lord and his people with devotion for many years.

In this time of grieving, the fullness of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the USA is united in prayer and in mourning with the Holy Synod, the clergy and all the faithful of the Antiochian Orthodox Patriarchate and asks most merciful God for consolation and support.

Amid the wave of attacks on the Orthodox Christians recently, he took a strong stand and yet kept the doors for dialogue open. He succeeded in keeping his links with the authorities while holding together his own people. He showed both wisdom and moderation while not appearing to be weak and helpless amidst violence and injustice. There is not doubt that many years of spiritual labor of His Beatitude Patriarch Ignatius have borne and will continue to bear grace-giving fruit throughout the Orthodox world.

With renewed expressions of sympathy and the assurance of our remembrance and of our prayers, we ask you to accept, your Eminence, the expression of our sincere greetings in Christ.

Memory Eternal!

With love in Christ,

+ Antony, Metropolitan
+Daniel, Bishop