From His Holiness Shenouda III, Pope and Patriarch of Alexandria and All Africa to His Holiness Alexy, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia

May 7, 2000

Dear brother in Christ His Holiness Alexy II
Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia

Your Holiness,

My greetings in the name of the Father, and of the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

It was a great joy to us when we welcomed your Holiness in our Cathedral in Cairo some years ago.

We always wish the prosperity of the Russian Orthodox Church witnessing to the Lord and working for His Kingdom in the earth.

I am very glad that your Holiness has notified me about the March 30, 2000 resolution of the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church to begin bilateral theological dialogue between the family of the Oriental Orthodox Churches and the Russian Orthodox Church. Furthermore, as a starting point, your Holiness has expressed a wish to initiate this bilateral dialogue between the Coptic Orthodox Church and the Russian Orthodox Church, and to have mutual exchange of church delegations in the context of pastoral visitations.

We welcome such dialogue with our Oriental Orthodox Churches.

I would like to inform your Holiness that now in the Middle East we have signed an agreement on 11 March, 1998, with the Syrian Orthodox Church and the Armenian Orthodox Church of Cilicia to be always together in theological dialogues. So I propose to have a meeting between the representatives of your beloved Russian Orthodox Church with the representatives of the three Churches together, the Coptic, the Syrian and the Armenian Oriental Orthodox Churches, hoping to be one in Christ and clarify any point in the agreement of the two families of Orthodoxy (signed in Egypt 1989, in Switzerland 1990 and 1993).

May God grant your Holiness full success in your blessed ministry of serving the Russian Orthodox Church and make us all the servants of the common witness of Orthodoxy for the praise of His glorious name.

With brotherly love in Christ

Pope Shenouda III, Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of the See of St Mark

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