site.btaPatriarch Daniil Writes to Metropolitan Onufriy of Kyiv on Anniversary of Enthronement

 Patriarch Daniil of Bulgaria wrote to Metrpolitan Onufriy of Ukraine to congratulate him on the 10th anniversary of his installation, the Bulgarian Patriarchate said in a press release Monday. "During this ten-year period, you have established yourself as a worthy successor to the great hierarchs and confessors of the Metropolitan See of Kiev," the message said. 

He went on to praise Metropolitan Onufriy's modesty, humility, patience, love for the monastic life and ways, adherence to the religious canon, which he has shown "during his uneasy service as primate of the brotherly Ukrainian Orthodox Church". 

The message further says that Metropolitan Onufriy's term in office "coincided with severe trials for the Ukrainian people and their Church". "You have resisted and continue, with God's help, to resist all attempts to create division, preserving the unity, integrity and compliance with the canon in the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. At the same time, these were years of division within Ukrainian society itself, in which you always showed yourselves as a unifier and peacemaker - an evangelical duty for every true shepherd of Christ."

The head of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church says that "we all pray for peace in Ukraine which is an important condition for peace across the world".