The Head of the House of Romanoff Has Sent Her Congratulations to His Eminence, Metropolitan Wladimir of Kiev and All Ukraine, on his 75-th Birthday, and Has Awarded Him the Imperial Order of St. Anna, First Class
From the Head of the Russian Imperial House
To Your Eminence, Metropolitan Wladimir of Kiev and All Ukraine: Your Eminence!
I offer my heartfelt congratulations to you on your 75-th birthday. Having been born in a pious peasant family, you from your youth have dedicated yourself to serving the Orthodox Church. In the years of persecution, you courageously fulfilled your duty and brought to your countrymen the Light of the Christian Faith. In 1966, the Lord called you to the episcopate, a duty you fulfilled in a way that garnered you enormous respect and authority among your brother bishops and priests. That deep respect for you was in evidence at the Church Council in 1990, when you were one of the candidates for the Patriarchal Throne. But Providence was pleased instead to predetermine your path of service in the capital of Ukraine, in the Holy City of Kiev—the “mother of Russian cities,” and the cradle of Orthodoxy in our Fatherland.
Because of the love of your flock for you, because of your firm faith and wisdom, you have succeeded in preserving the canonical unity of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church with its Mother Church, the Russian Orthodox Church. In the course of 18 years, you have guided the flock entrusted to you, combining the ideals of Orthodox universalism with a respect for the national spiritual traditions and practices of the local life of the Church.
In recognition of your long service to the Holy Church and to Ukraine, and greatly valuing your contributions to the preservation and strengthening of the spiritual brotherhood of all peoples who formerly belonged to the great and expansive civilization that was the Russian Empire, I am pleased to bestow upon you the Imperial Order of St. Anna, First Class.
I pray for your strength, health, and God’s help, and for many years in service to Universal Orthodoxy.
Asking your holy prayers and archpastoral blessing, I remain, respectfully and affectionately, yours,
H.I.H. Grand Duchess Maria Wladimirovna
Issued in Madrid
10/23 November 2010