His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia congratulated the new Primate of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, His Holiness Patriarch Daniel, on the election and enthronement of the Patriarchs of Bulgaria.
The message says: "On behalf of the hierarchs, clerics, monastics and the entire Fullness of the Russian Orthodox Church, as well as on my own behalf, I cordially congratulate you on your election and elevation to the Bulgarian Patriarchal Throne.
It pleased the Holy Spirit and the venerable participants of the Patriarchal Electoral Church Council (Acts. 15, 28) to call you to a high and responsible Pontifical ministry, entrusting you with the fate of Bulgarian Orthodoxy.
In the person of Your Holiness, the Church of St. John of Rila and St. Euthymius of Tarnovo has now found its new Primate – a worthy successor to the ever-memorable Patriarchs of Bulgaria Kirill, Maxim and Neophyte, who have done much to preserve the paternal spiritual traditions and establish their flock in the holy Orthodox faith.
The Russian Orthodox Church today sincerely rejoices with the beloved Sister Church, at the helm of which stood the God-wise hierarch, known for his piety, firm commitment to the sacred canonical order and willingness to sacrificial work in the name of strengthening church unity.
The growth in grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (2 Peter 3:18) has been the main goal of our Churches and the fraternal peoples they nurture for over a thousand years, who are co-heirs of the Slavic spiritual tradition dating back to the works of Saints Cyril and Methodius equal to the Apostles. The grateful prayerful memory of the children of the Russian Orthodox Church captures both the outstanding role of Bulgarian missionaries in the Christian enlightenment of Kievan Rus and the spirit–bearing image of St. Cyprian, the great son of Bulgaria, who became Metropolitan of Moscow and All Russia. We reverently honor St. Seraphim, Archbishop of Bogucharsky, the St. Sophia Wonderworker, who personifies our unity. We cherish the memory of the Russian soldiers who gave their lives for the liberation of our Bulgarian brothers from the bitter five-century slavery.
We believe that new bright pages will be written by Your Holiness into the glorious centuries-old history of relations between our Churches."