Document
Joint letter from the World Council of Churches and the Conference of European Churches
to His Holiness Patriarch Alexy of Moscow and All Russia, Russian Orthodox Church
DECR, 6 September, 2004
Your Holiness,
On behalf of the World Council of Churches and the Conference of European
Churches, we would like to convey to Your Holiness our condolences and deepest
sentiments of sympathy on the tragic death of children and other civilians at
the end of the Beslan siege.
Together with you we also pray for those who are injured and suffering from
the siege and we share the anguish of the people concerned.
It is with deep shock that we have been following the situation in Beslan during
the past days. As we wrote in our letter to Your Holiness on 2nd September,
it is our hope and prayer that the situation in North Ossetia could be solved using
peaceful means and with the rule of law. We join you in prayer in helping to find
a lasting solution of peace for the region.
People who were killed in the siege, their families and their near ones are in
our prayers and thoughts at this moment. In prayer we join you when you gather
in these days in memorial services to mourn the tragedy together with your
people and with those who have lost their most beloved ones. Included in our
prayers are the many priests and other helpers from the Orthodox Church who
will be ministering to the bereaved and injured and the whole community in their
pain and distress.
"I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in me, though he die, yet
shall he live, and whoever lives and believes in me shall never die." (John 11:25-
26) In this assurance given to us by our common Lord Jesus Christ, we commit
the souls of those who passed away into God's eternal love and rest.
Sincerely yours in Christ,
Georges Lemopoulos, WCC Acting General
Secretary
Rev. Dr Keith Clements, CEC General Secretary
