Telegram of His Eminence, Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kalliningrad to US Secretary of State Colin Powell

His Excellency
Mr. Colin Powell
Secretary of State United States of America

Your Excellency!

Having learned of the monstrous crime that has caused the death of thousands of people, I express my profound condolences to the government and people of the United States of America.

I am now praying that this kind of tragedy will never be repeated, that God would grant rest to those who have been killed, that He would heal the wounded and would grant the American people strength to overcome the burdensome consequences of this tragedy.

The Russian Orthodox Church resolutely condemns the terrorist acts that have occurred. Nothing and nobody can justify the conscious and premeditated killing of great numbers of peaceful people, who have fallen as victims of evil intentions.

The events in America are a tragedy not only for your country but also for all of humanity. After all, terrorism is a problem common to all governments and peoples. This is an evil that knows no boundaries or barriers. It is my hope that the whole world will unite its efforts to combat terrorism and force so that every nation and every person could accede to a blessed world.

Respectfully yours,

+KIRILL
Metropolitan of Smolensk
and Kalliningrad Chairman of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate