NEW YORK: December 19, 2016
Metropolitan Hilarion of Eastern America and New York Congratulates Archbishop Alypy (Gamanovich) on His 90th Birthday

To His Eminence, Most Reverend Alypy,
Archbishop of Chicago and Mid-America.

Your Eminence,

On behalf of the Synod of Bishops I wholeheartedly welcome you, our longest standing archbishop and bearer of the spirit of the famous Job of Pochaev brethren of Ladomir, with kind good wishes for good health and divine assistance!

With this letter I announce with great joy that the Synod of Bishops has determined in this momentous year, with all due solemnity mark your upcoming ninetieth birthday. Longevity is the gift of God and a special mark of His beneficence. During these days of the gathering of the Synod of Bishops, dedicated to the fiftieth anniversary of the repose of St John the Wonderworker and Archbishop of Shanghai and San Francisco the Miracle-worker, when we commemorate you in prayer at the shrine of the incorruptible and multicurative relics of this wonderful patron of the Russian diaspora, the words of the prophet Jeremiah especially resonate: "Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord." You have used this text in your life. This is the foundation on which your Church glory grew and multiplied as a sign of God's blessing on your life and archpastoral works. You expressed this faithfulness to the Lord in your monastic tonsure in the pronunciation of the special vows dedicating your entire life to the Church of Christ. This trust in divine care and help from God openned your heart during your induction speech at your consecration as a bishop. In 1974, through the grace of the Holy and Life-giving Trinity, through the election of bishops and the appraisal of the bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church, through the prayers of Metropolitan Filaret of holy memory (Voznesensky) and the host of hierarchs, the Lord, from His Paternal and Divine profundity poured out upon you a special blessing of the Holy Spirit and Comforter so that within you there might be the strength and apostolic zeal to follow the way of Divine Providence, denying yourself and taking up your cross, and preach the Gospel of Love, addressed to the whole human race, in the vast Diocese of Mid-America, for which you built and beautified the majestic Cathedral of the Protection of the Theotokos.

Bowing down to Earth and expressing our most profound gratitude for the many years of assiduous service to the Church and the People of God, the Synod of Bishops blesses your well-deserved rest, determining that you are to remain on leave, with the right to stay in the Bishops' house in Chicago as a dependent of the diocese to which you gave all your strength. We thank you for the fact that you have prepared for yourself a worthy successor in the person of Peter Bishop, who has been raised to the rank of archbishop at this meeting. We thank you for generosity of your love and faithfulness to the Russian Orthodox Church, and we ask for your holy prayers for us, your brothers and concelebrants.

With unfailing love in the Lord,

+ Hilarion,
Metropolitan of Eastern America and New York,
First Hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad