“To Bishop Ivan Laptev, Head of The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Ingria

 

“Your Excellency,

 

“With profound joy in my heart, on behalf of the faculty, students, and co-workers of St. Petersburg Theological Academy, I send you my greetings on the occasion of the feast of feasts – the Luminous Resurrection of Christ!

 

“Christ the Savior is the inexhaustible Source of paschal joy for all faithful children of the Holy Church. The time leading up to Easter Sunday and the Celebration of the Resurrected Christ the Savior enlivens our hearts, filling them with happy and elevated thoughts and feelings, and gives us an extraordinary growth of faith, hope, love, peace, and quiet spiritual joy.

 

“On this special and holy day of the Resurrection of Christ, may the Lord grant that we keep this sanctifying and transforming light in our hearts, anticipating the everlasting bliss of eternal life.

 

“Christ our God is risen indeed!

 

Bishop Sylvan, Rector of St. Petersburg Theological Academy, The Russian Orthodox Church”