The Russian Orthodox Church gives its condolence for the death of the Patriarch of the Rumanian Orthodox Church, Teoctist I. "He was the wise pastor of the Rumanian people declared Archpriest Nikolay Balashov to Russian agency Interfax, who is the secretary of the Foreign Relations Department of Moscow’s Patriarchate; he shared the difficulties of the restriction period and of the atheistic ideology domination with his people. Later on, with dignity, he conducted the Rumanian Church through the ordeal of the period of great political and social changes". The Rumanian people "loved their Patriarch and deeply respected him". The representative of Moscow’s patriarchate called the death of the Patriarch "a great loss for universal orthodoxy", recalling him as "a veteran of dialogue between the churches and interreligious dialogue", on which he had been working for years. Finally, a few words about the meetings of Patriarch Teoctist with Moscow’s Patriarch, Alexis II: they were meetings "between long standing friends".
