740.0011 E. W./5–445: Telegram
The Chargé in the Soviet Union (Kennan) to the Secretary of State
[Received May 4—2:20 p.m.]
1465. According to Moscow press for May 4 Patriarch Aleksei has sent message to Stalin in connection with capture of Berlin. Translation follows:
“News of the capture of Berlin by our valiant troops led and inspired by your genius has filled the hearts of all true sons of our homeland with boundless joy and rejoicing. Our church offering grateful prayer to God on this historic day deepens its prayers for you, beloved supreme leader of our people, and for our army and it beseeches Divine blessing on the recent martial feats in the name of final victory.”91
- The Chargé also reported, in telegram 1572 on May 14, 1945, that a long statement by the Patriarch was printed in Izvestiya for May 12, 1945, wherein the activities and assistance of the Church during the war were recounted, with lavish praise for the “leader beloved of people and whose wisdom exceeds that of all other leaders of people.” (740.00119 E. W./5–1445)↩