pastoral letter

{{distinguish|Pastoral epistles}}

A pastoral letter, often simply called a pastoral, is an open letter addressed by a bishop to the clergy or laity of a diocese or to both, containing general admonition, instruction or consolation, or directions for behaviour in particular circumstances.{{EB1911 |wstitle=Pastoral Letter |volume=20 |page=898 |inline=1}} In most episcopal church bodies,{{clarify|reason=What is an "episcopal church body"? Any Church having a bishop, or 'Episcopal' as the US Anglican denomination? If first: leave it here. If 2nd: move down to paragraph about Protestants, and use capital E.|date= September 2021}} clerics are often required to read out pastoral letters of superior bishops to their congregations.{{citation needed|date= September 2021}}

In the Catholic Church, such letters are also sent out regularly at particular ecclesiastical seasons, particularly at the beginning of fasts.

In the non-episcopal Protestant churches a pastoral letter is any open letter addressed by a pastor to his congregation, more especially to one customarily issued at certain seasons, for example, by the moderator of a Presbyterian assembly or the chairman of a Congregational or Baptist union.

The Armenian term for pastoral letter is kondak, also translated as encyclical, statement, or decree.{{cite book |last= Avakian |first= Anne M. |title= Armenian Folklore Bibliography |page= 106 |publisher= University of California Press |year= 1994 |quote= Khrimian, M. 1907 "Kondak." [Pastoral Letter.] |isbn= 0520097947 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=nly6aHqttKEC&pg=PA106 |access-date= 15 September 2021}}[https://ottomanhistorians.uchicago.edu/en/historian/abraham-crete Abraham of Crete | Historians of the Ottoman Empire], at uchicago.edu. Quote: "Kondak i veray T`ek`irdaghu" (Encyclical)...Melkonyan, Christine. [https://www.researchgate.net/publication/336021041 On the Preparations of the 50th Anniversary of the Armenian Genocide]. September 2019. Quote: ...Catholicos Vazgen I issued a statement (kondak) on "the martyrdom of the Western Armenian people during World War I"... Accessed 2021-09-15[http://www.genocide-museum.am/eng/TempExh_RESCUE_OF_ARMENIANS-2.php The Activities of the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin], http://www.genocide-museum.am. Quote: ...the Holy Etchmiadzin Fraternal Relief Committee was created by means of the Catholicos of All Armenians Gevorg V Surenyants' Kondak (Decree)...