Memory Eternal

Russian Orthodox Church Patriarch Alexy II dies

By JIM HEINTZ
Associated Press Writer


MOSCOW (AP) -- Russian Orthodox Patriarch Alexy II, who presided over a vast post-Soviet revival of faith but was accused of making the church a force for nationalism, died Friday at age 79, the church headquarters said.

The Moscow Patriarchate said he died at his residence outside Moscow, but did not give a cause of death. Alexy had long suffered from a heart ailment.

Alexy became leader of the church in 1990, as the officially atheist Soviet Union was loosening its restrictions on religion. After the Soviet Union collapsed the following year, the church's popularity surged. Church domes that had been stripped of their gold under the Soviets were regilded, churches that had been converted into warehouses or left to rot in neglect were painstakingly restored and hours-long Masses on major religious holidays were broadcast live on national television.

By the time of Alexy's death, the church's flock was estimated to include about two-thirds of Russia's 142 million people, making it the world's largest Orthodox church.

But Alexy often complained that Russia's new religious freedom put the church under severe pressure and he bitterly resented what he said were attempts by other Christian churches to poach adherents among people who he said should have belonged to the Orthodox church.

These complaints focused on the Roman Catholic Church, and Alexy refused to agree to a papal visit to Russia unless the proselytization issue was resolved.

"Patriarch Alexy II was tasked with leading the Church at a time of great transformation," the secretary of the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of Christian Unity, Monsignor Brian Farrell, told the ANSA news agency. "He was able to carry out this task with a great sense of responsibility and love of the Russian tradition."

Alexy lived long enough to see another major religious dispute resolved. In 2007, he signed a pact with Metropolitan Laurus, the leader of the breakaway Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia, to bring the churches closer together. The U.S.-based ROCOR had split off in 1927, after the Moscow church's leader declared loyalty to the Communist government.

Alexy successfully lobbied for the 1997 passage of a religion law that places restrictions on the activities of religions other than Orthodoxy, Islam, Judaism and Buddhism. Under his leadership, the church also vehemently opposed schismatic Orthodox churches in neighboring Ukraine, claiming the Ukrainian church should remain under Moscow's control.

He was born Alexei Mikhailovich Ridiger on Feb. 23, 1929 in Tallinn, Estonia. The son of a priest, Alexy often accompanied his parents on pilgrimages to churches and monasteries, and he helped his father minister to prisoners in Nazi concentration camps in Estonia. It was during those visits that Alexy decided to pursue a religious life.

Under Soviet rule, this was not an easy choice. Lenin and Stalin suppressed religion and thousands of churches were destroyed or converted to other uses, such as museums devoted to atheism or, in some cases, stables. Many priests and parishioners were persecuted for their beliefs.

The persecution eased somewhat during World War II, when Stalin discovered that the church could be used as a propaganda tool in the fight against the Nazis. But the Soviet authorities never fully loosened their grip, penetrating the church at the highest levels.

Alexy was ordained in 1950, progressed through the Orthodox hierarchy, and was consecrated Bishop of Tallinn and Estonia in 1961.

The British-based Keston Institute, which monitors religious freedom in former Communist countries, has cited research suggesting that Alexy's career may have been aided by assistance he gave the KGB while a young priest in Tallinn. Orthodox Church officials vehemently denied the allegations.

also

Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Alexy II died

05.12.2008, 13.11

MOSCOW, December 5 (Itar-Tass) -- Tolling of bells in the bell-towers of Moscow City's 600 or so churches has officially announced to the lay the passing away of the Patriarch of Moscow and all Russia, His Holiness Alexy II.

The bells were tolled in strict comformity with the regulations the canon of the Russian Orthodox Church envisions for such cases.

Patriarch Alexy II took office in 1990, when resurrection of the Church and spiritual life in Russia was just at the beginning. During his stay at the helm of Moscow Patriarchate, this country has seen a de fact rebirth of the Orthodox Christian faith, as thousands of churches and monasteries were restored from complete decay or built anew, millions of people got baptized and the Church re-emerged as a full-fledged social and juridical organization.

He died at the age of 79 Friday morning at this residence in Peredelkino, to the southwest of Moscow. According to medical reports, he suffered from a number of chronic illnesses.

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Head of Russian Orthodox Church Dies at 79


5 December 2008, Friday

Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church, Alexy II, died at his home outside Moscow on Friday at the age of 79, the church reported.

"This is an irretrievable loss for all Russian Orthodox people, wherever they live," speaker of the upper house of the parliament, Sergei Mironov, declared.

Patriarch Alexy II was an establishment figure who restored the authority of the church after decades of Soviet repression and had been a moral authority among millions of Russian believers.

The patriarch had led the world's biggest Orthodox church since 1990.

and also

Russian Orthodox Church leader Alexy II dies

05/12/2008 12:57 MOSCOW, December 5 (RIA Novosti) - Russian Patriarch Alexy II, who led the Orthodox Church for almost 20 years, died at the age of 79 in his residency near the Russian capital on Friday morning, a Moscow Patriarchy official said.

The cause of death has not been reported, but the patriarch was known to have suffered from heart disease.

On Thursday evening, Alexy II held a church service in one of Moscow's central cathedrals to mark a major religious holiday.

The church's ruling body, the Holy Synod, is due to gather for an urgent meeting in Moscow on Saturday following the patriarch's death.

Alexy II suffered a severe stroke in 2002. In April 2007, media reports said he was in a Swiss clinic in a serious condition or even dead. Church officials then confirmed the patriarch had undergone medical treatment in Switzerland, but denied the seriousness of his condition.