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Russian Orthodox Church Leader Alexy II Dies

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  • Russian Orthodox Church Leader Alexy II Dies

    RUSSIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH LEADER ALEXY II DIES

    RIA Novosti
    15:22 | 05/ 12/ 2008

    MOSCOW, December 5 (RIA Novosti) - Patriarch Alexy II, who led the
    Russian Orthodox Church for 18 years, died at the age of 79 in his
    residency near the Russian capital on Friday morning, the Moscow
    Patriarchy said.

    A senior church official said heart failure was believed to be the
    cause of death. The patriarch was known to have suffered from health
    problems in recent years.

    Alexy II became patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church, now the
    world's largest, in 1990, shortly before the collapse of the atheist
    Soviet Union, and presided over a religious revival in Russia, with
    thousands of churches and monasteries being restored and hundreds of
    new ones built across the country.

    Under his leadership, Russia's last tsar, Nicholas II, and his family
    shot by the Bolsheviks in 1918, were canonized as well as many New
    Martyrs who suffered under communism.

    Alexy II openly objected to then Pope John Paul II's visit to Russia,
    accusing the Catholic Church of attempts to poach converts in Russia
    and neighboring Ukraine.

    In 2007, he signed a reunification act with Metropolitan Laurus,
    head of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia (ROCOR), after
    almost 90 years of separation. The foreign branch broke away in 1921,
    after accusing fellow clergymen in Soviet Russia of collaboration
    with the country's communist regime.

    Alexy II voiced his open support for fellow Orthodox Serbs during
    the Kosovo conflict and called the declaration of independence by
    the Albanian province "an anti-historic event."

    Alexy II also sought closer contacts with political leaders. The
    country's leadership, including Vladimir Putin and Dmitry Medvedev,
    attended church ceremonies led by the patriarch in Moscow's main
    cathedral.

    Following news of the death, President Medvedev postponed a visit
    to Italy, due to have started on Saturday, and will return to Moscow
    from India later on Friday, the Kremlin said.

    "The rise of the Russian Orthodox Church, the real establishment of the
    principles of freedom of conscience and faith are directly connected
    with him and his name," the Kremlin quoted Medvedev as saying.

    Speaking in Armenia, Prime Minister Putin said: "He was a fair man,
    his death is an enormous loss, a tragic event."

    In a statement on the patriarch's death, the Vatican said Alexy
    II had led the Russian church at a time of great change, and his
    leadership had helped the church withstand the hardships of post-Soviet
    transition.

    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 condition was serious.

    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 to pick an acting leader and
    make arrangements for the funeral, Bishop Mark, deputy head of the
    patriarchy's foreign relations department said.

    The patriarch, Alexei Rediger, was born on February 23, 1929, in
    the Estonian capital, Tallinn, into the family of a Russian Orthodox
    priest of German descent. He became a priest in 1950.
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