Posted by from the New York Times
on 12/5/2008, 8:25 am
Aleksy II, Russian Orthodox Patriarch, Dies at 79
By CLIFFORD J. LEVY
Published: December 5, 2008
MOSCOW -- Aleksy II, the Russian Orthodox patriarch who led a revival of the church after the fall of Communism and built close ties to the Kremlin under Vladimir V. Putin, died Friday at his residence in Moscow, news agencies reported.
The patriarch was 79, and the church did not disclose the cause of death. He had long suffered from heart problems.
Aleksy II was named patriarch in 1990, just before the end of the Soviet Union, ascending to the leadership of a church that had often suffered brutal discrimination under the officially atheistic Communists. Under Stalin, many priests were killed or sent to labor camps, and cathedrals were destroyed.
First under President Boris N. Yeltsin and then under Mr. Putin, Mr. Yeltsin’s successor, Aleksy II significantly deepened the role of the church in everyday life -- erecting and restoring cathedrals, introducing Orthodox religious education in public schools and becoming a prominent voice on moral issues. While church attendance has remained low, growing numbers of Russians identify themselves as Russian Orthodox.
At the same time, the patriarch successfully lobbied the government over the last decade to adopt restrictions on other Christian denominations to impede their efforts to attract adherents in Russia. In the 1990s, Protestant and Roman Catholic churches in the West saw Russia as fertile territory and sent missionaries here, spurring a backlash.
Relations between Patriarch Aleksy and the Roman Catholic Church were tense during his tenure over the issue of proselytizing, and as a result, he would not agree to a visit to Russia by Pope John Paul II.
Aleksy II did end another religious dispute, reaching an agreement with the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia to bring the churches closer together. The breakaway church had split in 1927, after the Moscow church’s leader declared loyalty to the Communist government.
The agreement was signed in the rebuilt Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow, which Stalin had leveled and later became the site of a swimming pool.
Mr. Yeltsin had an ambivalent relationship with Aleksy II, but Mr. Putin, the former president and current prime minister, worked closely with the patriarch. Mr. Putin talked publicly about his Russian Orthodox faith and sought to enforce laws to maintain the church’s dominance in Russia.
The church in turn has championed Mr. Putin. Last year, after Mr. Putin selected his close aide, Dmitri A. Medvedev, as his successor as president, Aleksy II praised the decision on national television.
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