http://www.serbianna.com/news/2008/03419.shtml
Russian Orthodox Church Patriarch Alexy II dies
JIM HEINTZ
December 06, 2008 4:48 AM
MOSCOW, 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.
A photograph taken between 1956-63 shows Father Alexiy, who later became
Patriarch Alexiy II.
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.
An photograph taken between 1942-47 shows Alexei Rediger, who later became
Patriarch Alexiy II.
``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.
An undated photograph taken around 1937 shows Alexei Rediger, who later became
Patriarch Alexiy II.
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 neighbouring 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.
Russian Orthodox Patriarch Alexiy II leads a service at Yelokhovsky cathedral
in Moscow in this April 30, 2000.
The persecution eased somewhat during the Second World War, 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.
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