The funeral of Russian Patriarch Alexy II
Ecumenical Patriarch Vartholomaios attended the funeral in Moscow yesterday of Russian Patriarch Alexy II, who died on Friday aged 79. He was the first Orthodox patriarch of the post-Soviet era, assuming his post in 1990. His funeral was attended by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, along with at least 11 Cabinet members and other Kremlin officials. The Russian Orthodox Church’s interim head, Metropolitan Kirill, said Alexy had left a strong Russian Church, after inheriting one that had been weakened by decades of repression. The Church has seen a resurgence since the fall of the Soviet regime, and Alexy became known to millions of Russians through a weekly television program on religion. Kirill is seen as Alexy’s most likely successor.