Patriarch Aleksy II laid to rest

From Russia Today

Aleksy II will be remembered as the first Patriarch of a new Russia. He led the revival of the Russian Orthodox Church after Soviet repression, and united it with congregations abroad after the 90 year split which followed the Bolshevik Revolution.

For more than 25 years he worked in a conference of European churches, a body set up at the height of the Cold War to promote dialogue and friendship.

In times of harsh economic reforms and a shift in public values, Aleksy did his utmost to defend morality and faith during the 90s. He was close to Soviet dissidents like the late Russian writer Aleksander Solzhenitsyn, whose widow Natalya thinks the Patriarch’s death is a huge blow

Aleksy II traveled widely, visiting more than 100 dioceses as Patriarch and encouraging congregations to come back to the fold.

And at the end of 2006 there were more than 27,000 active parishes throughout the old territory of the Soviet Union.

He was active internationally, presiding over the reunification of the Russian Orthodox Church with the one outside of Russia in May 2007. The two churches had separated in the early 1920s.

But relationships with other faiths proved more difficult. Aleksy refused to meet with the Pope, accusing the Catholic Church of aggressive missionary policies in both Russia and traditionally Orthodox former Soviet republics. He in turn was accused of making the church a force for nationalism.

But no Russian would deny he united the country after decades of harsh policies and turbulence. Today two-thirds of Russia’s population are Orthodox followers and are mourning their tremendous loss.