Patriarch Aleksey II (Ridiger)

Patriarch Aleksey II (Ridiger) (1929-2008)

Aleksey may be spelt Alexios, Alexius, Aleksi, Alexii, Alexis, Alexei, Alexey, Alexy, Alexiy.

Ridiger may be spelt Rüdiger.

Pühtitsa may be spelt Pukhtitsa.

Family background

Ancestry

The basic history of the Ridiger family is given here for those who have an interest, and because other biographies of Patriarch Aleksey include it.

Aleksey Mikhailovich von Ridiger’s father Mikhail von Ridiger (1900-1962), born in Saint Petersburg, was a descendant of a Baltic German family. His ancestor, Captain Heinrich Nicolaus (Nils) Rüdinger (?-1711), the commander of a Swedish fortification in Dünamünde (Ust-Dvinsk, now Daugavgrīva), in Swedish Livonia, was knighted in 1695 by King Charles XI of Sweden. He was married to Christine Elisabeth von Fölkersahm (von Wickeden) (1680–1721). Their son, Peter von Rüdinger, was married to Elisabeth Wiesner (third wife). Their son, Karl Magnus Petrovich von Rüdinger, was married to Charlotte Margarethe Bsse von Maltitz. Their son, Friedrich Wilhelm (Feodor Karlovich) von Rüdiger (1780-1840), was married to Daria Feodorovna (a.k.a. Sophia Dorothea) Jerzębska (Yerzhemskaya) (1782-1862). He became an Orthodox Christian.

This was after Swedish Estonia and Swedish Livonia became part of the Russian Empire in the aftermath of the Great Northern War in the beginning of the 18th century, during the reign of the Empress Catherine II of Russia.

Their son, Yegor (Georgi Feodorovich) von Rüdiger (1811-1848) was married to Margarita Feodorovna Hamburger (1827-1895). Their son, Aleksandr Yegorovich von Rüdiger (1844-1877), was married to Yevgenia Germanovna Gizetti (1842?-1915). Their son, Aleksandr Aleksandrovich von Rüdiger (1870–1929), was married to Aglaida Yulievna von Baltz (1870-1956).

Their son, Georgi Aleksandrovich von Rüdiger, was born in 1896 (✝1939). Their daughter, Yelena Aleksandrovna von Rüdiger (1897-1976), was married to Feodor Antonovich Gizetti (1894-1941). Their son Aleksander Aleksandrovich von Rüdiger (1900-1937), was married to Nadezhda Sergeievna Sizova (1898-?).

The family of Aleksandr Aleksandrovich von Rüdiger and his wife Nadezhda Sergeievna Sizova lived principally in Saint Petersburg, and their sons studied at the Imperial School of Jurisprudence (a school only for the nobility). However, because of the revolutions of 1917 (and especially the Bolshevik Revolution in October, 1917), the family had to make a hasty escape into Estonia and to relative safety. The family settled first in Haapsalu where a shelter was provided by the Lutheran Priest Ralph von zur Mühlen.

[The difference between the Rüdiger and the Ridiger spelling reflects the difference between German and Russian spelling only.]

The Parents

Their son Mikhail Aleksandrovich von Ridiger (1902–1962) moved to Tallinn (the capital of Estonia). There, in 1928, he met and was married to Yelena Iosifovna Pisareva (1899-1959). She was born in Tallinn, and she later reposed there. In his youth, Mikhail could only find the dirtiest and most menial jobs because Russians were in disfavour amongst the Estonians. He was eventually able to find work in a plywood factory, where he served as an accountant, and then head of the accounting department. He remained there until his ordination in 1940.

At the age of 40, Mikhail von Ridiger graduated from the Orthodox Theological Seminary in Tallinn. In Tallinn, he was ordained to the Holy Diaconate, and then to the Holy Priesthood (1942). He served as the rector of the Church of the Nativity of the Mother of God in Tallinn. Later, he was a member and the chairman of the Diocesan Council in Estonia. In later life, his son reflected about his father and the other clergy of that time : “these were real Russian priests, with a high sense of pastoral duty, caring for their flock”.

In the early 1920s, with the blessing of the hierarchy, student religious circles appeared in Riga, which laid the foundation for the Russian Student Christian Movement (RSCM) in the Baltic States. The versatile activities of the RSCM, whose members were Archpriest Sergei Bulgakov, Hieromonk John (Shahovskoy), N A Berdyaev, A V Kartashev, V V Zenkovsky, G V Florovsky, B P Vysheslavtsev, S L Frank, attracted Orthodox youth who wanted to find, in the difficult conditions of emigration, a solid religious foundation for an independent life. Recalling the 1920s and his participation in the RSCM in the Baltics, Archbishop John (Shahovskoy) of San Francisco later wrote that that unforgettable period for him was "the religious spring of the Russian emigration", its best response to everything that happened at that time with the Church in Russia. For the Russian exiles, the Church had ceased to be something external, resembling only the past. The Church became the meaning and purpose of everything, the centre of being.

Early life of Aleksey Mikhailovich von Ridiger

On 23 February, 1929, Aleksey Mikhailovich von Ridiger was born in Tallinn, Estonia to Mikhail Aleksandrovich von Ridiger and his wife Yelena Iosifovna Pisareva.

Before his birth, an incident occurred that the family tradition preserved as a manifestation of the Providence of God. Shortly before the birth of her son, Yelena Iosifovna had to make a long bus trip. However, at the last moment, despite her requests and even demands, she was not permitted to board the outgoing bus. When she boarded the next bus, she learned that the previous bus had had an accident and that all the passengers were killed.

Aleksey Mikhailovich spent his childhood in the Republic of Estonia, which had become a Russian Orthodox spiritual centre, and a home to many Russian refugee-émigrés after the Bolshevik Revolution. Aleksey Mikhailovich was baptised in the “Estonian Apostolic Orthodox Church”. In this region outside the USSR, there were several monasteries to which people could turn for consolation. These included the Dormition of the Theotokos Monastery of Women (Pühtitsa) at Narva ; Holy Trinity-Saint Sergius Women's Monastery in Riga ; the Holy Spirit Monastery of Vilna. The largest gathering of pilgrims from Estonia annually took place at the Valaam Transfiguration Monastery on Lake Ladoga on 28 June (11 July), the Feast-day of Saints Sergius and Herman.

Infant and parents

As a toddler

The history of the Orthodox Church in Estonia is somewhat complex. The peculiarity of Russian emigration in Estonia was largely determined by the compact residence of Russians in the eastern part of the country. The Russian exiles there had aspired to emigrate to places all over the world. However, by the Grace of God, they found here a “corner of Russia”, which contained a great Russian shrine : the Pskov-Pechersky Monastery. This monastery, being at that time outside the Soviet Union (USSR), was protected from the godless powers.

At the age of 6 years, Aleksey Mikhailovich began to serve as an acolyte in the Altar in the Temple. He served throughout the following years under the guidance of his spiritual father, the Archpriest Ioann Bogoyavlensky (later Bishop Isisdore (Bogoyavlensky) of Tallinn and Estonia (†1949)).

Childhood

Every year, his devout parents went on a pilgrimage with their son to the Women’s Monastery of the Holy Dormition in Pühtitsa, and to the Holy Dormition Monastery of the Caves in Pskov. In the late 1930s, they made 2 pilgrimages to the Valaam Monastery of the Transfiguration of the Lord on Lake Ladoga. Lake Ladoga is to the northeast of Saint Petersburg. At that time, the Soviet border blocked access via the Neva River, so the journey would not be easy (although many found their way). It would require crossing the Karelian Isthmus from the Finnish territory by the Gulf of Finland. These pilgrimages largely determined the future spiritual way of life of Aleksey Mikhailovich.

The boy remembered for the rest of his life the meetings with the inhabitants of the Valaam Monastery. These included the spirit-filled elders, Schema-Igumen (Saint) John (Alekseev †1958), Hiero-Schemamonk Ephraim (Khrobostov †1947) and especially Monk Juvian (Krasnoperov †1957), with whom correspondence began and which the boy took to heart. Following is a small fragment from his letter to the young Alyosha (diminutive of Aleksey) Ridiger :

 Dear in the Lord, dear Alyoshenka ! I heartily thank you, my dear, for the greetings on the occasion of the 
 Nativity of Christ and the New Year, and also for your kind wishes.  May the Lord God save you for all these 
 spiritual gifts. [...] If the Lord granted all of you to come to us for Pascha, this would increase our 
 Paschal joy.  Let us hope that the Lord, through His great mercy, will do this.  We, too, remember you with 
 love : you are for us like our own, kindred in spirit.  Forgive me, dear Alyoshenka ! Be healthy ! God bless 
 you ! In your pure child’s prayer, remember me, the unworthy.  Sincerely loving you in the Lord, M. Juvian. 

Thus, at the very beginning of conscious life, his spirit contacted the pure spring of Russian holiness, “the pristine island of Valaam”. Through the monk Juvian, there was a spiritual thread which connected him with the “guardian angel”, Saint John of Kronstadt. It was with the blessing of this great lamp of the earth that the Russian Father Juvian became a Valaam monk, and of course he told Alyosha about this great pastor. Much later, in 1990, Metropolitan Aleksey was part of the Local Council of the Russian Orthodox Church which elected him to become the patriarch of Russia, and also decided that the righteous Archpriest John (Sergiev) of Kronstadt be glorified as a saint. The words “kindred in spirit” which were addressed to him by the Monk Juvian are not insignificant in the context of the life of Aleksey Mikhailovich.

Aleksy Ridiger, 1931 (left) ; Aleksey Ridiger, 1940, with his parents and grandmother (right)

Aleksey Mikhailovich received his early education in Tallinn, first at a private school. He then began his secondary education at a private Gymnasium, and he graduated form a Russian-language public Gymnasium. This was the typical pattern in Old Russia for the formation of Orthodox Christians and at the same time citizens of the Russian Empire.

At that time, the whole of life involved the presence of a personal relationship with God, and the worship of God. This was all prohibited under the Soviet yoke. In harmony with his formal education, Aleksey Mikhailovich served in the Church. He gained considerable experience in serving as an acolyte in the Holy Altar. Thus, by the age of 15 (1944), he had been tonsured as a reader, and he was able to serve as senior subdeacon to the Archbishop of Tallinn and Estonia, Paul (Dmitrovsky) (†1946), and then to Bishop Isidore (Bogoyavlensky), his spiritual father. In later years, he would recall that he always received a “5” in “Zakon Bozhiya” (Law of God), which is a form of catechetical study.

The family was his fortress and support, both as he discerned his way in life, and during all priestly service. Not only ties of kinship, but the bonds of spiritual friendship bound him to his parents. They shared all their experiences with each other.

Young acolyte-reader

The Tallinn Saint Alexander Nevsky Cathedral (of which his parents were parishioners) was disliked by many Estonians because of its association with perceived Russian oppression. Previously, it had been taken from and then returned to the parishioners but pressure continued against its functioning.

Immediately after the proclamation of the Soviet Republic of Estonia in 1918, a campaign had been launched to liquidate the cathedral. There followed collections of money, even in schools for children, “for the demolition of churches with Russian golden bulbs and booths of Russian gods”. Destruction of the cathedral was averted by Russian and international pressure, as well as the Red Cross. Then a new wave of pressure arose, to demolish the cupolas of the Saint Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, to build a spire, and to create there a “pantheon of Estonian independence”. In an architectural magazine, there were published illustrations of the city without “Russian bulbs”, but rather with a “pantheon of Estonian independence”.

Aleksey Mikhailovich would later recall these events in his life when the Soviet authorities decided to convert the building into a planetarium as they resisted the so-called bourgeois intentions to use the cathedral for worship. The cathedral had been scheduled for demolition in 1924, but the decision was never implemented because of lack of funds and the building's massive construction. Then the parishioners, who nevertheless had continued to worship there, were allowed to continue doing so. Regardless, in 1936, the gilding was removed from the domes. The cathedral remained in this state until World War II. There was some change during the Nazi German occupation.

In Tallinn at the end of the 1930s, Russian-language theological and pastoral courses were opened under the guidance of Archpriest John Bogoyavlenskiy, the pastor and confessor of Aleksey Mikhailovich. (Later, Father John was tonsured to be a monk with the name Isidore, and then he was ordained to the Holy Episcopate as Bishop Isiodre (Bogoyavlenskiy).) From the very beginning of the offering of these courses, Aleksey Mikhailovich became a student of the courses. Archpriest John, “a man of deep faith and a very great spiritual and life experience”, was also a teacher of the Law of God at the school. Aleksey had already become active in the Russian Student Christian Movement, in which his parents were involved.

Later in life, Aleksey Mikhailovich recalled about this period of time when he was yet with his parents, that despite all the difficulties they had to overcome, love and attention to people were the criteria by which they lived (as was the case with Archpriest John). The members of the Ridiger family were parishioners of the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral in Tallinn Cathedral until it was handed over in 1936 to the Estonian parish. Afterwards, they went to the Saint Symeon parish.

World War II (1939-1945) ; the Great Patriotic War (1941-1945)

Soviet occupation, 1940

In the course of World War II (1939-1945), after the Soviet occupation of Estonia in 1940, Aleksey Ridiger’s family was listed for arrest in order to be deported from Estonia to Siberia, according to the Serov Instructions. However, they were not found by the NKVD because instead of staying in their home, they were hiding in a nearby barn. As later he recalled, they were saved by God's Providence :

 After the arrival of Soviet troops, relatives on our father’s side came to us in the suburbs of Tallinn.  
 We gave them our house, and we ourselves went to live in a barn, where we had a room where we lived.  We had 
 two dogs with us.  At night they came for us, searched the house, walked around the site, but the dogs, 
 which usually behaved very sensitively, never even barked.  We were not found.  After this incident, until 
 the German occupation, we no longer lived in the house. 

Nazi occupation, 1941

After 20 December, 1942, in the course of the “Great Patriotic War” (1941-1945) (called in the West the "Eastern Front" or the "Nazi German-Soviet War"), during the Occupation of Estonia by Nazi Germany (1941-1944), Aleksey Mikhailovich, along with his father, Priest Mikhail (he had been ordained to the Holy Priesthood in 1942 in Tallinn), visited the German prison camps in Estonia. They offered hope of salvation, and help to the Russian prisoners of war. In doing such things, they were participating in the work of the Pskov Orthodox Mission which revived the open practice of the Orthodox Christian Faith in the Baltic countries. Such activities were tolerated by the German occupation authorities because it was considered to be an effective anti-Soviet activity. After the Soviet forces returned to Estonia in the autumn of 1944, unlike the majority of the people with Baltic German roots, the Ridiger family chose to stay in Estonia and did not evacuate to the west. They remained within the Narva Diocese, under the leadership of Archbishop Paul (Dmitrovsky) who had led the diocese since 1937.

Youth

During the “Great Patriotic War”, Joseph Stalin had revived the Russian Orthodox Church in the Soviet Union because of the need to galvanise the people to protect the country. Then, after the Soviet annexation of Estonia in 1945, it was decided that the Cathedral of Saint Alexander Nevsky in Tallinn, having been closed during the war time, was to be re-opened.

In April, 1945, Archbishop Paul (Dmitrovsky) was transferred from Narva, and he was assigned to serve as the Archbishop of Tallinn and Estonia.

Subdeacon Aleksey was then commissioned to prepare for the re-opening of the Saint Alexander Nevsky Cathedral in Tallinn, and for the resumption of worship services there. In May, 1945, Divine services once again began to be celebrated in the cathedral.

On 1 February, 1946, Archbishop Paul (Dmitrovsky) reposed in Christ. On 22 June, 1947, Archpriest John Bogoyavlensky was ordained to the Holy Episcopate (he had been tonsured as a monk with the name Isidore), and he was assigned to succeed Archbishop Paul as Bishop of Tallinn.

Aleksey Mikhailovich, who had become a Soviet citizen, served as an acolyte and sacristan in the cathedral from May to October, 1946. He was made a psalm-reader (“psalomshchik”) in Saint Symeon’s Church later that year.

In 1947, he served as a psalm-reader in the Church of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God in Tallinn.

In Estonia, with farm animals

Higher education

In 1946, Aleksey M Ridiger passed the entrance examinations for the Leningrad (Saint Petersburg) Theological Seminary. However, he was not accepted, since he was not yet 18 years old at that time. It was forbidden to receive a minor as a student.

Then, in 1947, he was enrolled immediately in the third year of the seminary, from which he graduated in the first class in 1949. Immediately, he enrolled in the Leningrad (Saint Petersburg) Theological Academy. At the time of his enrolment, the seminary and academy were meeting in rooms in the Saint Alexander Nevsky Lavra. It took time before the seminary and academy were able to return to their historical quarters in a separate building (see the following photo).

Leningrad (Saint Petersburg) Theological Seminary and Academy

In the same class in which A M Ridiger studied, there were people of different ages (often after having served at the front in the war), who were striving for theological knowledge. For students and teachers (many of whom at the end of their lives were able to pass on their knowledge and spiritual experience), the opening of theological schools was perceived as a miracle. Professors A I Sagard, L N Pariyskiy, S A Kupresov, and many others influenced the young student Aleksey greatly. The depth of the religious feeling of S A Kupresov, a complex man of a difficult life-path, was expressed by the fact that every day after the lectures, he went to the chapel and prayed at the "Icon of the Mother of God The Sign" Icon.

The teachers singled out Aleksey Mikhailovich, as they noted his seriousness, and his responsibility and devotion to the Church. Bishop Isidor of Tallinn (who kept in touch with the teachers of the academy), asked about his pupil, and he rejoiced in receiving favourable comments about the student's "bright personality". On 18 December, 1949, Bishop Isidor reposed in Christ. The administration of the Tallinn diocese was temporarily entrusted to Metropolitan Gregory (Chukov) of Leningrad and Novgorod.

Metropolitan Gregory proposed that Aleksey Mikhailovich graduate from the academy as an external student. Then, having been ordained, he could begin pastoral service in Estonia. Metropolitan Gregory offered the young man a choice : to serve as the rector of the Holy Epiphany Temple in Jöhvi, or to serve as second priest in the Saint Alexander Nevsky Cathedral in Tallinn and also as rector of the parish in Pärnu. Metropolitan Gregory also suggested that if he went straight to the Saint Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, where he was already known as a subdeacon, they could become accustomed to him as a priest, and after 6 months, he could transfer him to the cathedral. However, he chose Jöhvi because it is halfway between Tallinn and Leningrad (where he was an external student at the Leningrad Theological Academy). He was able very often to go to Tallinn (his parents lived in Tallinn, and his mother could not always travel to him). He was able also to travel often to Leningrad, because even though he was now an external student, he wanted to finish his course along with his classmates.

Aleksey Mikhailovich with his parents

Marriage, 1950

Although it was not widely known, Aleksey Mikhailovich had been declared not suitable for military service because of heart disease. Regardless, the following events of marriage and ordination followed in quick succession (some of this being attributed to the desperate need for clergy at the time).

On 11 April, 1950, Aleksey Mikhailovich Ridiger married Vera Georgievna Alekseeva, the daughter of Georgi Alekseev, a priest in Tallinn (and later the Bishop of Tallinn and Archbishop of Gorki), This took place on the Tuesday of Bright Week (a period of time when marriages are normally prohibited according to Church tradition). Nevertheless, permission was granted by Metropolitan Gregory (Chukov) of Leningrad, at the request of Bishop Roman (Tang) of Tallinn and of the fathers of both the bride and groom (both of whom served together at the crowning of the marriage).

“Moskovskie Novosti” (“Moscow News”), reprinting older Soviet articles, alleged that according to a denunciation written by a priest-inspector Pariysky to the Leningrad Council of Religious Affairs, the marriage had been expedited in order for A M Ridiger to become a deacon and thereby to avoid being conscripted into the Soviet Military (marriage is impossible after ordination in Orthodoxy). Up until 1950, seminarians were given a deferment from the draft, but in 1950 this was changed, and only clergy were exempt. For reasons which have remained private, they divorced less than a year later.

However, such turns of events have often occurred, and sometimes they occur for much more blessable reasons than some may suspect or wish to accept. It is often better to remain silent (as did Patriarch Aleksey) about such things than to attempt to make an explanation which, although legitimate, may produce convoluted and tangential arguments by the cynical. Further, such denunciations by Soviet agents were not uncommon. In the face of denunciations, slanders, and other attacks, silence is a response which follows that of our Saviour.

Ordinations, 1950

While he was in the first year of his studies at the Saint Petersburg Theological Academy, he was ordained to the Holy Diaconate on 15 April, 1950 (4 days after his marriage) by Metropolitan Gregory (Chukov) of Leningrad.

Then, on 17 April, 1950, Deacon Aleksey M Ridiger was ordained to the Holy Priesthood.

Priest Aleksey

End of the marriage, 1951

In 1951, the marriage between Priest Aleksey Ridiger and Vera Georgievna Alekseeva came to an end. Despite the disturbance this caused, the couple and the families remained on friendly terms. Although it is not known precisely what caused the failure of the marriage, it is known that Vera Georgievna later married another man.

Pastoral service

Priest Aleksey Ridiger was assigned to serve as the rector of the Holy Epiphany Church of the city of Jöhvi in the Tallinn diocese.

As the young Priest Aleksey Ridiger began his pastoral service, he did so under the influence of an impressive speech given to the students on 6 December, 1949, by Patriarch Alexei I (Simansky). In this speech, the patriarch had spoken in detail about the ways of a Russian Orthodox pastor.

This first assignment in Jöhvi was very difficult. For the first service, in the Week of the Myrrh-bearing Women, only a few women came to the Temple. Gradually, the parish revived and rallied ; and repairs to the Temple were begun. Life there at that time was difficult. There were many accidents and many funerals. He also faced many aspects of family difficulty : painful circumstances, family dramas, various social vices, drunkenness, and the cruelty generated by drunkenness. For a long time, Father Aleksey served alone in the parish. Therefore, he was the only cleric to serve all the services. He did not and could not afford to think about the danger during those post-war years. Near or far, it was necessary to go to funeral services, to baptise, to marry, to anoint, to pray.

For more than 3 years, he combined the pastoral service of a parish priest with correspondence studies at the academy.

Priest-graduate A Ridiger

In 1953, Father Aleksey graduated from the spiritual academy with first class standing, and he was awarded the degree of Candidate of Theology (PhD) for the dissertation “Metropolitan Philaret (Drozdov) of Moscow as a dogmatist”.

On the basis of his research for this work, he formed his sense of the nature of episcopal life and service. The saint served as a standard example for him.

With parents at Lake Peipus

Transfer to Tartu, 1957

On 15 July, 1957, Priest Aleksey M Ridiger was assigned to serve as the Rector of the Cathedral of the Dormition in Tartu (Yuriev or Juriev, or Dorpat), and as the Dean of the united Tartu-Viljandi deanery.

Tartu is a university town, which is quiet in the summer, and lively in winter when students return. Father Aleksey afterwards retained very good memories of the old Yuriev University intelligentsia, who actively participated in Church life. It was for him a living bond with old Russia.

However, the state of the Dormition Cathedral was another matter. Its physical condition had deteriorated greatly during the years of neglect, and the flooring was rotting. There was no money at all to undertake the needed repairs. Father Aleksey decided boldly to approach the Patriarch's administration for help. The secretary of Patriarch Alexei I (Simansky), D A Ostapov, presented Priest Aleksey to the patriarch, and he gave the patriarch a report about the request. Patriarch Alexei I blessed the help for this priest with initiative. Father Aleksey then asked the blessing of his hierarch, Bishop John (Alekseev) to renovate the cathedral, after which Father Aleksey received the allocated money. This is how Patriarch Alexei I met for the first time with Priest Aleksey Ridiger.

In Estonia, the clergy were very poor : their incomes were much lower than in Russia or Ukraine. In addition to serving in the parish, many of them were forced to work in secular enterprises, often in difficult jobs (such as stokers, state farm workers, postmen). Although there were not enough priests, it was extremely difficult to provide the clergy with at least a minimum of material well-being. At this time, Archpriest Aleksey began to collect material for his future doctoral dissertation "History of Orthodoxy in Estonia" (which would be in progress for some time).

On 17 August, 1958, Priest A M Ridiger was elevated to the dignity of archpriest.

Bereavement, 1959

On 19 August, 1959 (the Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord), his mother, Yelena Iosifovna, fell asleep in the Lord at the age of 57 in Tallinn, Estonia.

Being the wife of a priest and the mother of a priest in an atheistic state, she had had a difficult Cross in her life. Prayer was her reliable shelter and consolation. Every day, she read the Akathist before the Holy Icon of the Mother of God “Joy of All Who Sorrow”. The funeral services were in Tartu, and she was interred at the Saint Alexander Nevsky Cemetery in Tallinn (3 Toonela tee, Tallinn, Harju maakond, 10132, Estonia), the site of the burial and repose of several generations of her ancestors. Father and son were left alone.

Monastic tonsure, 1961

On 3 March, 1961, Archpriest Aleksey M Ridiger was tonsured to be a monk in the Holy Trinity Cathedral of Holy Trinity-Saint Sergius Lavra at Sergeiev Posad (at that time, Zagorsk), near Moscow. His name was not visibly changed when he became a monk ; rather, his saint-name was changed from Saint Alexius of Rome to Saint Alexius, Metropolitan of Moscow (whose relics repose in the Theophany Cathedral in Moscow). The choice of this name was by drawing a lot at the Reliquary of Saint Sergius of Radonezh.

Even during his mother's life, Archpriest Aleksey had thought about accepting the monastic tonsure. However, after the repose of his mother, this decision became final. Continuing to serve in Tartu and remaining dean, Father Aleksey did not advertise his acceptance of monasticism and, in his words, he “just began to serve in a black kamilavka”.

In the face of new persecutions against the Church, young, energetic bishops were needed to defend and govern the Church. The opinion of the senior hierarchs about Father Aleksey had already been formed.

In 1959, he had met Metropolitan Nikolai (Yarushevich) of Krutitsky and Kolomna (at that time, Chairman of the Department for External Church Relations (DECR)), and he had left a positive impression. After this, Father Aleksey had begun to be invited to accompany foreign delegations on their trips across Russia.

By decree of the Holy Synod of 14 August, 1961, Hieromonk Aleksey was elected to become a bishop.

On 21 August, 1961, Hieromonk Aleksey was elevated to the dignity of archimandrite.

Episcopal Ordination, 1961

On 3 September, 1961, Archimandrite Aleksey (Ridiger) was ordained to the Holy Episcopate in the Cathedral of Saint Alexander Nevsky in Tallinn by Archbishop John (Alexeyev) and Bishop Nikodim (Rotov).

Episcopal service

Bishop Aleksey was assigned to serve as the bishop of Tallinn and Estonia, and as the temporary administrator of the Riga Diocese.

It is to be remembered that this period of history was a very difficult time, especially in that region. It was at the height of N S Khrushchev’s persecution. The Soviet leader, trying to revive the revolutionary spirit of the 1920s, demanded the literal fulfilment of the anti-religious legislation of 1929. It seemed that the pre-war times had returned, along with their “godless five-year plans”. Although this new persecution of the Orthodox Faith was mostly not bloody (the Orthodox clergy, monastics, and laity were not exterminated this time), the newspapers, radio, and television spewed streams of blasphemy and slander against any faith, and against the Orthodox Church in particular. The authorities and “the public” did persecute Christians. Throughout the country, there was a mass closure of Temples. The already small number of ecclesiastical educational institutions was sharply decreased. Known Christian believers were often removed from their employment and barred from finding employment.

Deputy Chairman of the Department of External Church Relations, 1961

On 14 November, 1961, Bishop Aleksey (Ridiger) was assigned to serve as the deputy chairman of the Department of External Church Relations (DECR) of the Moscow Patriarchate.

Defence and strengthening of the Church in Estonia

From the very first days, Bishop Aleksey found himself in an extremely difficult situation : Yan S Kanter, the representative of the Council for the Affairs of the Russian Orthodox Church in Estonia, notified him that in the summer of 1961, a decision had been made to close the Pühtitsa Monastery and 36 "unprofitable" parishes. (The "unprofitability" of churches was a common pretext for closing them down during the years of Khrushchev's attack on the Church.) The Council for the Affairs of the Russian Orthodox Church was the governmental department which tried to control Church life in the Soviet Union (much as was done in the time of the Russian Empire), and through which the higher authorities sought to extinguish the Church. Bishop Aleksey had not been prepared for this state of affairs even in his previous pastoral life.

There was almost no time left, for the closures were to begin in the coming days, and the time for transferring the Pühtitsa Monastery nuns to a rest house for miners was determined (1 October, 1961). The young bishop understood that this must be averted for the sake of the survival of the Church. Therefore, he begged the authorities to postpone the execution of the drastic decision for a short while. The Church in Estonia got a little respite, but the main challenge was ahead. It was necessary to protect the monastery and churches from the encroachments of the authorities. At that time, the atheistic authorities (whether in Estonia or in Russia) took into account only political arguments. Usually, positive mentions of a particular monastery or temple in the foreign press turned out to be effective.

However, he managed a delay by convincing the Soviet authorities about the impossibility for a bishop to begin his service with the closure of a monastery, and in particular this monastery. At the beginning of 1962, because he was now the deputy chairman of the DECR, Bishop Aleksey brought to the monastery a visiting delegation of higher clergy of the Evangelical Church of Eastern Germany (GDR). At that very time, his father was an invalid after having suffered a heart attack. Nevertheless, the young bishop had to accompany the foreign guests, since saving the monastery was a high priority. Soon, there were “rave reviews” about the Pühtitsa Monastery in the newspaper “Neue Zeit”.

After this, in early May, 1962, Bishop Aleksey decided to send out similar invitations. Soon, a Protestant delegation from France, representatives of the Christian Peace Conference (CPC) and of the World Council of Churches (WCC), arrived in Pühtitsa (now Kurmäe) with Vladyka Aleksey. There arrived another delegation, then a third, a fourth, a fifth. After a year of these active visits to the monastery by foreign delegations, and similar publications abroad, the Estonian Soviet government changed its decision. It was decided not to spoil the Soviet Union’s image by destroying the now world-famous piece of architecture. The project of closing the monastery was ended.

Later, Bishop Aleksey devoted considerable effort to the correct organisation and strengthening of the Pühtitsa Women's Monastery. By the late 1960s, it was the centre of the spiritual life of the Estonian Diocese, and one of the main centres of monastic life in the country. Bishop Aleksey, as President of the Conference of European Churches (CEC), invited representatives of all churches to the so-called Pühtitsa Seminars. The CEC members in the USSR included the Russian Orthodox Church, the Armenian Apostolic Church, the Georgian Orthodox Church, the All-Union Council of Evangelical Christians-Baptists, the Evangelical Lutheran Churches of Latvia, Lithuania, the Estonia, and the Reformed Church of Transcarpathia. Undoubtedly. all this strengthened the position of the Pühtitsa Monastery. Vladyka Aleksey served often at the monastery. Estonian and Russian clergy (not only from the Narva Deanery, but also from all over Estonia) always gathered for Divine services. The unification of Estonian and Russian clergy in common worship, and then in simple human communication, gave many clergy, especially those who bore their obedience in the most difficult material and moral conditions of dying parishes, a feeling of mutual support.

Bishop Aleksey managed to defend the Tallinn Alexander Nevsky Cathedral which seemed to be doomed. On 9 May, 1962, Archpriest Mikhail Ridiger reposed in Christ. Immediately after the funeral, the bishop was approached by an authorised representative of the Council for ROC Affairs who proposed that he think about which of the Tallinn churches might become the new cathedral. This proposal came from the decision of the city's youth to convert the existing cathedral into a planetarium. Vladyka Aleksey asked the commissioner to postpone the decision a little while – until the Feast of the Holy Trinity.

Then Vladyka Aleksey began to prepare materials in defence of the cathedral. He turned to the study he had begun in 1957, a preparation for a history of the Orthodox Church in Estonia (for his pending master's degree thesis). Thus, he was able to provide the authorities with very comprehensive information about the history of the cathedral. He included details about how the pro-German forces in Estonia had tried to close the cathedral, and he testified to the indestructible spiritual connection between Estonia and Russia. The most serious political argument was the fact that immediately after the occupation of Tallinn by German troops in 1941, the cathedral was closed and it remained inactive during the entire period of the occupation. Before leaving, the German authorities decided to throw the famous cathedral bells down from the bell tower, but they did not succeed. They were able to remove only the tongue of the small bell, which, despite the mountains of sawdust and other precautions, broke the porch of the Chapel of Saint Prince Vladimir. He added that "German revanchists will be glad to know that the Soviet regime finished their work". His argument was considered convincing enough. Once again, as in the case of the Pühtitsa Monastery, the commissioner later informed the bishop that the question of closing the cathedral was no longer on the agenda. The cathedral was left untouched. All 36 “unprofitable” parishes were saved as well.

Vladyka Aleksey protected a total of 64 Estonian Temples from being turned into clubs, factories, or warehouses : no Temples were closed while he was the archpastor.

Since the first years of Vladyka Aleksey's episcopal service fell during the peak of the persecutions under N S Khrushchev, almost all Vladyka's personal strength was spent on resisting the atheistic aggression : on saving Temples and holy places. According to the general development plan of Tallinn, a new city highway was supposed to pass through the territory on which stood the Temple in honour of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God. The oldest surviving wooden structure in the city, the Kazan Church, built in 1721, seemed to be doomed. However, Bishop Aleksey managed to force the city authorities to change their approved general construction plan. He persuaded them to incur additional costs and design a bend on the highway that would bypass the Temple. Again, on the basis of his own long-term research, he was able to appeal to history, to the architectural value of the Temple, to the feelings of historical and national justice. The article about the Kazan Temple, published in the magazine "Architecture", also played a role – as a result, the authorities decided to preserve the Temple.

In addition, despite the very difficult environment, Vladyka Aleksey found ways to help the Estonian clergy by establishing pensions for the clergy from an early age.

In February, 1960, in his speech at the Conference for Disarmament, Patriarch Alexei I (Simansky) had addressed the Soviet public through their leaders gathered in the Moscow Kremlin. This Soviet public included millions of Orthodox Christians. Calling them to persevere in the face of new persecutions, he said :

 In this position of the Church, there is also a lot of consolation for its faithful members ; for what can all 
 the efforts of the human mind against Christianity mean if its two thousand-year history speaks for itself, if 
 hostility to Him was foreseen by Christ Himself, who gave the promise of the steadfastness of the Church, 
 saying that 'the gates of hell shall not prevail against Her !'

During those difficult years for the Russian Orthodox Church, the older generation of bishops who had begun their service in pre-revolutionary Russia left the world (confessors, who had passed through the Solovki prison and the infernal circles of the Gulag ; archpastors who had gone abroad and returned to their homeland after the war). They were succeeded by a galaxy of young bishops, amongst whom was the bishop of Tallinn, Aleksey. These bishops, who did not see the Russian Orthodox Church in power and glory, chose the path of serving the persecuted Church, which was under the yoke of a godless state. The authorities invented new ways to put economic and police pressure on the Church, but her faithfulness to the Orthodox Christian commandment became her impregnable fortress : “Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness” (Matthew 6:33).

Young bishop

Member of the Central Committee of the World Council of Churches, 1961

In 1961, Bishop Aleksey served as a member of the delegation of the Russian Orthodox Church at the Third Assembly of the World Council of Churches (WCC) in New Delhi, India. From this meeting, he served as a member of the WCC Central Committee from 1961 to 1968. Although the USSR participants in such meetings abroad always had to be very careful (there were always “watchers” in the delegations), these activities enabled the Russian Orthodox Church to be visible, and to communicate with other Orthodox Churches in the midst of other deliberations.

Later, Vladyka Aleksey recalled about this time :

 I often visited His Holiness the Patriarch both at the receptions of ambassadors and at receptions of high
 delegations, and I often met with Patriarch Alexei I (Simansky).  I always had deep respect for His 
 Holiness Patriarch Alexei.  He had to endure both the difficult 1920-1930s and Khrushchev's persecution 
 of the Church, when churches were closed ; and he was often powerless to do anything.  But His Holiness 
 Patriarch Alexei, from the very beginning of my activity as a diocesan bishop and deputy chairman of the
 Department for External Church Relations, treated me with great confidence.  This was all the more important 
 for me because, in fact, my very appointment as Deputy Chairman of the Division was completely unexpected for
 me.  I did not make any efforts towards this.  

In 1964, the leadership of the Jöhvi district executive committee decided to close the Temple of Saint Sergius of Radonezh and the former summer residence of Prince S V Shakhovsky because they were outside the monastery walls. (Vladyka Aleksey managed to enclose the entire territory of the monastery within a new wall only a few years later.) It was clear from them that it would not be possible to protect the Temple and the residence ; however, Vladyka pointed out the impossibility of closing the existing church. To this, they replied that there remained 3 more Temples in the monastery "to satisfy your religious needs". Yet again, historical justice came to the rescue, which always turns out to be on the side of truth, not power. Bishop Aleksey proved that it was historically and politically impractical to destroy or to transform the Temple into a state institution, in which Temple was located the tomb of the former governor of Estonia, Prince Shakhovsky (who had put a great deal of effort into strengthening the unity of Estonia and Russia).

In the 1960s, several Temples were, in fact, closed. In this case it was not so much because of the direct pressure of the authorities, but rather because the number of believers in rural areas among the Estonian population was sharply reduced as a result of population movements and a generational change : the new generation was being raised in the school systems to be at best indifferent and at worst hostile to the Church. Some rural Temples were emptied and they gradually fell into decay. However, if even a small number of parishioners remained (or if there were even a hope that they might appear), Vladyka Aleksey supported such Temples for several years, and he paid taxes for them from diocesan funds, from central office funds, or from his own funds.

Bereavement, 1962

On 9 May, 1962, Bishop Aleksey’s father, Archpriest Mikhail (von) Ridiger fell asleep in the Lord at the age of 62.

After the Funeral Services for the Burial of a Priest, his body was laid to rest beside that of his wife in the Tallinn Harjumaa (cemetery).

Continuing archpastoral service

Later, recalling the years under communist oppression, Vladyka Aleksey said :

 Only God knows how much each of the clergymen who remained in Soviet Russia, and had not gone abroad, had to 
 endure. [...] I happened to start my Church ministry at a time when the Faithful were no longer shot ; but how
 much had to be endured in defending the interests of the Church, God and history will judge.  

During the 25 years of Bishop Aleksey’s episcopal ministry in Estonia, he managed to defend and protect much with God’s help. However, at that time the enemy was known : it was atheistic communism. The Church had the internal means to oppose it.

On 23 June, 1964, Bishop Aleksey was elevated to the dignity of archbishop.

Chancellor of the Moscow Patriarchate, 1964

In late 1964, Archbishop Aleksey was assigned to serve as chancellor (manager of the operations) of the Moscow Patriarchate, and he became a permanent member of the Holy Synod.

In this position, Vladyka Aleksey was able to make baptism more accessible for the Soviet people. It was not prohibited in the USSR to be baptised ; but usually, local authorities established obstacles of all sorts for those who wanted to be baptised. For example, in the Ufa eparchy (Bashkortostan Republic), one had to hand in a written application for the ceremony to the local administration, signed by 2 witnesses, in order to confirm that the bearer was psychologically healthy. Vladyka Aleksey’s complaint to the Religious Council stopped this practice.

The appointment of a young archbishop to this central position in the administration of the Church came about for several reasons. First, in the venerable old age of Patriarch Alexei I, he needed an active and completely devoted assistant. Patriarch Alexei considered Vladyka Aleksey to be close to him in origin (Patriarch Alexei was from Pskov), in upbringing and in his understanding. Second, this appointment was also supported by the chairman of the Department of External Church Relations (DECR), Metropolitan Nikodim (Rotov), ​​who saw in his deputy an active and independent-minded bishop, who knew how to defend his position even in the face of the secular leaders. Vladyka Aleksey later recalled :

 When I became the manager of the affairs, I saw Patriarch Alexei I all the time ; and, of course, there was 
 complete trust and confidence that if I came to an agreement with him, he could be calm.  I often had to go 
 to Peredelkino to see His Holiness the Patriarch and to prepare resolutions for him, which he signed, not
 looking at them carefully, but only looking through them.  It was a great joy for me to communicate with him 
 and to have his trust in me.

While working in Moscow in the early years, and lacking a Moscow residence permit, Vladyka Aleksey could only live in hotels. Every month he moved from the Ukraine Hotel to the Sovietskaya Hotel and back. Several times a month, Vladyka Aleksey traveled to Tallinn, where he resolved pressing diocesan matters, and where he conducted episcopal services. Later, he said :

 During these years, the feeling of home was lost.  I even considered that the 34th train, which runs between 
 Tallinn and Moscow, had become my second home.  But, I confess, at least for a while, I set aside 
 Moscow affairs gladly ; and I would wait for those hours on the train, when I could read and be alone with myself. 

According to the recollections of Vladyka Aleksey, when he arrived at the Patriarchate for the first time,

 I saw a full corridor of priests who were deprived of registration by local authorised representatives,
 hieromonks who were left without a place after the authorities in Moldavia banned monks from serving in 
 parishes, so they had to be helped.  No-one came and said, 'Rejoice, how good it is with me'.  They came only 
 with troubles and sorrows.  With different problems, everyone went to Moscow in the hope of getting some 
 sprt of support or a solution to their problem.  And although I could not always help, I did everything 
 I could. 

A typical example is the case of the arrival of members of the Siberian village of Kolyvan, Novo Sibirsk, who turned to Vladyka Aleksey with a request to protect the Temple from being closed. At that time, nothing could be done apart from saving only the community pf believers, to which the local authorities allocated such a small hut that the deceased had to be carried through the window for a funeral service. Many years later, already being the Primate of the Russian Church, Patriarch Aleksey visited this village and the Temple, which by that time had been returned to the community of believers.

As of 1 January, 1965, the Tallinn and Estonian Diocese numbered 90 parishes, including 57 of Estonian nationality, 20 of Russian nationality and 13 of mixed nationality. These parishes were cared for by 50 priests. There were 6 deacons for the entire diocese. There were 42 pensioner-homes (retirement or disability). There were 88 parish Temples, and 2 houses of prayer (chapels). The parishes were territorially divided into 9 deaneries : Tallinn, Tartu, Narva, Harju-Lääne, Viljandi, Pärnu, Võru, Saare-Mukhu and Valga. Every year, since 1965, the diocese has published the "Orthodox Church Calendar" in Estonian (3,000 copies), the Easter and Christmas epistles of the ruling bishop in Estonian and Russian (300 copies), sheets for general church singing in the Estonian language at the services of Passion and Easter (Pascha) Weeks, on the Feast of the Epiphany, at ecumenical memorial services, at the funeral service for the deceased, etc. (more than 3,000 copies). Messages and calendars were also sent to all Estonian Orthodox parishes in exile.

From 7 May, 1965, the duties of serving as Chairman of the Study Committee of the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church were added to his main responsibilities.

Record of activity from 1969

From 1969, Vladyka Aleksey kept notes about the liturgical services he performed, which were necessary in order to maintain correct and timely visits to various parts of the diocese.

Thus, it is known that from 1969 to 1986, Vladyka Aleksey performed on average up to 120 Divine Liturgies a year, more than 66 percent in the Tallinn diocese. The only exception was 1973, when on 3 February, he suffered a myocardial infarction and he was thus unable to perform services for several months. In some years (1983-1986) the number of Divine Liturgies performed by Vladyka Aleksey reached 150 and more.

Metropolitan of Tallinn and Estonia, 1968

On 25 February, 1968, at the age of 39, Archbishop Aleksey was elevated to the dignity of metropolitan. Thus, he became Metropolitan of Tallinn and Estonia.

Activities besides the diocesan archpastoral duties

Metropolitan Aleksey presided at the meeting of the World Conference on Church and Society in Geneva, Switzerland, 12-26 July, 1966. He served as a member of the World Council of Churches (WCC) Commission on Faith and Order from 1964 to 1968. He performed responsible functions as a member of the commission for the preparation and holding of the celebration of the 50th anniversary (1968) and then the 60th anniversary (1978) of the Restoration of the Patriarchate in the Russian Orthodox Church. He served as a member of the Commission of the Holy Synod for the preparation of the Local Council of the Russian Orthodox Church of 1971, as well as the chairman of the procedural and organisational group, and as the chairman of the Secretariat of the Local Council.

For more than 25 years, Metropolitan Aleksey was a member of the Conference of European Churches (CEC), for which he served as president for several years. He also served as a member of the Joint Committee of the Conference of European Churches and the Council of Bishops’ Conferences of Europe (CECE) of the Roman Catholic Church.

As head of the delegation of the Russian Orthodox Church, he participated in theological conferences with the delegation of the Evangelical Church in Germany ("Arnoldshain II)" (FRG, 1962), in theological conferences with the delegation of the Union of Evangelical Churches in the GDR ("Zagorsk-V", Holy Trinity-Saint Sergius Lavra, 1984), and in theological conferences with the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland in Leningrad and at the Pühtitsa Monastery (1989).

From 10 March, 1970, to 1 September, 1986, Metropolitan Aleksey was in charge of the Pension Committee of the Moscow Patriarchate, the task of which was to provide pensions for clergy and others who worked in church organisations, as well as for their widows and orphans.

Signatory to the Autocephaly of The Orthodox Church in America, 1970

In March, 1970, Metropolitan Aleksey was amongst the signatories of the Tomos granting Autocephaly to The Orthodox Church in America.

On 11 April, 1971, at the Hierarchical Divine liturgy for the Entry of the Lord to Jerusalem in the Saint Alexander Nevsky Cathedral in Tallinn, Metropolitan Aleksey gave Holy Communion to about 500 people, and almost 600 people participated in the service. Of course, the cathedral gathered more worshippers than ordinary parishes could, but the records also testify to how great the activity of believers was in all parishes. His knowledge of the Estonian language and his ability to preach in it played a great role in the archpastoral ministry of Vladyka Aleksey. Hierarchical services in the cathedral were served with great solemnity and grandeur. However, this seemingly inalienable nature of Orthodox worship also had to be defended in the struggle against the atheistic environment.

About a year before Vladyka Aleksey had been assigned to the Tallinn See, the Paschal processions and night services were terminated due to the violent activities of atheist disruptors during the night service. In the second year of his episcopal service, Vladyka Aleksey decided to serve at night : a great many people came, and during the entire service there was no hooliganism or angry shouts. Since then, Paschal services have been performed at night. It had not been safe to do so before this.

Repose of Patriarch Alexei I (Simansky), 1970 ; election of Patriarch Pimen (Izvekov)

On 17 April, 1970, Patriarch Alexei I (Simansky) fell asleep in the Lord. After this, the changes that followed made it more difficult to fulfil his responsibilities and his obedience as Chancellor. This had to do with the different personality of Patriarch Pimen (Izvekov), the successor, and such differences are not unusual. However, the change seems to have been taken as an opportunity for the strengthening of the influence of the Council for Religious Affairs (of the Soviet Government), which was characteristically accompanied by such negative phenomena as intrigue and suspicions of favouritism. Nevertheless, Metropolitan Aleksey was of the opinion that in every period the Lord has sent the necessary and appropriate person that was needed at the time. Therefore, he believed that at this particular time, Patriarch Pimen was precisely the person who was needed. Indeed, he said that “His Holiness Patriarch Pimen, with his inherent caution, conservatism and even fear of any innovations, managed to preserve a lot in our Church".

On 18 June, 1971, in consideration of his diligent work in holding the Local Council of the Russian Orthodox Church in 1971, Metropolitan Aleksey was awarded the right to wear a second panagia.

In addition to fulfilling permanent posts in the highest Church administration, Vladyka Aleksey took part in the activities of temporary synodal commissions. From 23 December, 1980, Vladyka Aleksey served as the deputy chairman of the commission for the preparation and celebration of the 1000th anniversary of the Baptism of Rus'. He served as the chairman of the organisational group of this commission, and from September, 1986, of the theological group. He chaired the commission for re-opening, restoration, and construction at the Saint Daniel Monastery in Moscow.

In the later 1970s, Vladyka Aleksey was invited to visit the Valaam Islands in Lake Ladoga, where the Valaam Monastery had been located, but he refused. He had already seen the ruins of many other monasteries in Russia. One such occasion was after he had suffered a heart-attack in 1973. He could not yet face seeing the desecration and destruction, and he preferred to keep the good and warm memories of his childhood about the monastery. For the rest of his life, he cherished the impressions of the pilgrimages of his early life to the "wondrous island" of Valaam. Besides, he had maintained contact with Valaam elders both in the New Valamo Monastery in Finland, and in the Pskov Caves Monastery.

Visit to Valamo Monastery, Finland, 1980

Despite his reluctance to go to the Valaam Islands, Metropolitan Aleksey did visit the New Valamo Monastery in Finland on a regular basis. Some of the spiritual fathers of the displaced brotherhood of the Old Valaam Monastery remained alive in this monastery, and whenever it was possible to have permission to visit the monastery in Finland, he did so. Archimandrite Simforian was deeply loved and he was considered to be an “elder” and a holy man by the monks and by his spiritual children.

Thus, in the summer of 1980, Metropolitan Aleksey travelled from Tallinn to Finland, and he visited New Valamo Monastery. This was his last visit for this purpose, since Archimandrite Simforian (Simeonov) fell asleep in the Lord at the turn of 1981. Vladyka Aleksey served in the monastery, and he spent some time with Archimandrite Simforian (who was the last of the fathers of the Old Valaam Monastery who fled in 1940 to central Finland).

During that time, a young priest from North America was serving an obedience at the monastery. He admitted that, because of the tense political atmosphere between the Soviet Union and western countries, he had felt some fear and distrust for Vladyka Aleksey and other Moscow Patriarchate clergy at the time. On meeting Vladyka Aleksey several times many years later, when Vladyka Aleksey had become the Patriarch of Moscow, this person (now a bishop) found that his opinion had changed (because of greater experience) from fear and suspicion to respect and confidence. He confessed this history and this change openly to Patriarch Aleksey in the presence of many others, during a visit to Moscow.

On 25 May, 1983, Vladyka Aleksey was assigned to serve as the chairman of the Responsible Commission to work out the arrangements for the reception from the government of the buildings of the ensemble of the Danilov Monastery. It was the first monastery to be returned to the Church. The commission's responsibility was to organise and conduct all restoration and construction work, to create on its territory the Spiritual and Administrative Centre of the Russian Orthodox Church. He remained in this responsibility for 3 years. By 1988, the restoration was complete.

Vladyka Aleksey also chaired the Patriarchal Synodal Bible Commission ; served as editor-in-chief of the “Orthodox Encyclopaedia” ; chaired the Supervisory and Church Scholarly Council for its publication ; chaired the Board of Trustees of the Russian “Reconciliation and Accord” Charity Foundation ; and he headed the Board of Trustees of the National Military Foundation.

In April, 1983, Vladyka Aleksey served as a delegate of the World Christian Conference “Life and Peace” in Uppsala, Sweden, and he was elected to be one of its presidents.

Doctor of Theology, 1984

In 1984, Vladyka Aleksey was awarded the title of Doctor of Theology. The 3-volume thesis : “Essays on the History of Orthodoxy in Estonia” was presented by him for a master's degree in theology. However, the Academic Council of the Leningrad Theological Academy (LDA) unanimously decided that “the depth of research and the volume of material in the thesis far exceeded the traditional criteria for master’s work”, and “in the run-up to the 1000th anniversary of the Baptism of Rus’, this work may constitute a special chapter in the study of the history of the Russian Orthodox Church”. Therefore, the author deserved a higher academic degree than the one for which he presented it.

Mikhail S Gorbachev

In March, 1985, Mr. Mikhail S Gorbachev became General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.

In 1985, Mr M S Gorbachev (by then the First President of the USSR) started the programme he had developed earlier, and which he already called “perestroika”. There were changes in the policy of the leadership ; and public opinion changed. This process proceeded very slowly. However, he mitigated censorship ; he allowed ownership of private property ; and he began to revive the market economy.

Metropolitan Aleksey, as the Chancellor (manager of the operations) of the Moscow Patriarchate, felt the urgent need for radical changes in the management of society perhaps somewhat more sharply than other bishops. He welcomed the reforms. However, hoping that the changes would affect state-Church relations positively, he committed an act that became a turning point in his life : on 17 December, 1985, Metropolitan Aleksey sent a letter to Mr. Gorbachev, in which he raised for the first time the question of restructuring state-Church relations. The essence of the position of Vladyka Aleksey was described by him in the book “Orthodoxy in Estonia” :

 My position, both then and today, is that the Church should be separated from the state in reality.  I believe 
 that during the days of the Council of 1917-1918, the clergy were not yet ready for a real separation of 
 the Church from the state, which was reflected in the documents adopted at the Council.  The main question 
 that was raised in the negotiations with the secular authorities was the question of not separating the Church
 from the state, because the centuries-old close relationship of the Church with the state created a very 
 strong inertia.  And in the Soviet period, the Church was also not separated from the state, but it was crushed
 by it, and the state's interference in the internal life of the Church was complete, even in such sacred areas 
 as, say, you can or cannot be baptised ; you can or cannot be crowned ; outrageous restrictions on the
 performance of the Sacraments and services.  State-wide terror was often compounded by simply ugly, 
 extremist antics and prohibitions of authorised representatives of the 'local level'.  All this required 
 immediate changes.  But I realised that the Church and the state also have common tasks, for historically 
 the Russian Church has always been with her people in joys and trials.  Questions of morality and ethics, 
 health and culture of the nation, family and upbringing require the unification of efforts of the state 
 and the Church, an equal union, and not subordination of one to another.  And in this regard, I raised the 
 most pressing and cardinal question of revising the outdated legislation on religious associations. 
 ('Orthodoxy in Estonia', p. 476) 

Mr. Gorbachev did not share his views.

Subsequently, Metropolitan Aleksey was forced to leave the responsibility of Chancellor. Later, the then chairman of the Council for Religious Affairs in the Council of Ministers, Konstantin Kharchev, strongly denied that the move had been a punishment, and he said instead that the decision was aimed at “defusing the tense emotional atmosphere within Patriarch Pimen’s inner circle”. In an earlier interview, Mr. Kharchev had suggested that the removal had been requested by Patriarch Pimen (Izvekov) “for a year”.

The power of the Council for Religious Affairs, although actually weakened to some extent, still formed the basis of state-Church relations.

Nevertheless, since Mr. Gorbachev did not understand at that time, and he did not accept the position and function of the Chancellor of the Moscow Patriarchate, the letter from Metropolitan Aleksey was sent to all members of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU). At the same time, the Council for Religious Affairs indicated that such matters should not be raised. The authorities' response to the letter, in full accordance with the old traditions, was in fact an order to remove Vladyka Aleksey from the key position of Chancellor of the Patriarchate. This order was fulfilled by the Holy Synod.

Despite any misunderstandings and malcomprehensions, and despite the conservativeness of Patriarch Pimen (Izvekov), the situation of the Church in Russia was rapidly changing. In 2008, Mr. Ryan Hunter wrote about the situation :

 The case for a genuine religious reawakening in Russia can be made from as far back as the period 
 of perestroika and glasnost under Gorbachev in the mid-to-late 1980s when Russia remained an 
 officially atheistic communist republic.  As former Reagan adviser and Russian cultural historian 
 Suzanne Massie observed in a lecture she gave at the Washington DC Kennan Institute in December 
 2008, by the 1980s, an astonishing '55 million Russians were willing to say that they were Orthodox 
 (almost three times as many as were in the Communist party)'.  That a solid majority of Russians 
 identified themselves as Orthodox in an officially atheistic political society is remarkable and 
 speaks to the tenacity of Orthodox identity as an integral part of historical memory for most 
 Russians.  One telling anecdote Massie noted in her lecture, is that when reporters asked Gorbachev 
 in France whether or not he had been baptised, he responded incredulously 'Yes, isn’t everybody ?'
 For the leader of the Soviet Union to utter these words is nothing short of astonishing, and speaks 
 to the Church’s quiet but continued influence among ordinary Russians despite intermittent waves of 
 persecution under the communist regime.  

Metropolitan of Leningrad and Novgorod, 1986

Transfer from Tallinn to Leningrad, 1986

On 29 May, 1986, Metropolitan Antony (Melnikov) of Leningrad fell asleep in the Lord.

On 29 July, 1986, by the decision of the Holy Synod, Metropolitan Aleksey (Ridiger) was released from his responsibility as Metropolitan of Tallinn and Estonia, and he was transferred. He was assigned to serve as the Metropolitan of Novgorod and Leningrad.

Release from some responsibilities, 1986

On 1 September, 1986, Vladyka Aleksey was removed from the management of the Pension Fund. On 16 October, 1986, the duties of Chairman of the Educational Committee were removed from him as well.

The first days of Metropolitan Aleksey's time of archpastoral service in the Leningrad See were marked by a prayer at the chapel at the grave of Blessed Xenia of Saint Petersburg. It is situated in the Smolensk Cemetery in Saint Petersburg (then Leningrad). A year later, anticipating the official glorification of Blessed Xenia, Metropolitan Aleksey sanctified the chapel.

Saint Xenia Chapel (left) ; Cemetery Temple named for the Icon “Theotokos of Smolensk” (right)

It depended on the new metropolitan whether in this city (where the local Soviet government was particularly hostile to the Church) it would be possible to arrange a normal Church life during the period of changes that had begun in the country.

At first, Vladyka Aleksey faced the complete disregard of the Church by the city authorities. He was not even allowed to pay a visit to the chairman of the Leningrad City Council. The commissioner of the Council for Religious Affairs stated harshly : “This never happened in Leningrad and cannot be”. Nevertheless, a year later, the same chairman, at a meeting with Metropolitan Aleksey, said : “The doors of the Leningrad Soviet are open to you day and night”. Soon representatives of the government themselves began to come to the receptions of the ruling bishop. Thus, the Soviet stereotype broke down. It was later pointed out by Dr. Dmitry Pospielovsky that whereas before the time of Metropolitan Aleksey, the Soviet officials who regulated religious affairs in the Leningrad region had been invisible, they were now well-known and quite visible.

Metropolitan Aleksey achieved the return to the Church of a part of the former Saint John of Rila Monastery, in which some nuns from the Pühtitsa monastery had settled, and who began to restore the monastery. Metropolitan Aleksey's ecclesial authority was not limited to the city or the oblast of Leningrad. Rather, the entire area of the north-west of Russia (the dioceses of Novgorod, Tallinn and Olonets were also under his authority. Attempts were made to change the status of the Church in society, which became possible in the new conditions. A unique experience was accumulated, which was then applied on a Church-wide scale.

In 1988, the year celebrating the millennium since the Baptism of Rus', a radical shift took place in the relationship between Church and state, and between the Church and society. In the consciousness of society, the Church quickly became what it has been in reality since the time of Saint Prince Vladimir – the only spiritual support of the state and of the existence of the Russian people.

On 6 February, 1988, Metropolitan Aleksey led the local glorification of the Blessed Xenia of Saint Petersburg.

Celebrations regarding the 1,000th Anniversary of the Baptism of Rus', 1988

In April, 1988, Patriarch Pimen (Izvekov) and the permanent members of the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church held a conversation with Mr. Gorbachev. Metropolitan Aleksey of Leningrad also took part in the meeting. The hierarchs raised several specific questions related to ensuring the normal activity of the Orthodox Church. After this meeting, the way was opened for a broad nationwide celebration of the 1000th anniversary of the Baptism of Rus'. The celebrations continued from 5 to 12 June, 1988.

On 7 June, 1988, the Local Council of the Russian Orthodox Church was opened in the Holy Trinity Cathedral of Holy Trinity-Saint Sergius Lavra (in the presence of the Holy Relics of Saint Sergius of Radonezh). At the evening session of the Council on 7 June, Metropolitan Aleksey made a speech about the peace-keeping activities of the Russian Orthodox Church. His report contained a deep substantiation of the peace-making service of the Church, and it showed the organic connection of the Church's peace-making with the unchanging patriotic position of the Russian Church. At this Council, 9 saints were glorified, amongst them Blessed Xenia. The chapel on the grave of Blessed Xenia had been restored and sanctified by Vladyka Aleksey before her glorification.

Other changes at the time of the millennium anniversary

In 2008, Mr. Ryan Hunter wrote the following about the major changes that were taking place in society during the last years of the Soviet Union :

 A major watershed moment for the Church came leading up to the 1988 millennial anniversary of the 
 historic baptism of Kievan Rus under Prince Vladimir the Great, in which, ironically, major state-
 supported religious celebrations took place in Kiev, Moscow, Saint Petersburg, and many other 
 cities.  While many anti-Kremlin Ukrainian Catholic and Orthodox leaders and faithful laity opposed
 and protested the Soviet-sponsored celebrations, successfully urging Pope John Paul II not to 
 attend any of the events in the USSR but to send a delegation in his place, major Orthodox 
 dignitaries from around the world did attend. The Ecumenical Patriarch was, however, notably 
 absent.
 
 In the wake of these celebrations in numerous Russian, Ukrainian, and Belarusian churches, and the 
 previously unimaginable state-sponsored publication of commemorative plaques, medals, and history 
 books about the Millennium, the atmosphere of greater openness which Gorbachev sought to encourage 
 resulted in something happening which was unthinkable before his tenure : the Soviet state returned 
 many desecrated churches and confiscated ecclesiastical properties to the Church.  This began 
 before the anniversary, but culminated with the symbolic handing back of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra,
 the centre of Orthodox spiritual life in Ukraine, to the MP.  Despite that many Ukrainian observers 
 disappointedly noted how the commemorative events centred around Moscow, not Kiev, even if the 
 celebrations were Russocentric, they were nevertheless enthusiastically observed throughout the 
 USSR.  Soon after the Millennium, the Soviet state sent shockwaves throughout Orthodox and Catholic 
 circles by lifting the universal ban on religious broadcasts on state television.  As Marilyn Pfeifer Swezey 
 — Massie’s friend and a former Hillwood Museum docent — observed in an interview, this meant that 
 for the first time in Soviet history, both Orthodox believers and non-catechised Russians curious 
 about their patrimonial Church could view Orthodox religious services on state television, the 
 primary source of electronic media.  As Ms. Swezey recalled, these services were immensely popular 
 in part because everyone wanted the thrill of participating in history, in something that had until 
 only recently been forbidden. 

There was "behind the scenes" of that time another element which contributed to the developing awareness of Soviet citizens regarding the Orthodox Christian Faith. This was the activity of various broadcasters resident in the West, who spoke regularly in Russian on short-wave radio (and through other means) to those who were able to hear them. Two are well-known : Bishop Basil (Rodzianko), and Protopresbyter Alexander Schmemann.

Visit to the Islands of Valaam in Lake Ladoga, 1988

It was in 1988 that Metropolitan Aleksey made his first visit as a bishop to the Valaam Islands in Lake Ladoga. There, he viewed the destruction and desecration of the holy places which had followed the Soviet takeover after the 1940 war with Finland, when the brotherhood had fled in midwinter westwards into the safety of Finland. He saw that the monastic quarters and Temples had been taken over for a mental hospital, and that other quarters were inhabited by "squatters". It was at this time that he began the work of repair and restoration on the monastery, and it was at this time that the first few monks arrived from Holy Trinity-Saint Sergius Monastery near Moscow.

In 1989, Metropolitan Aleksey was elected by the Charity and Health Foundation to be a representative member of the Assembly of People’s Deputies of the USSR. This Assembly was part of an attempt to move tentatively towards a more "democratic" legislative assembly.

From 24 January, 1990, Vladyka Aleksey served as a board member of the Soviet Fund for Charity and Health.

From 8 February, 1990, he served as a member of the presidium of the Leningrad Cultural Foundation.

During the brief years of his service in the Saint Petersburg diocese, Vladyka Aleksey managed to do a considerable amount. The Chapel of Blessed Xenia of Saint Petersburg at the Smolensk Cemetery, and the Ioannovsky Monastery on Karpovka were restored and sanctified.

During his time of service as Metropolitan of Leningrad, Temples, shrines and monasteries began to be returned to the Church. In particular, the holy relics of the faithful Saint Prince Alexander Nevsky, and Saint Zosima, Saint Savvaty, and Saint Herman of Solovetsky Monastery were returned.

About his service in Saint Petersburg, Vladyka Aleksey said :

 I felt acutely that no-one recognised the Church, no one noticed it.  And the main thing that I managed 
 to do in four years was to achieve that the Church began to be reckoned with : the situation has changed 
 radically.   

Participation in social and political life brought its own experience, both positive and negative. About his experience in the parliamentary assembly, he said that the parliamentary assembly was

 a place where people have no respect for each other.  I am categorically opposed to the election of clergymen 
 today, because I experienced personally how we are not ready for parliamentarianism, and I think that many
 other countries are not ready yet.  The spirit of opposition and struggle reigns there.  And after the session 
 of the Assembly of People's Deputies I would return just sick - this was the influence of this atmosphere of
 intolerance, when they slammed and shouted at the speakers.  But I think that my time as deputy was also 
 useful, because I was a member of two commissions : on the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact (Estonian delegates asked me 
 to participate in this commission), and on the law on freedom of conscience.  The commission on the law on 
 freedom of conscience included lawyers who considered the 1929 Regulations on Religious Associations as a 
 standard and they did not understand, refused to understand that it was necessary to deviate from the norms of 
 this law.  Of course, it was very difficult, because I am not an expert in jurisprudence ; but I tried to 
 convince even these Soviet lawyers, and often I succeeded.  

Repose of Patriarch Pimen (Izvekov), 1990

On 3 May, 1990, Patriarch Pimen of Moscow and All Russia fell asleep in the Lord.

The last years of Patriarch Pimen's primacy, during which Vladyka Pimen was seriously ill, were difficult. These years were also difficult for the general Church administration. Metropolitan Aleksey, who had led the Administration of Affairs (chancellory) for 22 years, perhaps had a better idea of ​​the real situation of the Church in the late 1980s than most. He was convinced that the framework of the Church's activities was narrow, limited, in comparison with the precepts of the Holy Gospels, and the Tradition of the Orthodox Church. It was in this that he perceived the main source of disorder. About the situation leading up to the electoral assembly, Vladyka Aleksey recounted :

 I was on my way to Moscow for the Council, and I had before my eyes great tasks, which had finally opened up for 
 archpastoral and Church activities in general in Saint Petersburg.  Speaking in secular language, I did not 
 conduct any 'election campaign'.  Only after the Council of Bishops [...] where I received the most votes from 
 the bishops, did I feel that there was danger that this cup might not escape me.  I say 'danger' because, 
 having been the Chancellor of the Moscow Patriarchate for twenty-two years under His Holiness Patriarch 
 Alexei I and His Holiness Patriarch Pimen, I knew perfectly well how heavy was the Cross of patriarchal 
 service.  But I relied on the will of God : if the will of the Lord is on my patriarchate, then, apparently, 
 He will give strength too. 

The nature of Vladyka Aleksey's God-given gifts for understanding and co-operation (besides his wide experience) contributed to the confidence in his leadership that many felt at the time. He was well-known to be a conciliator and peace-builder, and people expected that he would work towards finding resolutions to the tensions in Soviet (and soon, post-Soviet) society without upsetting the communist old guard who had reluctantly agreed not to interfere in the election process.

Local Council of the Church of Russia, 1990

For the election of a new Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church, there was convened an extraordinary local council on 7 June, 1990.

The process of the election produced the usually-required 3 candidates : Metropolitan Filaret (Denysenko) of Kiev and Galich ; Metropolitan Volodymyr (Sabodan) of Rostov and Novocherkassk ; Metropolitan Aleksey (Ridiger) of Leningrad and Novgorod. Metropolitan Anthony (Bloom) of Sourozh announced the results of the vote : it was Metropolitan Aleksey (Ridiger) who received the most votes (166), closely followed by Metropolitan Volodymyr (Sabodan) (143), followed then by Metropolitan Filaret (Denysenko) with 66 votes. (None of them was an ethnic Russian.)

On 7 June, 1990, the bells of Holy Trinity-Saint Sergius Lavra announced the election of the 15th Patriarch of All Russia.

After the formal processes of declaring and documenting the election, the patriarch-elect gave the following words in response :

 I recognise the difficulty and formidable work of the upcoming service.  My life, which from my youth has been 
 dedicated to the service of the Church of Christ, is approaching its evening ; but the consecrated Council 
 entrusts me with the formidable task of primatial service.  I accept this election ; but in the first moments I 
 ask the Eminent and Right Reverend archpastors, the honourable clergy and all the God-loving flock of 
 All-Russia for prayers for me to help me and to strengthen me in the pending responsibility and service.  Many 
 questions arise today before the Church, before society and before each of us.  In their solution, a conciliar 
 reasoning is needed, a joint decision and discussion of them both at the Councils of Bishops, and at Local 
 Councils, in accordance with the Charter adopted by our Church in 1988.  The conciliar principle should apply 
 to both diocesan and parish life.  Only then will we resolve the matters facing both Church and society. 
 Church activity is expanding today.  Acts of mercy, charity, and education of the most varied age groups of our 
 believers are expected from the Church, from each of its servants, from the leaders of the Church.  We must 
 serve as a reconciling force, a unifying force, even when our lives are often divided.  We have to do 
 everything to help strengthen the unity of the holy Orthodox Church.
 (Journal of the Moscow Patriarchate, no. 9 (1990), p. 28)

Patriarch Aleksey II was “the first patriarch in Soviet history to be chosen without government pressure ; candidates were nominated from the floor, and the election was conducted by secret ballot”. As he, himself, said about the electoral process :

 I felt the confusion of many ; I saw the confusion on some faces : 'Where is the pointing finger ?'  But it was 
 not there ; we had to decide for ourselves.  

The newly-elected patriarch said that he understood that

 no-one is born a ready-made bishop, and there is no-one who is born a ready-made Patriarch.  I am the same as 
 everyone else ; I also was formed during the Soviet era.  But now the main thing is not to rest on laurels, not 
 to feel like a prince of the Church, but to work tirelessly.  

There was also a lot of risk in what the new Primate of the Russian Church was going to accomplish : during the Soviet period, the experience of monastic life was almost lost (in 1988 there were only 21 monasteries) ; the system of spiritual education of the laity was lost ; no-one knew how to serve pastorally in the army, or how to work in places of detention. However, the need for such services became more and more evident. Shortly before the Local Council, the administration of one of the penal colonies addressed a letter to Metropolitan Aleksey of Leningrad, informing him that in the colony they had decided to build a Temple, that the project was ready, and that most of the funds had been collected. They asked him to sanctify the site where the Temple was to be constructed. He recalled that he went there, fearing that he would not be able to find a common language with the prisoners. However, the meeting took place and it strengthened him in his awareness of the need to conduct systematic work in places of deprivation of liberty. Metropolitan Aleksey promised to come to sanctify the Temple when it was built.

A year-and-a-half later, already being patriarch, Vladyka Aleksey fulfilled his promise. At the Divine Liturgy following the sanctification of the new Temple at the penal colony, he gave Holy Communion to 72 people.

It is significant that for 2 years after his elevation to the patriarchal throne, the Primate of the Russian Church continued to lead the Tallinn Diocese. He led it through the Patriarchal Vicar-Bishop Cornelius (Jacobs) of Tallinn. Patriarch Aleksey gave the new bishop the opportunity to gain the necessary experience, and he supported him with his enormous authority in the diocese. (On 11 August, 1992, Bishop Cornelius became the ruling archpastor of the Estonian diocese.)

Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, 1990

On 20 June, 1990, the enthronement of Patriarch Aleksey II took place during the Hierarchical Divine Liturgy in the Epiphany Cathedral in Moscow.

Comments afterwards suggest that he had been chosen on the basis of his administrative experience, and that he was considered “intelligent, energetic, hardworking, systematic, perceptive, and businesslike”. He also “had a reputation as a conciliator, ‘a person who could find common ground with various groups in the episcopate’”. Archbishop Chrysostom (Martyshkin) remarked, “With his peaceful and tolerant disposition, Patriarch Aleksey will be able to unite us all”.

A remarkable man, his presence brought a sense of order, joy, peace, hope, love, and paternal care. The Grace of the Holy Spirit active in him enabled many cases of reconciliation and harmonisation. The same Grace enabled him to give many wise words of advice. “Christian love” describes the main characteristic of this man whom many would agree is a man of God.

Patriarch Aleksey II

Patriarchal service

A few days after the enthronement, Patriarch Aleksey went to Leningrad for the glorification of Saint John of Kronstadt. The services of the glorification took place in the Saint John of Rila Monastery on Karpovka, the site of the saint's tomb.

Upon returning to Moscow, the patriarch met with the Moscow clergy at Saint Daniel's Monastery. At this meeting, he spoke about the fact that the new Statute of the Russian Orthodox Church allowed for the revival of conciliarity at all levels of Church life, and that this must begin with the parish. The Primate's first speech to the Moscow clergy contained a comprehensive and concrete programme of transformations in Church life, which were aimed at normalising Church life (in accordance with the traditional, pre-Petrine distortions) in the context of a significant expansion of the freedom of the Church.

The July, 1990, meeting of the Holy Synod of Bishops was held under the chairmanship of Patriarch Aleksey. Unlike previous sessions (which mainly dealt with matters related to external Church activities), this time the focus was on the internal life of the Church. Under Patriarch Aleksey, the Holy Synod began to meet much more often than before : once a month or every 2 months. This adjustment ensured the observance of canonical conciliarity in Church administration. (This implies harmony, co-operation, and consensus as far as possible.)

Archdeacon Andrey Mazur (†2018)

When Patriarch Aleksey II began his responsibilities in Moscow, Protodeacon Andrey Mazur was assigned to serve as the Patriarchal Archdeacon. A veteran of the Great Patriotic War, a skilled protodeacon and choir-director, Archdeacon Andrey Mazur served with the patriarch on all the more important occasions for the rest of the patriarch’s life. However, he did so by commuting from Saint Petersburg where his family remained. Archdeacon Andrey, whose family had previously come from the Masurian Lake District, had been raised under the “spiritual wings” of the Dormition Pochaiv Monastery in Volyn, near which he was born, in Ukraine. He was an exemplary deacon.

Archdeacon Andrey Mazur

Context of the social and political changes

Patriarch Aleksey came to the patriarchal responsibility when the disintegration crisis of the Soviet state entered its final phase. In a rapidly-changing environment, it was important that the Church of Russia regain the necessary legal status, which largely depended on the initiative of the Patriarch, and on his ability to build relationships with state authorities and politicians in such a way as to affirm the dignity of the Church as the highest spiritual guide of the people. From the first steps of his patriarchal service, Patriarch Aleksey II, in his contacts with the authorities, knew how to protect and emphasise the dignity of the Church which he led. From his experience, and from his studies, he understood that the Church was now able to be Herself authentically, and no longer bound by the chains of atheists.

Soon after his enthronement, Vladyka Patriarch Aleksey brought to the attention of Mr. Gorbachev (now also the President of the USSR) the critical attitude of the Local Council to the new draft law "On Freedom of Conscience and Religious Organisations". An agreement was reached on the participation of representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church and other religious communities in further work on the draft law.

This agreement had a favourable effect on the content of the law, which was adopted (in the format of that time) on 1 October, 1990. It was approved for individual parishes, Church institutions, including the Patriarchate itself, which thus gained the rights of a legal entity (corporation). A month after the publication of the union law, the Russian law "On Freedom of Religion" was adopted. It no longer provided for the existence of a government institution similar to the Council for Religious Affairs. Instead, a Commission on Freedom of Conscience and Religion was formed in the Supreme Council. The regulation on the separation of schools from the Church was formulated in a form that allowed the teaching of doctrine in general education schools on an optional basis.

Patriarch Aleksey commented that “Today’s law is another step towards perfecting the legislation that secures and defends the rights of Russia’s believers”. However, it is noteworthy that as this law was being formulated and promulgated, there was active opposition to it from beyond the borders of Russia (perhaps in part because of the special consideration of the Orthodox Church in Russia). Indeed, not only did USA Vice President A Gore urge senior Russian politicians to persuade Mr. Yeltsin to veto the bill, but also President W Clinton personally urged President B Yeltsin not to sign it.

In the new socio-political situation, the Church could not, as in previous years, refrain from judging the ways of the country's development : such silence would not meet with understanding in society. On 5 November, 1990, for the first time after the message of Saint Tikhon (Belavin) in 1918, Patriarch Aleksey II, on the anniversary of the October Revolution, in an address to his fellow citizens, gave a meaningful assessment of this dramatic event : “Seventy-three years ago, an event took place that determined the path of Russia in the twentieth century. This path turned out to be mournful and difficult. [...] And let all the past years, one after another, stand in our conscience and beg us not to pay with human destinies for the experiments and principles of politicians” ("JMP", no. 12 (1990), p. 2).

At the request of the Patriarch, the Russian authorities declared the Nativity of Christ a vacation day ; in 1991, for the first time since the 1920s, on this holiday, the citizens of Russia were not forced to work.

As was written in a 2008 article by Ryan Hunter,

 Patriarch Aleksey II proved crucial to developing, along with Gorbachev and later Yeltsin, many aspects of this 
 new Church-state relationship which marked a complete departure from Soviet leaders’ entrenched anti-Church 
 attitudes, laws, and policies before 1985.  By the fall of the USSR, the Church’s resurgence and revitalisation 
 had already begun, and would only deepen and grow stronger in the following years.

Reconstruction of Church life after 1990

The new patriarch led the Russian Orthodox Church during hard times, many of them being a result of the political and economic upheavals that accompanied the ending of the USSR and the beginning and development of a new political and economical system. This involved his participation in political life, as well, which is not usual for Orthodox clergy. The times and the situation required it for a period. The 7 decades during which the atheistic Marxist-Leninist Soviet mentality and system had oppressed the Church and the people had brought about a great deformity in the personalities and spiritual lives of people. The foundation of godless materialism had developed a programme for the destruction of all faith and faiths within the Soviet territories. Included in this programme was a pernicious programme of spying and informing, which produced a universal atmosphere of distrust. Even the Orthodox Christians were, by 1980, very distrustful of people because of fear and the multitude of previous betrayals. All this required healing.

In Christ's love, the example of Vladyka Aleksey helped to overcome the divisive suspicion that grew from the spy network. His Christian hope kept him focussed and strong always and in all situations, for the sake of the flock entrusted to him, in whom he was able in Christ, to instil this same hope.

Patriarch Alexei II, Archdeacon Andrei Mazur, Holy Epiphany Cathedral, Moscow

First major meeting of the Holy Synod of Bishops, 1990

On 25-27 October, 1990, the first major meeting of the Holy Synod of Bishops of the Moscow Patriarchate under Patriarch Aleksey II (Ridiger) was convened at the Danilov (Saint Daniel's) Monastery in Moscow.

The Holy Synod meeting focussed on 3 concerns : the situation of the Church in Ukraine ; the schism of the Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia (ROCOR) ; the legal status of the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC), in the context of 2 new laws on freedom of conscience and religion. On the initiative of Patriarch Aleksey, the Holy Synod made an appeal to all the clergy and the Faithful of the ROC, in which the bishops expressed the position of the Hierarchy of the Russian Church on those matters that had received a misinterpretation in the polemical speeches of representatives of ROCOR :

 Paying deep respect to the memory of Patriarch Sergius (Stragorodsky) and recalling with gratitude his struggle 
 for the survival of our Church during the difficult years of persecution, we nevertheless do not at all consider 
 ourselves bound by his Declaration of 1927, which preserves for us the significance of a monument to that 
 tragic event in our history. [...] We are accused of 'trampling the memory of the holy new martyrs and confessors'. [...] 
 Our Church has never interrupted the prayerful commemoration of the sufferers for Christ, whose successors happened to be 
 our episcopate and clergy.  Now, to which the whole world is a witness, we are unfolding the process of their Church glorification, 
 which, in accordance with the ancient Church tradition, should be freed from vain politicking at the service of 
 the changing moods of the time ("JMP", no. 2 (1991), pp. 7-8).  

The Synod of Bishops decided to grant the Ukrainian Orthodox Church independence and autonomy in governance while maintaining jurisdictional ties with the Moscow Patriarchate.

Recovery of Holy Relics, 1990

At the end of 1990, in one of the office premises of the Museum of the History of Religion and Atheism, located in the Kazan Cathedral in Saint Petersburg, the Holy Relics of Saint Seraphim of Sarov were found unexpectedly. Soon, the museum was closed, and the cathedral was re-opened.

Our Lady of Kazan Cathedral, Nevsky Prospekt, Saint Petersburg

On 11 January, 1991, Patriarch Aleksey arrived in Saint Petersburg. After a Moleben in the Chapel of Blessed Xenia, and in the Saint John of Rila Monastery by the Karpov River, he went to the Kazan Cathedral. Accompanied by prayer, the Holy Relics of Saint Seraphim were transferred in procession from the Kazan Cathedral to the Holy Trinity Cathedral of Saint Alexander Nevsky Lavra, and they remained there until 6 February. During this time, thousands of Orthodox Petersburgers came to venerate the Holy, God-Pleasing Elder.

Transfer of the Holy Relics

Then, from Saint Petersburg, the Holy Relics, accompanied by the Primate, were brought to Moscow, and they were taken in a procession to the Cathedral of the Holy Epiphany. For 5½ months, they remained in Moscow. Every day, a long line of people wishing to venerate them stretched outside the cathedral (there were so many arriving every day). The Holy Relics were then taken to Holy Trinity-Saint Seraphim Diveyevo Monastery near Nizhy-Novgorod.

At the former Museum of Atheism in Saint Petersburg, the Holy Relics of many other saints were also discovered, and they were returned to their rightful places.

In the Holy Dormition Cathedral in the Moscow Kremlin (while maintaining the museum regulations in it), Divine services began to be performed regularly, and this ancient Temple again became the functioning Patriarchal Cathedral of the Russian Orthodox Church.

Dormition Cathedral, Moscow Kremlin

On 22 February, 1992, there occurred the miraculous discovery at the Donskoy Monastery in Moscow of the incorrupt Holy Relics of Holy Patriarch Tikhon.

Renewal of public visibility and social service of the Church in society

The return of the Church to broad public service was achieved largely through the labours of Patriarch Aleksey II. One after another, there followed truly providential events. The first was the acquisition of the relics (1991) of Saint Seraphim of Sarov (they had been kept hidden in the museum of atheism in Saint Petersburg), and their solemn transfer to Diveevo, when the prediction of the holy midsummer Paschal singing was again fulfilled. There was the Uncovering (1991) of the relics of Saint Joasaph of Belgorod, and their return to Belgorod. There was the finding (1992) of the relics of Patriarch Tikhon (Belavin), and their solemn transfer to the Catholicon of the Donskoi Monastery. There was the acquisition by Holy Trinity-Saint Sergius Lavra of the relics of Saint Philaret (Drosdov) of Moscow, of Saint Maxim the Greek, and (in 1997) of the incorrupt relics of Saint Alexander of Svir. From the beginning, Patriarch Aleksey II helped both the Church and the country to make very rapid and large strides towards the restoration of what was good in the distant past, harmonising it with what was good in the recent past, and enabling the Church to bring hope to the people.

Upon taking on the responsibility of patriarch, Patriarch Alexei became a vocal advocate of the rights of the Church. He called for the Soviet government to allow religious education in the state schools and for a “freedom of conscience” law.

Headed by Patriarch Aleksey, the Church returned to active public service ; and She began to co-operate with various secular institutions such as the healthcare and pension systems, the army (the patriarch brought back the chaplaincy), cultural organisations, and many others. Patriarch Aleksey valued highly the training of clergy for the Russian Orthodox Church, the religious education of the laity, and the spiritual and moral/ethical education of the younger generation. He began to bless the establishment of numerous seminaries, theological colleges, and parish schools. As a result of his leadership, and the co-operation of the Holy Synod, many new dioceses began to be established, many new bishops were ordained, and many centres of spiritual and Church administrative leadership emerged, especially in remote areas. He was a loving pastor with a missionary disposition (perhaps nurtured during his experiences as a teenager with the Pskov Mission), not different from his predecessor of 70 years previous, Saint Tikhon (Belavin) of Moscow.

Patriarch Aleksey himself worked tirelessly for the building up of Church life, and he called upon every member of the Church without exception to participate in Her life more actively and responsibly on a conciliar basis. He paid great attention to the problems of fraternal co-operation amongst all the Orthodox Churches in order to foster their common witness to the world of the Truth of Christ. He considered that co-operation amongst the various Christian confessions for the sake of addressing the needs of the modern world was a Christian obligation. Constantly, he appealed for peace and accord in society, as well as benevolent mutual understanding and co-operation amongst the followers of various religions and philosophies of life.

Fraternal visit to The Orthodox Church in America, 1991

In 1991, Patriarch Aleksey II made a fraternal visit to The Orthodox Church in America. The visit was very fruitful in that, at a large reception for various bishops, the patriarch was able to encourage the local Orthodox dioceses of various jurisdictions to work more closely together. However, this visit had to be shortened because of a coup attempt in Moscow, and he returned in order to be with his people.

Attempted coup, 1991

On 12 June, 1991, Boris Nikolaievich Yeltsin became president of the Russian Federation when he won the election substantially.

On 19-22 August, 1991, some of the leaders of the government, who were dissatisfied with the reform policy, made an attempt to overthrow the General Secretary of the USSR, M S Gorbachev, and return to the former ways. On 19 August, they formed the State Committee for the State of Emergency (SCSE). This attempted coup ended in failure after 3 days. The consequence of the attempt at revolution was the ban of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) and the fall of the communist regime. During the attempted coup, Vladyka Aleksey had denounced the arrest of Mikhail S Gorbachev, and he anathematised the plotters.

On 23 August, in his message to the archpastors, pastors, monastics, and all the Faithful, Patriarch Aleksey stated :

 In the days that we have just lived through, the period of our history, which began in 1917, ended with the
 Providence of God.  The time cannot return when one ideology owned the state and tried to impose itself on
 society, on all people.  The communist ideology, as we are convinced, will never again be a state ideology 
 in Russia.  ('Russia begins the Work and the Feat of Healing !' in '"JMP"', no. 10 (1991), p. 3).  

The speeches of the Primate on the most acute problems of public life from the perspective of lofty Christian principles made him the spiritual leader of Russia (in the minds of the people).

In 2008, Mr. Ryan Hunter wrote about Vladyka Aleksey during this period of time :

 During his first year in office, as Soviet institutions remained paralysed, the economy struggled, 
 and millions of citizens suffered the fear and uncertainty of not knowing what the year would hold 
 politically and economically, Aleksey shrewdly capitalised on the Soviet state’s weakness to insist
 on an increasingly public place for the Church in society.  Whereas Pimen had been shocked and 
 unprepared for Gorbachev’s openness and desire to work with the Church, Aleksey quickly became a 
 vocal advocate of what he regarded as the Church’s rights, calling for the Soviet government to 
 allow religious education in state schools and for a ‘freedom of conscience’ law to protect 
 believers from discrimination.  During the attempted communist hardliner coup in August, 1991, the 
 Patriarch shocked the Soviet old guard by publicly denouncing the plotters’ arrest of Gorbachev. 
 He went further and declared the plotters excommunicated (a largely symbolic gesture, since they 
 were all atheists, this kind of bold gesture of defying the communists would have been unimaginable 
 five years earlier).  In a series of press releases and public statements, the Patriarch denounced 
 the communist junta as illegitimate, implored the military not to attack the legitimate elected 
 authorities, and demanded that Gorbachev be allowed to address the Soviet people. 

Mr. Hunter also cited comments by Mr. Serge Schmemann about a Divine Liturgy served by Patriarch Aleksey in Saint Isaac's Cathedral in Leningrad, and the interview with Mr. Schmemann regarding the challenges faced by the Church at the time :

 Standing at the centre of the magnificent Cathedral of Saint Isaac [Saint Petersburg] [...] diamonds 
 and rubies glittering from his mitre and staff and with a host of Romanov princes, politicians and 
 worshipers arrayed around him, Patriarch Aleksy II [...] was the image of the Church victorious 
 over seven decades of militant atheism.
 
 Not long ago the great domed cathedral was a state museum, the Romanovs were a curse, no Soviet 
 politician would dare step foot in a working church and Patriarch Aleksy was a bishop locked in a 
 running struggle with atheist watchdogs of the State Council of Religious Affairs. 
 
 [F]or all the obvious gains of the Russian Orthodox Church and of religious freedoms in the years 
 of perestroika, the 62-year-old Patriarch, like his country and his Church, is also a leader who 
 faces a barrage of new problems raised by the sudden outbreak of freedom.
 
 In his sermon in Saint Isaac Cathedral, the Patriarch [...] spoke of the urgent need for tolerance 
 and unity.  Those are themes to which the Patriarch returns often, as he did in a recent interview 
 in Moscow.
 
 [H]e seemed in personal awe as he checked off the statistics of the Russian Church’s rapid revival. 
 More than 5,000 parishes opened since 1988, 106 in Moscow alone.  Baptisms tripled, marriages 
 increased ninefold, the number of monasteries went up from 18 to 121. 
 
 And yet the Patriarch also spoke, as he has in many sermons and speeches, of the deep and profound 
 damage left by Communism.
 
 'The greatest wound inflicted by the Communist dictatorship was lack of spirituality', he said. 
 'All other evils were the result of the planned, systematic and total eradication from the souls 
 and consciousness of the people of the very notion of "spirituality". I am not even talking about 
 the disgusting anti-Church propaganda and actions against the Church.  I never thought the moment
 would come', acknowledged the Patriarch. [...] 
 
 'We have to rebuild everything — charity, catechism', he said.  'The new generation has forgotten 
 everything — the very word charity was barred from dictionaries.  An immediate revival is 
 impossible, but the will is there'.   
 

Glorification of New-Martyrs and Confessors begins

Under his leadership, the New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia who suffered under Communism began to be glorified. This began with Grand Duchess Elizabeth, Metropolitan Vladimir of Kiev, and Metropolitan Benjamin of Petrograd in 1992.

Meetings of the Holy Synod, 1992 : situation of the Church in Ukraine

First meeting, March-April

From 31 March to 5 April, 1992, the Holy Synod of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church was convened in the Danilov Monastery, Moscow. In his opening remarks, Patriarch Aleksey reviewed the agenda of these sessions : the glorification of the New-Martyrs and Confessors of Russia, and of the holy parents of Saint Sergius of Radonezh ; the question of the status of the Church in Ukraine and Church life in Ukraine ; the relationship between Church and society.

The Holy Synod of Bishops adopted a decision on the glorification of Venerable Schemamonk Kyril and Schemanun Maria, the parents of Saint Sergius of Radonezh. They decided as well to glorify the New-Martyrs Metropolitan Vladimir (Bogoyavlensky) of Kiev and Galicia ; Metropolitan Benjamin (Kazansky) of Saint Petersburg and Ladoga ; Archimandrite Sergius (Shein) ; Yuri Novitsky ; and John Kovsharov ; Princess Elizabeth Feodorovna ; Nun Barbara. In the act of glorification, it was said that this was only the beginning of the Church's glorification of the New Martyrs and Confessors who suffered during the years of revolutionary turmoil and post-revolutionary terror.

The Holy Synod of Bishops discussed the petition of the Ukrainian bishops that the Church in Ukraine be given autocephalous status. In his report at the Synod Meeting, Metropolitan Filaret (Denysenko) argued for the need to grant autocephaly to the Ukrainian Church on the basis of current political events : the collapse of the USSR, and the formation of an independent Ukrainian state. A discussion began, in which most of the hierarchs took part. During the discussion, Patriarch Aleksey participated actively. Most of the speakers rejected the idea of ​​autocephaly. Metropolitan Filaret was named as the culprit of the Church crisis in Ukraine, which was expressed in the emergence of an autocephalous schism and the falling away of most parishes into the union. The archpastors demanded his resignation from his responsibilities. Metropolitan Filaret promised that upon his return to Kiev he would convene a meeting of the Ukrainian Synod of Bishops and resign from his duties as Metropolitan of Kiev and Galicia.

However, upon returning to Kiev, Metropolitan Filaret declared that he did not intend to leave his responsibility and position. Since this occurred, Patriarch Aleksy had to take measures to save the canonical unity of the Russian Church, and he did so. At his request, the Holy Synod instructed the most senior archpastor (by ordination date) of the Church in Ukraine, Metropolitan Nikodim (Rusnak) of Kharkiv, to convene a meeting of the Synod of Bishops of the Ukrainian Church in order to accept the resignation of Metropolitan Filaret and elect a new primate of the Ukrainian Church.

On 26 May, 1992, Patriarch Aleksey, the Primate of the Church of Russia, sent a telegram to Metropolitan Filaret, in which he appealed to the archpastoral and Christian conscience of Metropolitan Filaret. He asked the metropolitan to submit to the canonical Hierarchy of the Church, for the sake of the good of the Church.

Schism in Ukraine

On 26 May, 1992, Metropolitan Filaret gathered his supporters in Kiev for a conference. Those assembled with Metropolitan Filaret rejected the decision of the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church.

The Synod of Bishops that was convened by Metropolitan Nikodim (Rusnak) in Kharkov on 27 May, 1992, expressed no confidence in Metropolitan Filaret. This Synod of Bishops dismissed Metropolitan Filaret from the See of Kiev. Metropolitan Volodymyr (Sabodan) of Rostov was elected to be Primate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

On 28 May, 1992, at a meeting of the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church, the Bishops of the Church of Russia agreed with the decision of the Synod of Bishops of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. Then, in accordance with the synodal decision "On the Ukrainian Orthodox Church", adopted by the Holy Synod of Bishops in October, 1990, Patriarch Aleksey blessed the newly-elected Metropolitan Volodymyr (Sabodan) of Kiev for his service as the primate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

It is helpful to be aware that there were other accusations which had been made regarding various inappropriate and uncanonical behaviours of Metropolitan Filaret (Denysenko) which were not made public at the time. They were, nevertheless, very serious.

Second meeting, June : deposition

On 11 June, 1992, a specially-convened meeting of the Holy Synod of Bishops of the Church of Russia at the Danilov Monastery (chaired by Patriarch Aleksey), considered the case of the accusations against Metropolitan Filaret of anti-Church activities. Having considered all the circumstances, facts and details of the case of Metropolitan Filaret, formerly Metropolitan of Kiev and Galicia, and also those against Bishop Jacob (Panchuk) of Pochaiv, regarding grave crimes against the Church, the Holy Synod of Bishops of the Church of Russia decided to depose Metropolitan Filaret and Bishop Jacob from the dignity of the episcopate, and they were returned to the status of monks.

Bicentennial visit in 1993 to North America commemorated the beginning of the “Russian Mission”

In September, 1993, Patriarch Aleksey once again visited the USA. This time, he began his visit in Saint Petersburg. From there, he retraced the route of the Russian Orthodox missionary monks who, having assembled there from the Valaam Monastery in 1793, had begun their trek from Saint Petersburg towards Alaska (at that time called “Russian America”). He paused on his way across Siberia, and then finally arrived in Anchorage, Alaska. There, he was met by Metropolitan Theodosius (Lazor) and members of the Holy Synod of Bishops of The Orthodox Church in America. There followed visits to several places in the Anchorage region.

This was followed by a visit to Kodiak Island, where the Relics of Saint Herman of Alaska were venerated. Then there was a special visit by helicopter to Spruce Island, where Saint Herman had lived out the last part of his life. This was necessary because the weather did not permit travel by water. Later, Patriarch Aleksey commented that there are many things about this region (especially Spruce Island) which reminded him of the Valaam Islands on Lake Ladoga. The bishops in his delegation commented humourously on the similarity between the rough gravel roads on Kodiak Island and the paved streets in Moscow at the time.

After Alaska, the visit continued southwards to the mainland of the USA, where the entourage stopped in several historical places between San Francisco and New York. Patriarch Aleksey was well-received with love and respect, and his comments to the Orthodox Faithful in North America were very encouraging to them.

However, circumstances suddenly changed in Russia, and Patriarch Aleksey returned before the whole agenda of the visit in North America was completed.

Constitutional Crisis, 1993

On his return to Moscow, Patriarch Aleksey faced the turmoil surrounding a constitutional political crisis. In late September and early October, 1993, the Russian state experienced one of the most tragic political crises in its recent history : the confrontation between the executive and legislative powers, as a result of which the Supreme Soviet ceased to exist. A new constitution was adopted. Then there were elections for positions in the Fifth State Duma and the Council Federation. Having learned about the events in Moscow, Patriarch Aleksey, who was then at the celebration of the 200th anniversary of Orthodoxy in America, urgently interrupted his visit and returned to his homeland. In the Danilov Monastery, with the mediation of the Hierarchy of the Church of Russia, negotiations were held between representatives of the warring parties, which, however, did not lead to an agreement. Blood was shed, and yet the worst did not happen – a full-scale civil war.

Vladyka Aleksey publicly questioned the junta’s legitimacy ; he called for restraint by the military, and he demanded that Mr. Gorbachev be allowed to address the people. He issued a second appeal against violence and fratricide, which was amplified over loudspeakers to the troops outside the Russian “White House” half an hour before they attacked. Ultimately, the coup failed, and its eventual result was the break-up of the Soviet Union.

Division in Estonia, 1994

An acute crisis began to develop in the relationship between the Churches of Russia and Constantinople, as a consequence of the situation in the Church of Estonia. Some nationalist-minded Estonian clergy announced their submission to the reactivated and non-canonical "Estonian Apostolic Church", an entity which had had a historical relationship with the Moscow Patriarchate but which had recently in exile in Sweden become non-canonical through various political circumstances. Then, with the encouragement of the Estonian civil authorities, the schismatics began to seize the parishes of the canonical Estonian Church, which, after the fall of communism, had been declared by the Estonian government to be an "occupying Church". Despite this, the vast majority of clergy and laity in Estonia remained faithful to the Autonomous Church of Estonia within the Russian Orthodox Church.

In October, 1994, the Estonian civil authorities turned to Patriarch Bartholomew (Archontonis) of Constantinople with a request to accept the schismatics associated with the "Stockholm synod" into their jurisdiction. Patriarch Bartholomew gave a positive answer. Avoiding negotiations with the Moscow Patriarchate, an agreement was reached in Zurich, Switzerland. It was that in Estonia there would be simultaneously 2 dioceses, each one under the jurisdiction of one of the 2 Patriarchates. The clergy and the believing people could voluntarily choose their jurisdictional affiliation. Without consultation, it also envisaged the co-operation of the 2 patriarchates in presenting their position to the Estonian government with the aim that all Orthodox in Estonia would receive the same rights, including the right to historical Church property. No matter how positively such an arrangement was proposed, it was contrary to the fundamental principle of the visible unity of the One Church, the One Body of Christ, a principle which the Orthodox Church has always guarded. In this context, more and more new conditions were put forward by Constantinople, which led up to the demand to recognise the new diocese under the jurisdiction of the Patriarchate of Constantinople as being the only autonomous Orthodox Church in Estonia. This arrangement made a sharp distinction between Estonian-speakers and Russian-speakers. The rights were not equal. This situation developed into a static situation, in which both Churches are autonomous.

Holy Synod of Bishops meeting, 1994

From 29 November to 2 December, 1994, a meeting of the Holy Synod of Bishops was convened in the Danilov Monastery. On the first day of the sessions, Patriarch Aleksey read out a report reflecting the most important events in Church life over the 2½ years that had passed since the previous Assembly of Bishops : the resumption of regular services in the Kremlin Temples ; in Saint Basil's Cathedral at Red Square ; the sanctification of the restored Kazan Cathedral on Red Square ; the beginning of the restoration of the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour ; the nationwide celebration of the 600th anniversary of the repose of Saint Sergius of Radonezh. The Patriarch noted in his report the widespread revival of monastic life.

Great Canon of Saint Andrew of Crete

Apology to Germany, 1995

During Patriarch Aleksey II’s first official visit to Germany in 1995, the patriarch publicly apologised for the “Communist tyranny that had been imposed upon the German nation by the USSR”. The apology was followed by accusations from Russian Communists and the Russian National Bolshevik Party that he was insulting the Russian nation, and that he had committed treason.

The most important document regulating the life of religious organisations in Russia was adopted on 26 September, 1997 : the new law on the Freedom of Conscience and Religious Associations. The Church of Russia, its Hierarchy and Primate faced a well-organised confrontation between various public organisations and the media, which, hiding behind the principles of equality and freedom, tried to defend the right of totalitarian sects and neo-religious cults to pursue an aggressive policy on the canonical territory of the ROC. Patriarch Aleksey repeatedly appealed to the highest bodies of state power, to make sure that in its new version of the law, while guaranteeing freedom of religious life for citizens, at the same time, takes into account the special role of the Orthodox Christian Faith and the Orthodox Church in the history of the country. As a result, in its final version, the law recognised the historical role of the Orthodox Church in the life and ultimate condition of Russia. Thus, without infringing on the rights of other religions, it protects Russians from pseudo-spiritual aggression.

In 2008, Mr. Ryan Hunter commented about Ms. Marylyn Swezy's perspective as she

 [...] recounted from her many visits to Russia how the Patriarch managed to retain a degree of
 popularity as his Church grew in appeal and public stature while old Soviet institutions crumbled, 
 the Russian economy floundered under hyperinflation, and public confidence in democratically 
 elected President Yeltsin quickly evaporated.  As the economy worsened, the churches filled, 
 becoming, as she recalls, stiflingly crowded on major holidays.

Further assemblies of bishops and other developments

Assembly of Bishops, 1997

On 18 February, 1997, another Bishops' Assembly was convened. The first day of the conciliar sessions was devoted to the report of the Primate. Patriarch Aleksey reported on the work of the Primate of the Russian Church and the Holy Synod, on the situation of dioceses, monasteries, and parishes. Concerning the missionary service of the Church, Vladyka Aleksey noted especially the work on organising a mission amongst the youth. In the section of the report devoted to Church charity, official statistics were given showing that in Russia from 25% to 33% of the population lived below the poverty line. In this regard, the Primate said that the Russian Orthodox Church should become a full-fledged initiator of social policy that could change this dramatic situation for the better.

In the part of the report devoted to inter-Orthodox relations, the patriarch focussed specifically on describing the complex relationship with the Patriarchate of Constantinople, which had arisen from the intervention of Constantinople in the Church life of Estonia : the seizure of several Estonian parishes, and the extension of its jurisdiction over Estonia. Speaking about the situation in Ukraine, the patriarch noted that, despite all the efforts of the schismatics (supported in some places by the authorities and the press), the Ukrainian flock rejected the new temptation of a schism, and that the schism did not receive any noticeable increase.

The report of the First Hierarch conveyed the reaction of the clergy and the Faithful to the slanderous publications in some newspapers that focus on criticising Church life : “It is simply useless to argue with them [...] they give rise to quarrels ; the servant of the Lord should not quarrel, but be friendly to everyone, instructive, gentle, instructing opponents with meekness” (2 Timothy 2:23-25) ("JMP", no. 3 (1997), p. 77). This assembly in 1997 showed evidence of the unity of the bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church around the Primate, as they performed their service in different republics and regions. Associated with this unity of the archpastors was the unity of the Faithful in a society otherwise torn apart by contradictions and enmity.

On 20 February, 1997, the participants of the Assembly of Bishops made a pilgrimage to the shrines of Moscow, amongst them the Kremlin Temples. A significant event took place in the Dormition Cathedral of the Kremlin (the official and traditional cathedral of the Metropolitans and Patriarchs of Moscow) : for the first time since Patriarch Adrian in 1700, a Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church ascended as Patriarch to the Patriarchal Throne (see "JMP", no. 3 (1997), p. 77). After the time of Patriarch Adrian there was no patriarch because of the "reforms" of Tsar Peter I. Instead, there had been a committee chaired by a metropolitan.

Because of the Bolshevik Revolution of October, 1917, the Dormition Cathedral had already been closed to the Church by the time when the patriarchate was restored and when Saint Patriarch Tikhon (Belavin) was chosen.

Opposition within the Russian Orthodox Church

Because human beings are as they are, there is not always unanimity, nor does every leader have the complete confidence of those who are under his/her authority. Therefore, some activities, views, and policies of Patriarch Aleksey II (such as engaging in dialogue with representatives of other religious groups and publicly condemning antisemitism) were met with opposition by some in the Russian Orthodox Church. While he had served as an archbishop and metropolitan, he had been one of the presidents of the Conference of European Churches (CEC) from 1964. In March, 1987, he had been elected President of the CEC Presidium and Advisory Committee, and he had remained in this responsibility until November, 1990. Patriarch Aleksey II responded by saying that such people do not represent the official position of the Church, but rather that they expressed their own private views as free citizens instead.

Distance from the burial of the murdered Royal Family, 1998

In July, 1998, Patriarch Aleksey decided not to be present and to serve in the Peter and Paul Sobor of Saint Petersburg at the burial of the royal family within the Saints Peter and Paul Fortress. The royal family had been executed by the Bolsheviks in 1918. This burial, which was for the most part an event organised by the government, was attended by president Boris Yeltsin. Patriarch Aleksey cited doubts about the authenticity of the remains, although there may have been other reasons as well.

In February, 1999, the Russian Orthodox Church and the Russian public celebrated the 70th anniversary of the birth of Patriarch Aleksey. The birthday celebrations were a major event in the life of the country. In order to congratulate the Primate, archpastors and pastors of the Russian Church, prominent statesmen and political figures of various trends and parties, outstanding scientists, writers, and artists gathered at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, where the anniversary was celebrated.

Pascha, 1999, at Holy Epiphany Cathedral, Moscow

Patriarch Aleksey chaired the Conference of the Christian Interconfessional Consultative Committee “Jesus Christ is the Same Yesterday and Today and for Ever — Christianity on the Threshold of the Third Millennium” in 1999, and the Interreligious Peace Forum held in Moscow in 2000.

Re-opening of closed Temples and monasteries, construction of new Temples and monasteries

Through the efforts of Patriarch Aleksey, the majority of Orthodox Temples in Russia were returned to the Church. The most famous example of this was the return of the Temple of Christ the Saviour in Moscow, which had been demolished in 1931 in a barbarous manner. In its reconstruction and visibility, it became a symbol of the revival of the Russian Church in the 1990s. The restoration of the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour replaced the original edifice. The patriarch and Yuriy M Luzhkov, Mayor of Moscow, headed this truly nationwide cause.

The reconstruction was accomplished by using concrete rather than stones. This method allowed for a rapid construction which was able to repeat the form of the original ; hower, this method using concrete provided an even stronger structure.

Christ the Saviour Cathedral, Moscow

On Pascha, 1995, Patriarch Aleksey, concelebrating with a host of archpastors and pastors, celebrated the first liturgical service, Paschal Vespers, in the restored Temple. On 31 December, 1999, the Patriarch performed a "small sanctification" ("thyronyxia", that is, dedication) of the upper Temple of the Nativity of Christ.

In August, 1999, Russian President Boris Yeltsin picked an apparently undistinguished bureaucrat, Vladimir Putin, to be prime minister.

Patriarch Aleksey (Ridiger) with President Yeltsin and Prime Minister Putin, 1999

In the week of 28 April, 2000, during Bright Week after the Feast of Pascha, which coincided with the celebration of the 55th anniversary of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War, Patriarch Aleksey was together with the President of Russia Mr. V V Putin ; the President of Ukraine, Mr. L D Kuchma, and the President of Belarus Mr. A G Lukashenko. After the Divine Liturgy at the Memorial Church of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul on Prokhorov Field (south of Kursk), and after prayers for all who laid down their lives for the Fatherland, the Patriarch sanctified the Unity Bell of the 3 fraternal Slavic peoples.

Inauguration of President Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, 2000

On 7 May, 2000, in the Kremlin Sobor of the Annunciation, on the day of the presidential inauguration of Vladimir V Putin, Patriarch Aleksey presented him with an icon of Saint Alexander Nevsky. Clearly, the choice of this icon was considered very carefully in advance.

The elements of this first inauguration solidified in a symbolic way the Church’s increasingly dominant role as the pre-eminent religious institution in Russian society. The Patriarch was not only prominently present at the inauguration in a seat of honour, but also he formally blessed the new Russian president with the sign of the Cross in the Name of the Holy Trinity. These visible indications show how quickly the Church and State in Russia had moved towards the traditional relationship of "symphony".

Conversation with President V V Putin

Jubilee Assembly of Bishops, 2000

On 13 August, 2000, the Jubilee Assembly of Bishops took place in the year of the celebration of the 2000th anniversary of the Nativity of Christ. It was convened in the newly-constructed Hall of the Church Assemblies (Hall of the Sobors) at Christ the Saviour Temple.

Hall of the Sobors (Assemblies), Moscow

On the first day of the Council, Patriarch Aleksey delivered a detailed report in which he analysed, deeply and realistically, almost all aspects of contemporary life and the activities of the Russian Orthodox Church. Patriarch Aleksey described the state of diocesan and parish life in the Russian Church as being generally satisfactory. The main result of the Assembly (in which 144 bishops took part) was the decision to glorify 1,154 saints, including 867 New-Martyrs and Confessors of Russia, also including the last Russian Emperor Nicholas II and his family (as "Passion-bearers"). The Council established a general Church-wide veneration for 230 martyrs for the Faith who had been previously glorified for local veneration. In addition, the Assembly glorified 57 ascetics of the 16th-20th centuries.

A new version of the “Constitution of the Russian Orthodox Church” was approved, which, according to Patriarch Aleksey, "should be the basis and programme for the further improvement" of Church life. “It is very important”, the Patriarch noted, “that the norms of the Charter are not only approved by the Council, but also actually implemented in the life of our Church. It is especially important to strengthen the connexion of each parish with its diocesan administration, and the dioceses with the central administration as well as amongst themselves. This particular version of the constitution had been legally promulgated on 20 November, 1998. It would be refined futher in the future.

An important event was the adoption of the “Fundamentals of the Social Concept of the Church”, which "formulates the responses of the Church to the challenges of the era at the turn of the century".

The Assembly of Bishops adopted special decisions with regard to the situation of the Orthodox Church in Ukraine and Estonia.

The assembly concluded on 18 August, 2000.

Summary of Church development

The closest co-workers of the Patriarch in the exercise of the highest Church administration are the permanent members of the Holy Synod. From March, 1997, to August, 2000, 23 meetings of the Holy Synod took place, in which, in addition to the permanent members, 42 diocesan bishops took part.

The expansion of the sphere of activity of the ROC required the creation of new synodal departments and institutions : in 1991, departments for religious education and catechesis and for Church charity and social service were established ; in 1995, a department for interaction with the Armed Forces and law enforcement agencies and the Missionary Department ; in 1996, the Church-Academic Centre of the Russian Orthodox Church published the "Orthodox Encyclopedia". New commissions were formed : Biblical (1990), Theological (1993), Monastic Affairs (1995), Economic and Humanitarian Affairs (1997), Historical and Legal (2003).

In 1990, the All-Church Orthodox Youth Movement was created.

During 1989-2000, the number of dioceses of the Russian Orthodox Church increased from 67 to 130 ; the number of monasteries, from 21 to 545 ; the number of parishes increased almost 3 times and approached 20,000. The number of clergy also changed significantly as it increased from 6,893 to 19,417. Over the years of his episcopal service, Patriarch Aleksey headed 70 episcopal ordinations : 13 when he was Metropolitan of Leningrad and Novgorod, and more than 57 when he was Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia. In 2000, the ROC numbered about 80,000,000 persons.

Archpastoral activities of Patriarch Aleksey

A characteristic feature of the primatial service of Patriarch Aleksey was the numerous visits to the dioceses. He began the archpastoral visits with a trip to the "northern capital" (that is, Saint Petersburg) immediately after his enthronement. During the first year of his primatial service, Vladyka Patriarch visited 15 dioceses. He served the Divine Liturgy and other services not only in cathedrals, but also in parishes remote from the diocesan centre, and in newly-opened monasteries. He met with local leaders and with the public. He visited higher and secondary schools, military units, nursing homes, prisons, as he brought joy and comfort to people. In subsequent years, he continued to give this sort of archpastoral attention to all the regions under his responsibility.

For example, over the course of 5 years, he visited more than 40 dioceses. In 1997, he travelled to the dioceses (eparchies) of Elista, Murmansk, Vilna, Yaroslavl, Kazan, Odessa, Vienna, and Vladimir. In addition, he made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, where he led the celebrations on the occasion of the celebration of the 150th anniversary of the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in Jerusalem.

In 1998, there were visits to the dioceses of Tambov, Saint Petersburg, Minsk, Polotsk, Vitebsk, Kaluga, and Voronezh.

In 1999, he visited the dioceses of Krasnodar, Tula, Kaluga, Saint Petersburg (with a visit to the Holy Transfiguration Valaam Monastery), Syktyvkar, Arkhangelsk, Rostov, Penza, Samara, and Krasnoyarsk.

In 2000, he visited the dioceses of Belgorod, Saint Petersburg, Petrozavodsk, Saransk, Nizhny Novgorod, Chelyabinsk, and Yekaterinburg ; Tokyo, Kyoto, Sendai in the Japanese Autonomous Church ; the Vladivostok and Khabarovsk dioceses in the Far East, and also the Diveyevo Monastery and the Valaam Monastery.

In 2001, he travelled to visit in Baku, Brest, Pinsk, Turov, Gomel, Cheboksary, Tobolsk, Saint Petersburg, Kaluga, Tula, Petrozavodsk, and others. All these activities were in addition to the very active daily schedule of meetings and other responsibilities in the main offices in Moscow (such as serving the Divine Liturgy, regular meetings with various officials, receiving visitors from abroad, blessing the transfers of clergy, signing a multitude of documents, and much more).

From June, 1990, to December, 2001, Patriarch Aleksey visited 88 dioceses of the Russian Orthodox Church, and he sanctified 168 Temples. On 23 March, 1990, for the first time after the many decades of the ban on religious processions outside the walls of the Temple, a Cross-procession with Holy Icons, led by Patriarch Aleksey, took place. It proceeded from the Dormition Cathedral in the Moscow Kremlin, through the walls of the Kremlin, along Moscow streets to the Temple of the "Great" Ascension at Nikitsky Gate Square.

Sanctification of Christ the Saviour Cathedral, Moscow, 2000

After the conclusion of the Jubilee Assembly of the Russian Orthodox Church (13-18 August, 2000), on 19 August, 2000, the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow (rebuilt as a replica of the original) was sanctified on the Feast-day of the Holy Transfiguration.

This historic service was led by Patriarch Aleksey II (Ridiger), and it was attended by Primates of the Autocephalous Orthodox Churches : Patriarch and Catholicos Ilia II (Ghudushauri-Shiolashvili) of All Georgia ; Patriarch Pavle (Stojčević) of Serbia ; Patriarch Maxim (Minkov) of Bulgaria ; Archbishop Chrysostomos (Aristodimou) of Cyprus ; Archbishop Anastasios (Yannoulatos) of Tirana and All Albania ; Metropolitan Nicholas (Kotsvar) of the Czech Lands and Slovakia ; representatives of other Autocephalous Churches : Archbishop Demetrius (Trakatellis) of America (Patriarchate of Constantinople) ; Metropolitan Irenaeus (Talambekos) of Pelusium (Patriarchate of Alexandria) ; Bishop Niphon (Saikali) of Philippopolis (Patriarchate of Antioch) : Archbishop Benedict (Tsekouras) of Gaza (Patriarchate of Jerusalem) ; Metropolitan Ambrose (Lenis) of Kalavryta and Aegialeia (Church of Greece) ; Archbishop Jeremiah (Ankhimiuk) of Wroclaw and Szczecin (Polish Church) ; Archbishop Herman (Swaiko) of Philadelphia and Eastern Pennsylvania (Orthodox Church in America). They all led delegations from their Churches. A guest who was present for the celebrations was the Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians Karekin II.

Following the Sanctification, the first Patriarchal Divine Liturgy in the new building was served. In all, more than 200 bishops from Russia and from most of the autocephalous Orthodox Churches throughout the world (including the heads of 8 Churches) participated in these services.

Besides the more than 10,000 persons in the Temple, there were tens of thousands of people who stood outdoors around the cathedral.

High Place at Christ the Saviour Cathedral

The original cathedral had been constructed at ground level. The reconstructed cathedral, a replica of the first, was different in that beneath the new structure there is a lower floor with a somewhat smaller Temple and baptistry. In addition to this Temple beneath the cathedral, an apartment for the patriarch, a very large banquet-hall, and other rooms were included. Beside cathedral, a special auditorium was created (accessible from the cathedral by an underground passage). Called the Hall of the Sobors (Church Assemblies), it was designed in so as to accommodate meetings of the bishops and other large gatherings.

Original Cathedral (before 1931 demolition) (left) ; Reconstructed Cathedral (right)

Glorification of New-Martyrs and Confessors and the Passion-bearing Royal Family, 2000

Under Patriarch Aleksey’s leadership, the All-Russian Council of 2000 glorified Tsar Nicholas II and his family (executed by the Bolsheviks) as “Passion-bearers”, and also a host of New-Martyrs (who had suffered for the Faith in Soviet times). More names continued to be added to the list of 860 New-Martyrs and Confessors glorified by name on this day, as the Synodal Canonisation Commission completes its investigation of each case. The focus of this glorification was on 19-20 August, 2000.

On 20 August, 2000, at the Patriarchal Divine Liturgy in the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, Patriarch Aleksey II led the service, along with 70 bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church, with a large number of bishops and priests who were representatives of the fraternal Local Orthodox Churches, as well as about 400 clergy from Moscow and the Moscow region.

Patriarch Aleksey II then led the service of the Glorification of the New-martyrs and Confessors of Russia, together with the glorification of the Passion-bearing family of Tsar Nicholas II. Again the cathedral was filled, and again there were tens of thousands of people standing outdoors. This time, they participated actively during the outdoor procession, as they held aloft icons of martyrs and of Saint Tsar Nicholas and his family.

After the completion of the glorification of the saints (and a brief repast), the bishops were transported by buses to the Alexander Palace of the Moscow Kremlin for a meeting with Patriarch Aleksey II and President Vladimir V Putin. This was just at the time of the crisis of the sinking of the Kursk submarine on 12 August ; therefore, the session of questions and answers was preceded by the president's televised statement to the Russian people about the status of the situation. The session with the bishops lasted for about 2 hours, during which President Putin received and answered a large number of questions from both the Russian bishops and the bishops and clergy who represented other Orthodox Churches world-wide.

President V V Putin addressed Patriarch Aleksey :

 The Russian Orthodox Church plays a huge role in the spiritual gathering of Russian lands after a 
 long period of unbelief, moral devastation, and theomachism.  There is not only the restoration of 
 destroyed Temples.  The traditional mission of the Church is being restored as a key factor in 
 social stability and the unification of Russians around common moral priorities : justice and 
 patriotism, peace-making and charity, creative work and family values.  Despite the fact that you 
 had a chance to navigate the Church ship in a difficult and contradictory time, the past decade 
 has become a unique era of a real revival of the moral foundations of society.  At this crucial 
 moment in our national history, millions of our fellow citizens listen with deep respect to your 
 firm, heartfelt word of the pastor.  The Russians are grateful to you for your prayers, for your 
 patronage, for the strengthening of civil peace in the country, for the harmonisation of 
 interethnic and interreligious relations 
 ('Pravoslavnaya Moskva', no. 12 (222) (2000), p. 2).  

In his report at the Jubilee Assembly of Bishops in 2000, Patriarch Aleksey described the current condition of Church-state relations as follows :

 The Patriarchal See maintains constant contact with the highest state authorities of the 
 Russian Federation, other countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States and the 
 Baltic States, parliamentarians, and regional leaders.  In the course of conversations with 
 heads of states, governments, deputies, heads of various departments, I try invariably to raise 
 the pressing problems of Church life, as well as talk about the troubles and needs of the people, 
 about the need to create peace and harmony in society.  As a rule, I find understanding, and I 
 see subsequently the good fruits of maintaining Church-state relations at the highest level.  I 
 meet regularly with the leaders of far-abroad countries, their ambassadors accredited in Moscow, 
 heads of foreign Churches and religious organisations, leadership of intergovernmental 
 structures.  I am not afraid to say that these contacts contribute largely to strengthening the 
 authority of our Church in the world, its involvement in global social processes, and the 
 organisation of the life of the Russian Orthodox diaspora. 

Patriarch Aleksey did not perceive the Church-state relationship as some sort of merger or subordination ; but rather, as co-operation in solving many socially significant problems.

Visit of Patriarch Pavle of Serbia, 2002

On 20 January, 2002, Patriarch Pavle (Stojčević) of Serbia arrived in Moscow to visit the Russian Orthodox Church at the invitation of the Unity of Orthodox Nations Foundation. Patriarch Aleksey II of Moscow and All Russia and members of the Holy Synod met the Primate of the Serbian Church at the Sheremetyevo Airport. The Primate of the Serbian Orthodox Church was accompanied by Metropolitan Amfilohije (Radović) of Crna Gora and Primorje ; Bishop Justin (Stefanović) of Timpok ; by Protosyngel Antony (Pantelić) (the assigned Rector of the Representation Temple of the Serbian Church in Moscow) ; and also by Priest Vitaly Tarasjev, Rector of the Representation Temple of the Russian Orthodox Church in Belgrade.

Patriarch Aleksey II and Patriarch Pavle II

Patriarch Aleksey II at the working-residence (left) ; Patriarch Aleksey II with the nuns at the working-residence, 2004 (right)

Return of the Wonder-Working Icon of the Theotokos of Tikhvin, 2004

In 23 June, 2004, the Wonder-working Tikhvin Icon of the Theotokos was returned to Russia from the USA, where it had been kept since the time of its rescue at the end of World War II. This Holy Icon had been venerated in many parishes throughout the USA and in several Canadian parishes because Archbishop John (Garklavs) had shared this blessing periodically with the rest of the North American Faithful. Patriarch Aleksey II received the Holy Icon at the entrance to Christ the Saviour Cathedral from the delegation of bishops and clergy from The Orthodox Church in America which had accompanied the Wonder-working Icon on the return journey from Chicago through Riga, Latvia, to Moscow. Patriarch Aleksey II led the multitude of clergy and Faithful in prayer before the Holy Icon within the cathedral. Then, several days were allowed for the veneration of the Icon by the Faithful.

Then, on 29 June, the Icon was taken in procession past Saint Basil's Cathedral and the Moscow Kremlin, to the Sobor of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God in Red Square. After services there (in the presence of many thousands), the Icon was transported away through the nearby Resurrection Gate, to the railway station, and to Saint Petersburg, and then to the Tikhvin Monastery.

Akathist with the Icon in Christ the Saviour Cathedral

Procession with the Icon to Red Square

Moscow Kremlin

Saint Basil Sobor, Red Square

Sobor of Our Lady of Kazan Icon, Red Square

Resurrection Gate, Red Square

Red Square, Moscow

In February, 2007, a controversy erupted when Bishop Diomid (Dzuban) of Chukotka, condemned the hierarchy of the Russian Orthodox Church, and Patriarch Aleksey II personally for “ecumenism”, for supporting democracy, and for misguided loyalty to the Russian secular authorities. Bishop Diomid also took the position that taxpayer identification cards, mobile phones, passports, vaccination, and globalisation were tools of the antichrist. He opined also that the leaders of the Russian Orthodox Church have “departed from the purity of the Orthodox dogma” in their support of the Russian government and of democracy, as well as ecumenism with other confessions. After a decision of the All-Russian Council (and because of Bishop Diomid’s refusal to appear), he was deposed from the Holy Episcopate in July, 2008.

Reconciliation of ROCOR and the Moscow Patriarchate, 2006, 2007

From 6-14 May, 2006, Metropolitan Laurus (Škurla) chaired the 4th All-Diaspora Council of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia (ROCOR), in San Francisco, California, USA. At this meeting, approval was given for the reconciliation and normalisation of relations with the Moscow Patriarchate.

On 17 May, 2007, the Feast of the Ascension of Christ, Metropolitan Laurus (Škurla), along with many of the clergy of ROCOR, participated in the signing of the “Act of Canonical Communion” in Moscow, Russia. Together with this signing, Metropolitan Laurus participated in serving the Patriarchal Divine Liturgy with the Patriarch of Moscow, Aleksey II, at Christ the Saviour Cathedral in Moscow, Russia. Thus, there came about throughout the world a healing of the schism that began after the Bolshevik Revolution. Nevertheless, a very small minority of communities decided to resist, and to enter another schism.

Reconciliation, healing the schism

This act allowed almost all the ROCOR parishes and clergy in Canada to enter Eucharistic communion with the Moscow Patriarchate, and with the rest of the canonical Orthodox Churches in the country, and throughout the world. A few small groups remained in schism.

However, in advance of this major event in 2007, there were attempts to inhibit the progress. Certain persons began to spread rumours that the patriarch was in grave condition and even dead. However, later, this was shown to have been a hoax. Patriarch Aleksey retorted : “As you can see, I’m healthy ; I’m serving ; I’m alive”. Despite his age, he appeared to be healthy, and he had been leading an active pastoral life. He had been seen frequently on Russian television, conducting Church services, and meeting with various government officials.

Patriarch Aleksey and Metropolitan Laurus

Patriarch Aleksey II had complicated relations with Pope John Paul II and the Roman Catholic Church. There was a dispute with the Roman Catholics over the property rights of the Greek-Catholic Church in Ukraine. This controversy arose when the Uniat Church in Ukraine was freed from Soviet control after the Gorbachev liberalisation of Russia. Nevertheless, the patriarch did have a good relationship with Latin-rite Christians (Roman Catholics) in France, and he was friends with Cardinal Roger Etchegaray, who invited him to France (2 October, 2007) shortly before the patriarch’s repose.

Patriarch Aleksey II affirmed repeatedly the traditional stand of the Orthodox Church. He opposed the open display of homosexuality in Russia, and in particular, he opposed "gay parades" in Moscow and Saint Petersburg. The Church, according to the Patriarch, “has supported invariably the institution of the family and condemns untraditional relations, seeing them as a vicious deviation from God-given human nature”. He also said, “I am convinced that gays’ desire to organise a parade in Moscow will not help to strengthen the family as the foundation of a strong state”. He also said that homosexuality is an illness, and a distortion of the human personality like kleptomania. In addition, Patriarch Aleksey issued statements condemning anti-Semitism.

His was a very difficult path to tread. Despite his failing health, he travelled, and he served liturgically without pausing. In every aspect of his life, he served Christ in the Church. Always, he was leading and feeding the rational sheep given into his care. He spread joy and hope. As a result, he was always surrounded by those wishing only to be near him, to hear him preach, to hear him teach. So it was that people would go out of their way to be in the place where he would be serving.

Throughout his episcopal service, Patriarch Aleksey presided at 83 episcopal ordinations (more than 70 after his election to the patriarchal throne), ordained more than 400 priests, and almost an equal number of deacons.

The Patriarch’s private residence (located in the village of Lukino (near Peredelkino, now a western suburb of Moscow) had been greatly renovated, and it was fully functioning again in 2005. It includes a 17th-century church, a museum, and a spacious 3-storey house built in the late 1990s. According to the patriarch’s interview of May, 2005, at the residence’s compound, it was nuns drawn from the Pühtitsa Women’s Monastery who took care of all the household chores. Although there was frequent contact with the patriarch, few if any of the nuns were able to understand the true magnitude of his responsibilities and labours. One of them once commented that he never used the exercise facilities provided, but that he did work far into the night. It was her perception that, simply, he liked to work. However, in his home-office, there was an array of communication devices which allowed him to participate in various diocesan meetings and in conversations with other bishops across all the 11 time-zones (now reduced to 9). It was not so much a case of enjoying work or being addicted to work, but rather, in the older English expression, “needs must”.

The shepherd with a kid at Peredelkino

The shepherd with other animals

There was also a working residence in central Moscow — a 19th-century town mansion on Clean Street, which had been turned over to the patriarchate by Mr. J Stalin’s order in September, 1943.

Both residences acted as living quarters and the patriarch’s office at the same time. He commuted in an armoured car, and he was under the protection of Federal Protective Service (FSO) agents from January, 2000.

The formal residence (now infrequently used for some official functions) is located in the Moscow Danilov Monastery : a 2-storey Soviet-style building erected in the 1980s.

On 1 November, 2008, Patriarch Aleksey II participated in what was to be his last interview. During this interview, he commented about his personal role in recent history that :

 I had to establish a completely new relationship between the state and the Church, which was not in the history 
 of Russia, because the Church was not separated from the state, the emperor was the head of the Church, and all 
 the decisions that were made on Church matters came from his office. Now, a completely new relationship has been 
 established, when the Church makes Her own decisions and is responsible for Her actions before Her conscience, 
 history, people.

Repose, 2008

Patriarch Aleksey II (Ridiger) fell asleep in the Lord suddenly, at night, at his home at the Peredelkino residence on 5 December, 2008 (reportedly of heart failure). There were various other unconfirmed rumours that something else had occurred. Later, the original report was confirmed.

On 7 December, 2008, Russian President Dmitry A Medvedev issued a decree which “enjoined” that on the day of the Patriarch’s burial, Russia’s cultural establishments and broadcasters should cancel entertaining programmes and that assistance be furnished to the Patriarchate on the part of the federal and city governments for the organisation of the burial. However, the order did not amount to a formal national mourning.

Funeral services

On 9 December, 2008, the Memorial Divine Liturgy was served by the bishops of the Moscow Patriarchate only. After the service was completed, then followed the Order for the Burial of a Hierarch (funeral service) for the newly-departed patriarch. This was presided over by Patriarch Bartholomew I (Archontonis) at the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour. Patriarch Bartholomew found a compassionate way to preside (without actually serving) while allowing the Russian Holy Synod to serve in their usual manner. [Because he is "first amongst equals", the Patriarch of Constantinople could insist on the right of seniority, but Patriarch Bartholomew did not do so.] This service was co-served by the Locum-Tenens of the Patriarchal Throne, Metropolitan Kirill (Gundyaev), several patriarchs and heads of Autocephalous Orthodox Churches, together with more than 200 bishops (some of them representing other Orthodox Churches) and many presbyters and deacons as well.

Other Christians were represented, including the Catholicos of All Armenians Kerekin II ; representatives of the Roman Catholic Church and of the Anglican Church ; as well as representatives of Protestant churches from various European countries.

The service was attended by President Dmitry Medvedev, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, by members of the Russian government, State Duma deputies, senators, by heads of the country's regions, and by leaders of several foreign states (Belarus, Moldova, Serbia, South Ossetia and Abkhazia). In addition to them, Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna, head of the Romanov House, was present.

After the conclusion of the funeral services (and in accordance with his will), the body of Patriarch Aleksey II (Ridiger) was transported to the Epiphany Cathedral at Yelokhovo in Moscow, where it was entombed in the crypt of the cathedral, in the southern chapel.

Archbishops bear the coffin towards the entombment

(at the fore are Archbishop Sergei (Genitsky) of Ternopil and Archbishop Feodor (Gayun) of Kamenets-Podilsk)

— Bishop of Tallinn and Estonia 1961-1964. Preceded by Metropolitan John (Alekseyev). Succeeded by Metropolitan Cornelius (Yacobs).

— Archbishop of Tallinn and Estonia 1964-1968.

— Metropolitan of Tallinn and Estonia 1968-1986.

— Metropolitan of Novgorod and Leningrad 1986-1990. Preceded by Metropolitan Anthony (Melikov). Succeeded by Metropolitan John (Snychev).

— Patriarch of Moscow and all Rus’ 1990-2008. Preceded by : Patriarch Pimen (Izvekov). Succeeded by : Patriarch Kirill (Gundyaev).

Reflections

During the funeral service in the Christ the Saviour Cathedral (which was telecast live by Russia’s state television channels), after Kathisma XVII had been chanted and Metropolitan Kirill (Gundyaev) had begun incensing round about the coffin, he appeared to totter somewhat. Then, supported by 2 bishops, he was ushered into the Altar and he was absent for about an hour. Reuters reported : “Kirill was helped away by aides at one point and a Kremlin official said he had apparently fainted. The metropolitan later rejoined the funeral”. The ROC official spokesman Vsevolod Chaplin responded sharply that the news media had reported the incident “incorrectly”. He insisted that Metropolitan Kirill had not fainted, but that he had merely “felt unwell”. Indeed, the preceding Divine Liturgy was long, and the pause afterwards was brief. The funeral service was also lengthy. The stress of those days was very heavy. Many seem not to take such details into their consideration.

Archimandrite Zacchaeus (Wood) (the Orthodox Church in America's Representative in Moscow at that time) reported that at the memorial supper on the evening of the funeral, there were several speeches delivered. Patriarch Bartholomew (Archontonis) and Metropolitan Kirill (Gundyaev) both spoke. They were followed by President Dmitry Medvedev, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, and Mayor Yuriy Luzhkov of Moscow. President Dmitry Anatoliyevich Medvedev said :

 The patriarch's role in bringing people to Orthodoxy after the fall of communism was great.  He allowed those 
 who were baptised in the 1990s (as was the president himself) to feel fully a part of the Church.  
 Patriarch Aleksey united the secular world and the Church world in a blessed harmony, as he also brought 
 harmony to those of different religions within Russia — Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, and Orthodox Christians.  
 The loss of the patriarch is a loss for the entire nation. 

Then Prime Minister Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin recalled that in his opinion,

 the most important accomplishment during the patriarch's life was to bring healing to the horrendous schism 
 within Russian Orthodoxy — that is, the return of the Church Abroad to being a part the Moscow Patriarchate.  
 I believe that the patriarch's life can be summed up as having been a life of striving for unity amongst all.  
 Even in his death, this legacy continues because in this hall are Roman Catholics, Orthodox Christians, Jews, 
 and Muslims, all honouring his memory.  A great patriarch of Russia, he was loved by Russians both here and 
 abroad.  His kind eyes revealed the greatness of the man.  

Similar words were spoken by the Mayor of Moscow, Yuri Mikhailovich Luzhkov.

The presence of so many people during all the services, the private comments that were voiced, and the attitude of all reveal clearly the significance of Patriarch Aleksey II. It was reported on television that about 100,000 persons passed by the dais in the cathedral during the days before the funeral. A survey revealed that people had travelled from all over Russia to pay their respects in this manner. The length of the queue in waiting to pay these respects was reminiscent of the queues at the time of the veneration of the newly-returned Tikhvin Icon of the Theotokos. Archimandrite Zacchaeus (Wood) commented that during interviews on television, many people were saying that although they had never met Patriarch Aleksey II in person, nevertheless, they felt close to him because they had listened to his words in his many talks, speeches, sermons, and formal and informal interviews. They felt as though he were a part of their family.

The patriarch standing at the Holy Table

Metropolitan Philip (Saliba) wrote of him :

 Patriarch ALEXY lived in two worlds, one under the Soviet oppression of the Church and the other whereby he 
 led the Church from glory to glory after the fall of Soviet rule.  I have no doubt that this will be his 
 legacy.  The courage he showed by leading the nation through a difficult time that could have led to civil war 
 when he addressed the country in the midst of the night, in the midst of darkness at 1:42 a.m. on August 21st, 
 1991, will stand out as one of the greatest addresses of the 20th century.  Out of this darkness, his address to 
 the nation became a new light of hope for a new nation.  Like the captain of a great ship, he guided the 
 Russian Orthodox Church through troubled waters, rejecting those who would take the Church backwards to 
 pre-revolutionary monarchist times, and at the same time rejecting those who would liberalise the Church and 
 make it something other than it had always been. At the same time, he capably oversaw the rebuilding and 
 restoration of thousands of churches and monasteries, the re-education of the faithful and the clergy and the
 reestablishment of the Church as a great force in the Russian Federation. His untiring work which led to the 
 reunification of ROCOR and the Russian Orthodox Church is yet another example of his bold leadership. 

Archbishop Lazar (Puhalo) of Dewdney, British Columbia, Canada, wrote of him :

 The measure of the life of His Holiness Patriarch Alexei II is difficult to assess.  During the 
 Communist era he led his diocese and then his archdiocese in such a way that he could truly say 'by 
 faith we passed through the Red Sea'.  The Russian people by the tens of thousands were willing 
 to hazard and even to give up their lives for the name of Jesus Christ and His Gospel.  This is 
 a people who have proved themselves in the fire and who deserve the respect and reverence of all.
 
 For a hierarch serving in the Soviet era, maintaining the precarious balance between acceptance 
 and destruction by the Soviet authorities took a heavy emotional and physical toll.  On the one 
 hand, the sincere desire to maintain and strengthen the faith, and on the other, the need to 
 soothe the government so it would not destroy every church and imprison every priest, took an 
 enormous amount of faith, courage, diplomacy, and the risk of freedom and life.
 
 Following the collapse of the Soviet regime, the rebuilding task was staggering.  How did one get 
 the alienated, often half-destroyed church property returned, and the sites of those churches 
 that were in ruin ? The military was still officered by generals and high ranking men and women 
 who were products of the Soviet era, many of whom were members of the Communist Party. 
 Formidable though it was, Patriarch Alexei, by patient but unyielding labour, and exquisite 
 diplomacy, managed not only to rebuild churches and monasteries, but also to re-institute 
 military and hospital chaplaincies, often in the face of strong objections from the generals and 
 admirals.  He led in the restoration of prison ministries, the opening of orphanages and alms-
 houses supported and operated by the Orthodox Church.  Seminaries were rebuilt and flooded with 
 students ; monasteries, the very heart of Orthodoxy in every nation, were rebuilt, lands 
 returned, and the monasteries have once again become centres of charity outreach.
 
 One must acknowledge all those, both clergy and laity, who participated in all this great 
 spiritual rebirth, but we must especially reverence His Holiness.  During the Soviet era, he 
 placed himself in the breach and became a moral martyr in balancing the compromises necessary for 
 the physical survival of the Church with both pastoral care for his flock and loyalty to the 
 Gospel.  As Patriarch, he was under even more heavy a burden, and after the fall of Communism, he 
 gave the last of his strength and life to the rebuilding and rebirth of the faith in Russia.
 
 It is a tribute to him, and to the Russian people who have come to Canada and blessed our 
 homeland with the presence of those who have confessed the faith in the face of persecution, 
 prison, and the risk of death for the sake of the Gospel, that we serve a Russian Liturgy in our 
 monastery once a month.  Many of the Russians who are here for the Liturgy on that day saw their 
 fathers, mothers, grandparents, brothers, sisters and other relatives, martyred for the faith, 
 and stood ready to follow in their footsteps.  How could we not reverence such people ? At the 
 head of all, stood His Holiness, Alexei II, Patriarch and Confessor of Moscow and All-Russia.
 
 Glory and honour to him both in this age and in the age to come. Let his memory be from 
 generation to generation. 

The web-site of the OCA Representation Church in Moscow reported :

 On Tuesday, 9 December, 2008, His Eminence, Archbishop Seraphim of Ottawa and Canada, Chairman 
 of the Office of External Affairs and Inter-Church Relations, of The Orthodox Church in America 
 joined His All Holiness, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople, the Primates of the 
 Orthodox Churches of Georgia, Romania, Greece, Albania and the Czech lands and Slovakia, together 
 with representatives of all Local Autocephalous Orthodox Churches and the Holy Synod of Bishops 
 and nearly all hierarchs of the Russian Orthodox Church, in concelebrating the funeral services 
 for the newly-departed and ever memorable Most Holy Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, Aleksei 
 II, at Moscow’s Christ the Savior Cathedral.
 
 Accompanying Archbishop Seraphim as part of the official delegation of The Orthodox Church in 
 America were Archimandrite Zacchaeus, Moscow Representative of The Orthodox Church in America,
 and Archpriest Leonid Kishkovsky, Director of the OCA’s Department of External Affairs. 
 
 Also praying at the funeral were Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, Russian Prime Minister 
 Vladimir Putin, the Presidents of Serbia, Belarus and Moldova ; and senior ranking ministers 
 and other officials of the Russian government as well as ambassadors of foreign nations.
 
 The funeral service took place following the Hierarchical Divine Liturgy that was led by the 
 Locum Tenens of the Russian Orthodox Church, His Eminence, Metropolitan Kyrill of Smolensk and 
 Kaliningrad, together with hierarchs of the Russian Orthodox Church.  The funeral began with a 
 stirring sermon by Metropolitan Kyrill on the life and Patriarchal ministry of His Holiness, 
 Patriarch Aleksei.
 
 At the conclusion of the funeral, the concelebrating Primates of Local Orthodox Churches, 
 hierarchs and clergy offered the last kiss to His Holiness, whose body was then taken in 
 procession to Moscow’s Epiphany Cathedral to be buried.  His body will rest in the Church.
 
 His Eminence, Archbishop Seraphim of Ottawa and Canada offered the official condolences of His 
 Beatitude, Metropolitan Jonah of All America and Canada, the Holy Synod of Bishops, clergy, 
 monastics and Faithful of The Orthodox Church in America at the memorial meal held at Christ 
 the Saviour Cathedral.  

Pastoral attitude of Patriarch Aleksey

In his speeches at Bishops’ Councils and at Moscow diocesan meetings, Patriarch Aleksey addressed concerns about pastoral service and the moral/ethical character of a clergyman. He pointed out the difficulties and shortcomings of modern parish life, the tasks of the clergy (both unchanging and eternal), not dependent on the circumstances of the time, nor dictated by evil of the day. In a speech at a diocesan assembly in December, 1995, Patriarch Aleksey spoke with particular concern about the fact that some clergy do not value Church customs and tradition :

 This leads to voluntary or involuntary distortions of the entire Church life [...] religious-
 democratic pluralism. [...] It is legitimate and fair to speak of religious pluralism in the
 state, but not within the Church. [...] In the Church, it is not democratic pluralism, but the 
 Grace-filled catholicity and freedom of the children of God within the framework of the law and 
 holy canons.  These do not constrain the good purity of freedom, but rather, they put up a 
 barrier to sin and elements alien to the Church. 
 – from the 'Appeal of Patriarch Aleksey II of Moscow and All Russia to the Clergy and Parish 
 Councils of Temples in Moscow at the Diocesan Assembly, 21 December, 1995' (Moscow, 1996, p. 15). 
 
 A misunderstanding of the meaning of the Church hierarchy, which has a Divine establishment, 
 sometimes leads a cleric or a monastic to a dangerous divergence from canon law, to a disastrous 
 state for the soul.  
 – from a report at the Bishops’ Assembly, 2001.

Patriarch Aleksey was attentive to the spiritual aspirations of his flock : both those people who are just coming to faith, and those who have already become stronger in their service to God.

 In the area of ​​organising parish life, the most important attention should be paid to ensuring 
 that people who have found their way recently to the Church do not leave it because of 
 insensitivity and rudeness on the part of parish employees, which, unfortunately, is seen 
 in our parishes.  Everyone who comes to the Temple should find himself in a benevolent 
 environment, should feel the love and care of the believers.  People are repelled from the 
 Church by the careless attitude of clergy to their pastoral duties, by indifference. 
 (From a report at the Bishops’ Assembly in 2000). 

Patriarch Aleksey demanded that the sacrament of Holy Baptism be performed in accordance with the established custom and tradition of the Russian Orthodox Church, and that Baptism be preceded by catechesis. He also called the clergy to abandon the practice of so-called general confession, which had developed. All this testifies to his desire to strengthen the canonical and spiritual life of the parish. While generally assessing the work of the modern parish clergy positively, the Primate drew attention to the insufficient theological education of many priests, and to the lack of necessary life and spiritual experience of many. It was through these shortcomings that he considered that the existence of “young eldership” had developed. Patriarch Aleksey stressed that such purported eldership was associated not with the age of the clergyman, but with the lack of a sober and wise approach to spiritual practice. Protecting his flock from spiritual temptations, the Primate expressed repeatedly his serious concern about the use by some clergy of various innovations that contradict the established Orthodox Church tradition. He cautioned all against the danger of showing unreasonable jealousy.

The Patriarch considered that the care of persons in places of deprivation of liberty (such as prisons) was a sphere of special pastoral responsibility. The Primate was convinced that pastoral service in prisons and colonies (the celebration of the Sacraments, the provision of humanitarian assistance to prisoners) could and should contribute to the correction of people who have once transgressed the law, and in the best way contribute to their return to a full life. During the years of the primacy of Patriarch Aleksey, more than 160 Orthodox Temples and 670 prayer-chapels were created in places of detention and prisons in the Russian Federation alone.

Constantly caring about strengthening fraternal relations between the Local Autocephalous Orthodox Churches, Patriarch Aleksey had a special sympathy for the Serbian Orthodox Church. He provided her with support during the years of suffering of the Serbian people from external aggression. Not only did the Patriarch of Moscow protest repeatedly against the conduct of punitive military operations by the international alliance on the territory of independent Yugoslavia, but also he visited two times the long-suffering Serbian land during these difficult years (1992-1995). He arrived there in 1994, and again in 1999. Through this, he expressed clearly the position of the flock of the Russian Orthodox Church. In the spring of 1999, at the height of the escalation of NATO's military aggression against Yugoslavia], the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia flew to Belgrade (at the very time when it was under bombardment), in order to support the fraternal people through joint prayer. On 20 April, 1999, after the Divine Liturgy in Belgrade, Patriarch Aleksey said :

 We are witnessing blatant lawlessness : a few strong and rich countries, boldly considering 
 themselves to be the world's standard of good and evil, trample on the will of a people who want 
 to live differently.  Bombs and rockets are raining down on this earth not because they are 
 protecting someone.  NATO's military actions have a different goal : to destroy the post-war 
 world order paid for with a lot of blood, and to impose on people an order alien to them, 
 based on the dictates of brute force.  However, injustice and hypocrisy will never win.  
 After all, according to the ancient saying, 'God is not in power, but in truth'.  Let the 
 power of the enemy exceed yours, but on your side, my dear, there is God's help.  This is the 
 meaning of all historical lessons ('JMP', no. 5 (1999), pp. 35-36). 

The firm position of the Russian Orthodox Church and the resolute support by Patriarch Aleksey of the canonical hierarchy of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church and her Primate, Patriarch Maxim (Minkov), helped to overcome the schism in this Orthodox Church. Patriarch Aleksey became one of the initiators of the meeting of the Primates and Hierarchs of the Local Churches in Sofia (30 September-1 October, 1998) for a pan-Orthodox discussion and healing of the schism in Bulgaria.

Criticisms and responses

Following are examples of criticisms which have been directed at Patriarch Aleksey II. Constantly, he was faced with various sorts of criticisms, often cynical criticisms, which would constitute for him an interior martyrdom. It is one thing to be able to provide constructive criticism, but quite another to do so on a limited factual basis, often with speculation. When looking at such things, as indeed when looking at the whole life of the patriarch, it is useful and prudent to pay attention to the whole context of any time and situation. It helps to ask oneself who is saying something, and why might it be being said. There is a constant presence in the life of the patriarch of examples of the work of one who loves selflessly (in Christ). For an Orthodox Christian, a main criterion in discernment (or “litmus test”) is the Dominical saying : “By their fruits you will know them”.

 ‘Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.  You 
 will know them by their fruits.  Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles ?  Even so, every 
 good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit.  A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad 
 tree bear good fruit.  Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.  
 Therefore by their fruits you will know them’ (Matthew 7:15-20).

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, there were accusations levelled that Patriarch Aleksey had ties to the "Committee for State Security" (KHB) (equivalent to the "CIA", the "MI6", and "CSIS") which resulted from documents which came, allegedly, from the KGB’s archives in Estonia, and which refer to Patriarch Aleksey with the code name “Drozdov”. It should be noted that it was very unusual for any person to be referenced in KGB documents prior to 1980 without a similar code name, regardless of any alleged affiliation with the KGB. Patriarch Aleksey has always denied that he was a KGB agent, and the authenticity of the documents in question have been disputed on the basis that they use anachronistic fonts which did not exist at the time the document ostensibly originated from, and that the Estonian government fabricated the documents in order to discredit the Russian Orthodox Church. It may be useful to keep in mind that the godless powers did whatever they considered expedient in order to discredit and disable the Church and her leadership (using untruth, or distortions of truth). This policy was applied also to other religious bodies.

There is a certain irony in the code-name allegedly chosen for Patriarch Aleksey II. "Drozdov" is the family name of one of his predecessors in the 19th century, Metropolitan Philaret (Drozdov), who had been formally recognised as being a saint of the Orthodox Church. Moreover, Patriarch Aleksey had written his Candidate of Theology thesis about the holy metropolitan.

Professor Nathaniel Davis pointed out : “If the bishops wished to defend their people and survive in office, they had to collaborate to some degree with the KGB, with the commissioners of the ‘Council for Religious Affairs’, and with other party and governmental authorities”. In 1965, this council had come into being through the combination of 2 previous councils, the “Council for the Affairs of the Russian Orthodox Church” (CAROC) and the “Council for the Affairs of Religious Cults”. This statement was confirmed by Konstanin Kharchev, former chairman of the Soviet “Council for Religious Affairs”, who explained that : “Not a single candidate for the office of bishop or any other high-ranking office, much less a member of Holy Synod, went through without confirmation by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) and the KGB”.

In harmony with the statement of Professor Davis, Patriarch Aleksey did acknowledge that some compromises had been made with the Soviet government by bishops of the Moscow Patriarchate, and he repented publicly of these compromises :

 Defending one thing, it was necessary to give somewhere else.  Were there any other organisations, or any 
 other people among those who had to carry responsibility not only for themselves but for thousands of other 
 fates, who in those years in the Soviet Union were not compelled to act likewise ? Before those people, 
 however, to whom the compromises, silence, forced passivity or expressions of loyalty permitted by the leaders 
 of the Church in those years caused pain, before these people, and not only before God, I ask forgiveness, 
 understanding, and prayers. 

When asked by the Russian press about claims that he was a “compliant” bishop, Nathaniel Davis replied : “Aleksi defended his record, noting that while he was bishop of Tallinn in 1961, he resisted the communist authorities’ efforts to make the Saint Alexander Nevsky Cathedral in the city a planetarium (which, in truth, they did do elsewhere in the Baltic states), and to convert the Pühtitsa Dormition nunnery to a rest home for miners”. Official records show that during Patriarch Aleksey’s time of service as bishop of Tallin, the Tallinn diocese had a lower number of forced church closings than was typical in the rest of the USSR.

Metropolitan Kallistos (Ware) noted, “Opinions differ over the past collaboration or otherwise between the Communist authorities, but on the whole he is thought to have shown firmness and independence in his dealings as a diocesan bishop with the Soviet State”.

Patriarch Aleksey II

Mixed perceptions of Patriarch Aleksey II expressed after his repose

About the patriarch, Russia’s Prime-minister Vladimir Putin commented : “Patriarch Aleksey II had been a prominent figure in the history of the Russian Orthodox Church, as well as a great statesman [...]. He made a very considerable contribution to relations between various faiths. It would not be an exaggeration to say that he had friendly relations with representatives of all traditional faiths in Russia”. Mr. Putin also acknowledged that Patriarch Aleksey II “did a great deal to help establish a new governance system in Russia”.

Rabbi Arthur Schneier, a leader in the American Jewish community, was asked by Church officials to attend the patriarch’s funeral. In a statement, he said that the patriarch “served as the ethical pulse of the religious community in the former Soviet Union under a regime that neither welcomed nor tolerated people of faith and the leaders of organised religion”.

Toomas Hendrik Ilves, President of Estonia, said : “I will always remember Aleksey II as an especially wise man who was respected by people from the religious and secular worlds alike”.

However, on the day of the repose of the patriarch, the BBC wrote : “Patriarch Alexey II had an extraordinary career, in which he switched from suppressing the Russian Orthodox Church to being its champion. A favourite of the KGB, he was promoted rapidly through the Church hierarchy, doing the Kremlin‘s bidding at a time when dissident priests were thrown into jail. As the Church’s effective foreign minister, he helped cover up the repression of Russian Christians, defending the Soviet system to the outside world. He rose quickly through the ranks, being elected head of the Russian Orthodox Church at a crucial time, in 1990, with the Soviet Union on the path to collapse. Surprisingly, perhaps, he seized the moment, and went on to oversee the revival and flowering of the Church”.

Reflections of the Archpriest Vladimir Vigiliansky (Rector of the Church of Saint Tatiana, Moscow) :

 The first thing I noticed when I had only just met His Holiness the Patriarch, after the first two or three 
 words, was an otherness about his countenance.  He was a different kind of person, even among those of like 
 mind, fellow men of prayer, people of his generation.  I was always trying to understand what was different 
 about him and why, what the nature of this otherness was. Now I can articulate it as follows.
 
 He was unique for his generation, because he was raised outside Russia, outside the Soviet system, outside the 
 context of Soviet life. This was absolutely not the same environment as that in which his generation lived. He
 was born and raised in the emigration, surrounded by bourgeois Estonians and Russian émigrés, belonging to a 
 very well-known noble family that had served the Tsar and Fatherland for many generations. This family was
 different, other, non-Soviet ; he, its offspring, was a nobleman not so much by birth as by inner essence and 
 mentality. And this did not wear off during the following sixty years he spent on the territory of the Soviet 
 Union.
 
 Another feature connected with his biography and also quite important for understanding his cast of mind and 
 understanding of life is that he was a monarchist (as was, incidentally, another émigré : 
 Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh) and from a family of monarchists.  He never overemphasized this fact or spoke 
 of himself as a monarchist, but it is evident from many of his pronouncements as well as from his behaviour.
 
 Moreover, he was the grandson of a White Guardsman who had been executed. His biographical details, to which 
 the Soviet personnel department paid so much attention, were quite out of the ordinary.
 
 Most important, as a youth he made his choice in extreme circumstances. He left Estonia in 1946, leaving 
 behind the family of his parents, to set out on the path of the priesthood and to enter the Leningrad 
 Theological Seminary.  Today this seems completely run-of-the-mill, but in the conditions of 1946 this was a 
 real choice. If we were to retrace the (then) twenty-five year history of the Soviet state, this meant 
 choosing a life of suffering and the crown of martyrdom.
 
 Those who know the history of Russia will understand that in Soviet times the clergy were almost completely 
 wiped out : the majority were shot, many perished in the camps, and very few such people survived.  By 1946 not
 everyone had yet been released from prison : despite Stalin’s favorable attitude to the Church beginning in 
 1943, thousands remained in the camps.  The future Patriarch set out on this path, knowing that the graves of 
 tens of thousands of clergy who had recently suffered had not yet grown over.
 
 He knew that people could express themselves through their professions and thereby be useful to God, people, 
 and the Church.  He tried to make use of people’s professional abilities along lines that were useful for 
 people and the Church.  He ‘fished out’ and gave his blessing to the initiatives of professionals in various 
 fields – educational, cultural, paedagogical, organisational, construction – giving them impetus and helping a 
 great many people. If he saw in people the desire to do something good for the Church, he did not simply 
 support them, but did everything he could for them. He remembered people first in terms of their aspirations, 
 and later in terms of their actions. He might forget the circumstances connected with one person or another, 
 but he would always remember their actions very accurately. During encounters with them he would always 
 remember this.

There is another aspect of “otherness” which is in some ways related to what was written here. Patriarch Aleksey II was a very careful, serious, and focussed celebrant of the Divine Liturgy and other services. People say that he would see everything, and he would not miss any details as his eyes passed over all those serving at a service. He remembered seemingly multitudes of people by name, and details of their lives. He expected a similar serious devotion from those who served and worked along with him. This was because of the spiritual foundation of his life which was simply love for the Lord and love for the neighbour. All his labours in the Church were rooted in this foundation. This love influenced all aspects of his life. His early formation in his family and in the regular monastic pilgrimages bore good fruit.

As is the case with other such persons, this seriousness was accompanied by a subtle sense of humour. He would smile and his eyes would “twinkle” on some occasions. When he was visiting Alaska in 1993, he was given a present of some athletic running shoes by a group of indigenous young people. They had heard that he was having some difficulties with his health, and that he ought to exercise more. The patriarch received this gift with gracious, grandfatherly gratitude, which included both the smile and the twinkling eyes.

The patriarch and a child

In a similar manner to his attitude towards the gifts of young people, Patriarch Aleksey nurtured the new bishops ; he guided them as a father ; he knew the details of their lives and their spiritual struggles, and he supported them. On one occasion, there was a reception in the refectory of Christ the Saviour Cathedral in Moscow after the ordination of a young bishop. Patriarch Aleksey began speaking to those gathered there about the very difficult details of the early life of this young servant of Christ. Under the previous government, he had been left without parents. His father had been a priest, who had been taken away along with his wife, and they had disappeared. He and his siblings had been raised by relatives, and they all persevered valiantly in Christ. The patriarch drew attention to the relatives who were present ; and he encouraged the young bishop to be a loving shepherd. This was a very clear expression of paternal or avuncular love. As he spoke, his lively eyes were adding silently : “That's my boy”. Already, paternal bonds of love existed between them ; and in his public behaviour, he strengthened these bonds, and he let the young bishop know this.

It was told by a visiting protodeacon that on one occasion, when Patriarch Aleksey was entering Christ the Saviour Cathedral in Moscow for a Primatial Divine Liturgy, he noted near the entrance a “babushka” (older woman) whom he knew, and about whose welfare he had a concern. After he had been invested with the mantiya, he made a pause, walked over to her, and he asked the questions he had on his heart. Only then did he return to the centre and continue the formal entrance to the Temple. When he was serving the Divine Liturgy, Patriarch Aleksey knew by heart the prayers. It was usual for him to begin saying the prayers required even before the book-bearer would arrive, and he would say these and all prayers in a voice audible to all those who were near him. He served carefully and without rushing. This sort of attitude and disposition left a strong and positive impression on those who had the blessing to serve together with him and to be near him.

After the Divine Liturgy and Panikhida for Patriarch Aleksey on 5 December, 2010, Metropolitan Hilarion (Alfeyev), head of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department of External Church Relations (DECR), made some pastoral comments, of which the following are presented here :

 The day of one’s birth and death is determined by the Lord Himself.  We will never know why a particular 
 person was born on a particular day, why he lived at a particular time and he died at this, not at that time. 
 The life of His Holiness Patriarch Aleksey from his early childhood to his last day was dedicated to the Church, 
 and each of us can follow the example of his life.  
 
 He served as patriarch for almost twenty years.  During those years, the life of our Church and the countries 
 under our canonical jurisdiction changed so much that we can say together with His Holiness Patriarch Kirill 
 that Patriarch Alexy left behind a Church quite different from that which he had taken in his hands.  He took 
 it exhausted after seventy years of persecution and oppression.  Its revival was only at the beginning.  In 1988, when the 
 Millennium of the Baptism of Russia was celebrated and the Church began to be talked about for the first time, 
 churches continued to be blown up elsewhere in the country.  Recently I have been to a city in Ukraine in 
 which, for the last time, a church was blown up precisely in 1988.  Such was the Church assumed by His Holiness : 
 weakened, not numerous, exhausted by persecution and oppression. 
 
 During the time of his patriarchal office, the situation changed radically as the Church came out of the 
 underground, out of oblivion.  She is present today in all spheres of public life ; there is an unprecedented 
 growth in the number of churches, monasteries and theological schools.  Suffice it to recall that by the end 
 of the 1980s the Russian Orthodox Church had only 18 monasteries, while today there are over 800, and this at 
 a time when the interest in Christianity is alleged to be weakened, when young people are alleged to lose 
 interest in the Church.  And who are those who inhabit these 800 monasteries ? Are they not young monks and 
 nuns ? Who are applicants to theological seminaries and academies, Orthodox universities and institutes ? Are 
 they not young people ?
 
 His Holiness Patriarch Aleksey was a visible and significant figure.  All our society, all our country knew him.
 He had many wonderful qualities.  He might not be a brilliant personality outwardly, not a brilliant preacher, 
 but everyone who was in contact with him, who worked with him, knows how profound was his wisdom and knowledge 
 about all that concerned Church life.  During all the years I was in contact with him, I do not remember a 
 single occasion when I had to explain anything to him.  When I came from England, Belgium, or Austria to tell 
 him about Church affairs, he seemed to know beforehand whatever I was going to tell him.  He gave precise 
 answers ; he remembered everything about the affairs of his dioceses.  Once when I began telling him about the 
 restoration of Saint Nicholas’s Church in Vienna, he asked, ‘But you have another church in the Central 
 Cemetery in Vienna, the church of Saint Lazarus.  What is the situation there ?’  And I thought, there were 
 some 150 dioceses in the Russian Orthodox Church at that time and from several dozens to several hundred 
 churches in each, and the patriarch knew the situation in them in such detail.
 
 He dedicated all this energy to the Church ; he had no private life, and perhaps he died not because of an 
 oversight but because he liked to be alone in the evening and at night, not allowing anybody to come near so 
 that at least at night he could be plunged in prayer and thoughts about God. 
 
 Indeed, four-fifths, if not five-sixths, of the present clergy of the Russian Church were ordained under 
 Patriarch Aleksey II.  Those of us who, like me, were ordained under his predecessor, Patriarch Pimen, are 
 actually a small minority in our Church today. 

Honours and awards

Awards of the Russian Orthodox Church and other local Churches :

• Order of Saints Cyril and Methodius, 1st degree (Czechoslovak Orthodox Church, 20 October, 1962)

• Order of Saint Prince Vladimir, 2nd degree (11 May 1963) and 1st degree (27 May 1968)

• Medal of 1,500th anniversary of the Patriarchate of Jerusalem (1965)

• Order of Saint John of Rila, 1st degree (Bulgarian Orthodox Church, May, 1968)

• Order of the Holy Cross, 2nd and 1st degree (Jerusalem Orthodox Church, 1968, 1984)

• Order of Saint George, 2nd and 1st degree (Georgian Orthodox Church, 1968, 1972)

• Order of Saint Mark (Orthodox Church of Alexandria, 1969)

• Right to wear 2 panagias (1971)

• Order of Saint Sergius, 1st degree (21 February, 1979)

• Gold medal, 1st degree, of the Holy Great Martyr Demetrius of Thessalonica (Greece, 25 September, 1980)

• Order of the Apostles Peter and Paul, 2nd degree (Antiochian Orthodox Church, 1 September, 1981)

• Gold Medal, 1st degree, of the Archdiocese of Saint Catherine of Katerini (Greece, 4 May, 1982)

• Order of the Holy, Righteous Prince Dimitry Donskoy the Great, 1st degree (2005)

• Order ‘Glory and Honour’ (2005)

• Order of Saint John (Pommers) the Martyr Archbishop of Riga, 1st degree (Latvian Orthodox Church, 28 May, 2006)

• Medal ‘15 years of Kemerovo and Novokuznetsk dioceses’ (Diocese of Kemerovo and Novokuznetsk, 22 March, 2008)

• Order of Saint Andrew with a diamond star

• Order of the Holy Prince Daniel of Moscow, 1st degree

• Order of Saint Alexis the Metropolitan of Moscow and All Russia, 1st degree

• Order of Saint Macarius the Metropolitan of Moscow and All Russia, 1st degree

• Order of Saint Innocent, Metropolitan of Moscow and Kolomna, 1st degree

State awards of the Russian Federation

• Order of Friendship of Peoples (22 February, 1994) : For his great personal contribution to the spiritual revival of Russia, and for his active peace-keeping activities

• Gratitude of the President of the Russian Federation (30 May, 1995) : For his great service in the revival of spiritual culture, and for his active peace-making activities to preserve public harmony

• Order of Merit of the Fatherland, 2nd degree (11 September, 1997) : For his great contribution to the achievement of unity and harmony in society, and for many years of peace-keeping activity

• Order of the Holy Apostle Andrew the First-Called (19 February, 1999) : For his outstanding contribution to the spiritual and moral revival of Russia, the preservation of peace and harmony in society

• Gratitude of the President of the Russian Federation (13 January, 2001) : For his great contribution to the spiritual and moral revival of Russia, the strengthening of civil peace, and in connection with the 2000th anniversary of Christianity

• Order of Merit of the Fatherland, 1st degree (23 February, 2004) : For his outstanding contribution to strengthening peace and harmony among peoples, and to restoring the historical and cultural heritage of Russia

• State Prize of the Russian Federation : For his outstanding achievements in the field of humanitarian activities, 2005 (9 June, 2006) awarded on 12 June)

State awards of the USSR

• Order of Friendship of Peoples (22 November, 1979)

• Order of the Red Banner of Labour (3 June, 1988) : For his active peace-keeping, and in connection with the 1000th anniversary of the baptism of Russia

Awards of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation

• Order of the White Lotus (Kalmykia, 1997)

• Order of the Polar Star (Yakutia, 2007)

• Order of the Key of Friendship (Kemerovo Region)

Departmental awards

• Medal of Anatoly Koni (Ministry of Justice of Russia, 2000)

• Commemorative Medal of A M Gorchakov (Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia, 2002)

• Breastplate "For Mercy and Charity" (Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation, 2003)

• Medal (Ministry of Agriculture of Russia, 2005), 1st degree : "For Contribution to the Development of the agro-industrial Complex"

Foreign government awards

• National Order of the Cedar (Lebanon), (6 October, 1991)

• Francisk Skaryna Medal (Belarus, 22 July, 1995) : For the great contribution of the Orthodox Church to the spiritual revival of the Belarusian people

• Order of the Grand Duke of Lithuania Gediminas, (Lithuania), 1st degree, 1997

• Order of Francis Skaryna (Belarus, 23 September, 1998) : For his special services in the development and strengthening of friendly ties between peoples

• Order of the Republic (PMR), 8 February, 1999 : For his invaluable contribution to strengthening the true Orthodox Faith of our fathers ; for his great, constant attention, help shown to the children of the United Holy Catholic Apostolic Church of our State ; and in connection with the 70th anniversary of the birth of the republic

• Order of Dostyk, (Kazakhstan), 1st degree, 2002

• Order of the Maarjamaa Cross, (Estonia), (29 September, 2003), 1st degree

• Order of Friendship of Peoples (Belarus) (26 March, 2004) : For his fruitful work in the rapprochement and mutual enrichment of national cultures ; for his great personal contribution to the development of the spiritual and intellectual potential of the fraternal peoples of Belarus and Russia

• Order of Glory (Azerbaijan) (14 September, 2005) : For merits in the development of friendly ties between the peoples of Azerbaijan and Russia

• Order of the Republic (Moldova), (11 November, 2005) : In recognition of his outstanding services in affirming the values of human unity, solidarity and tolerance ; for his tireless spiritual work for the glory of the moral victory of the forces of good and truth ; and for his unshakable loyalty to the ideals of centuries-old friendship between the peoples of Moldova and Russia

• Order of the Three Stars, (Latvia) (27 May, 2006), 1st degree

• Order of Honour (Belarus, 20 October, 2008) : For his significant personal contribution to the spiritual revival of the Belarusian people ; for strengthening friendship and cultural ties between the peoples of Belarus and Russia

Public and other awards

• Certificate of Merit from the Soviet Peace Fund (23 August, 1969)

• Commemorative Table personal Medal of the Soviet Peace Fund (1969)

• Medal and Certificate of Honour of the Soviet Peace Fund (13 December, 1971)

• Medal of the Soviet Peace Committee (1974) : In connection with the 25th anniversary of the formation of the committee

• Medal of the World Peace Council (1976) : In connection with the 25th anniversary of the peace movement

• Certificate of Honour of the Soviet Peace Committee (November, 1979)

• Certificate of Honour and commemorative Medal of the Soviet Peace Fund (November 1979)

• Commemorative Medal of the World Peace Council (1981) : In connection with the 30th anniversary of the peace movement

• Badge of Honour of the Board of the Soviet Peace Fund (15 December, 1982) : For active participation in the activities of the fund

• Diploma of the Society of Soviet-Indian Friendship

• According to the “Keston News Service”, Metropolitan Aleksey (Ridiger) was awarded the Certificate of Merit of the KGB of the USSR [this seems not to be confirmed by the files]

• Imperial Order of the Holy Apostle Andrew the First-Called (Russian Imperial House, 10 June, 2004)

• National Prize "Russian of the Year" (2008)

• Star of the Order of Saint Alexander Nevsky : "For his Labour for the Fatherland"

• Sheikh ul-Islam Order (Caucasus Muslim Office)

Honourary citizen of various regions and cities

• Honourary Citizen of Moscow

• Honourary Citizen of Saint Petersburg

• Honourary Citizen of Novgorod

• Honourary Citizen of Sergiev Posad

• Honourary Citizen of the Republic of Kalmykia

• Honourary Citizen of the Republic of Mordovia

• Honourary Citizen of the Leningrad Region

• Honourary Citizen of the city of Podolsk, Moscow Region (2001)

• Honourary Citizen of the city of Dmitrov (2003)

• Honourary Citizen of the Kemerovo Region (2005)

• Honourary Citizen of the Republic of Karelia (2006)

• Honourary Citizen of Murom, Vladimir region (2006)

Honourary degrees

• Honourary Doctor of Saint Petersburg State University (1994)

• Honourary Doctor of Divinity from the Pacific University of Alaska (1994)

• Honourary Doctor of Petrozavodsk State University (2000)

• Honourary Doctor of the Baku Slavic University

Writings

• “Essays on the History of Orthodoxy in Estonia” (Doctoral Dissertation).

• “Metropolitan Philaret (Drozdov) of Moscow as a Dogmatist” (Candidate Essay).

• ‘Speech at the Formal Election and Confession of Faith as Bishop of Tallinn” in “Journal of the Moscow Patriarchate” ("JMP"), no. 10 (1961), p. 10.

• ‘Speech at the Conference of the Soviet Public of the Estonian SSR’ in “JMP”, 1962, no. 6 (1962).

• ‘Speech at the Opening of the theological Interviews with the Delegation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Federal Republic of Germany, Arnoldshain-II. 21 October, 1982’ in “JMP”, no. 12 (1983), p. 41.

• ‘Russian Orthodox Church and Peace Foundation’ in “JMP”, no. 6 (1964).

• ‘Trip to Denmark’ in “JMP”, nos. 6 and 7 (1964).

• ‘Meetings of the Commission "Faith and Church Structure in Aarhus’” in “JMP”, no. 10 (1964).

• ‘Assessment of the past Activities of the Conference of European Churches and the Tasks ahead of it’ in “JMP”, no. 11 (1964).

• ‘International Conference for Peace and Cooperation in New Delhi’ in “JMP”, no. 1 (1965).

• ‘Meetings of the Commission of the RSC “Faith” and the Church Structure in Aarhus’ in “JMP”, no. 6 (1965).

• ‘Welcome Address of the Chairman of the Training Committee on behalf of the theological Academies and Seminaries of the Russian Orthodox Church of the Theological Seminary in Kottayamo on its 150th Anniversary’ in “JMP”, no. 2 (1966), p. 3.

• ‘In Memory of the Bishop of the Methodist Church, Dr. F Zigg’ in “JMP”, no. 2 (1966), pp. 53-55.

• ‘Report at the solemn Act of 23 April, 1966, dedicated to the 20th Anniversary of the Lviv Council and the Liquidation of the Union’ in “JMP”, no. 6 (1966), pp. 9-15.

• “Report at the Meeting of the HMK Commission for the Study of Ecumenical Problems” Bucharest, May, 1966.

• ‘Christianity in the USSR’ in "Moscow News" 29 October, 1966.

• ‘The Shepherd's Jubilee’ in “JMP”, no. 11 (1968), pp. 31-32.

• ‘Conference of the Soviet Peace Foundation on 1 April, 1969’ in “JMP”, no. 5 (1969), pp. 40-42.

• ‘Speech at the 1st Meeting of the 1st working Group of the Conference of Representatives of All Religions in the USSR, 2 July, 1969’ in “JMP” 1969, no. 9 (1969), pp. 48-49.

• “Interview of Metropolitan Alexy with the Correspondent of the Radio of the Federal Republic of Germany on 27 October, 1970’ in “JMP”, no. 12 (1970), pp. 6-7.

• ‘In the high Position of Patriarchal Locum Tenens’ in “JMP”, no. 2 (1971), pp. 6-11.

• ‘Answer to the “APN” correspondent's Question’ in “JMP”, no. 5 (1971), pp. 3-5.

• ‘On the Peace-making Activities of the Russian Orthodox Church : Co-Report at the Local Council on 31 May, 1971’ in “JMP”, no. 7 (1971), pp. 45-62.

• “Local Council of the Russian Orthodox Church”, ed. 1972, pp. 80, 264.

• ‘Presentation of the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God on behalf of the Local Council to His Holiness Patriarch Pimen’ in “JMP”, no. 9 (1971), p. 22.

• ‘An important Milestone on the Way to European Security’ in “JMP”, no. 9 (1971), pp. 44-45.

• ‘In the Name of a common Cause (on the 10th Anniversary of the Soviet Peace Foundation)’ in “JMP”, no. 12 (1971), pp. 49-50.

• ‘Words on the first Anniversary of the patriarchal Ministry of Patriarch Pimen’ in “JMP”, no. 7 (1972), pp. 7-9.

• ‘Speech at a Prayer Service on the opening Day of the Meeting of the Presidium of the CEC in the Holy Trinity-Saint Sergius Lavra on 18 April, 1972’ in “JMP”, no. 7 (1972), pp. 50-52.

• ‘Speech on the Occasion of the Enthronement of His Holiness David V [(Devdarian)], the Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia in the Mtskheta Cathedral on 2 July, 1972’ in “JMP”, no. 8 (1972), pp. 49-51.

• ‘Speech at the Reception on the Occasion of the Enthronement of His Holiness and His Beatitude David V [(Devdarian)], Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia, July 2, 1972’ in “JMP”, no. 8 (1972), pp. 51-62.

• ‘Speech at the Presentation of the Episcopal Staff to Bishop Simon (Novikov) of Ryazan on 14 October, 1972’ in “JMP”, no. 12 (1972), pp. 9-11.

• ‘Speech at the Presentation of the Episcopal Staff to Bishop Damaskin (Bodrom) of Tambov on 18 October, 1972’ in “JMP”, 1972, no. 12 (1972), pp. 14-16.

• ‘A Christian View of the Environmental Problem’ in “JMP”, no. 3 (1974), pp. 43-48 ; no. 4, pp. 35-39.

• ‘Interview of Metropolitan Alexy to the Correspondent of the All-Union Radio on 6 November, 1974’ in “JMP”, no. 1 (1975), pp. 46-47.

• ‘Speech at the Plenum of the Soviet Committee for European Security and Cooperation on 18 February, 1975’ in “JMP”, no. 4 (1975), p. 52.

• ‘A congratulatory Word on the Day of Saint George by Patriarch Pimen on Pascha, May 5, 1975’ in “JMP”, no. 7 (1975), pp. 16-17.

• ‘Speech on the Occasion of awarding to Canon Raymond Goor the International Lenin Prize “For the Strengthening of Peace among Peoples” in the Sverdlovsk Hall of the Kremlin on 26 November, 1975’ in “JMP”, no. 12 (1976), p. 38.

• ‘Speech at the founding Conference of the Society “Rodina” on 15 December, 1975” in “JMP”, no. 2 (1976), p. 39.

• ‘Speech at the Presentation of the Episcopal Staff to Bishop Seraphim (Gachkovsky) of Alma-Ata’ in “JMP”, no. 3 (1976), p. 12.

• ‘Significance of the Local Council of 1971’ in “JMP”, no. 8 (1976), p. 7.

• ‘Interview to All-Union Radio on 18 June, 1976’ in “JMP”, no. 8 (1976), p. 36.

• ‘The Fifth Anniversary of the Patriarchal Enthronement’ in “JMP”, no. 8 (1976), p. 6.

• ‘Speech at the Plenum of the Soviet Committee for the Defense of Peace, 17 August, 1976’ in “JMP”, no. 11 (1976), p. 36.

• ‘Speech on the Occasion of the discussion Group of the World Forum of Peace-Loving Forces on 15 January, 1977’ in “JMP”, no. 4 (1977), p. 35.

• ‘Interview to the All-Union Radio on 26 February, 1977’ in “JMP”, no. 5 (1977), p. 7.

• ‘Speech at the Grave of His Beatitude Patriarch Justinian of Romania on 31 March, 1977’ in “JMP”, no. 6 (1977), p. 34.

• ‘Statement on the Draft of the new Constitution of the USSR’ in “JMP”, no. 10 (1977), p. 5.

• ‘Sermon on the Day of Celebration of the Smolensk Icon of the Mother of God on the 300th Anniversary of the Smolensk Assumption Cathedral, 10 August, 1977’ in “JMP”, no. 10 (1977), p. 26.

• ‘Humanism and Care for People’ in the newspaper “Voice of the Motherland”, no. 38 (1977).

• ‘Speech at the Meeting of the Council of the Society “Rodina”, 29 September, 1977’ in “JMP”, no. 12 (1977), p. 34.

• ‘Speech at the Presentation of the Episcopal Staff to Bishop Ambrose (Shchurov) of Ivanovo and Kineshem on 18 October, 1977’ in “JMP”, no. 1 (1978), p. 34.

• ‘Words at the Grave of His Holiness and His Beatitude Patriarch David V [(Devdarian)] of All Georgia in the Zion Cathedral on 10 November, 1977’ in “JMP”, no. 3 (1978), p. 45.

• ‘Obituary of Archbishop Alfred Tooming’ in “JMP”, no. 4 (1978), p. 61.

• ‘Speech at the All-Union Conference of the Soviet Peace Foundation’ in “JMP”, no. 7 (1978), p. 43.

• ‘Words before the Funeral Prayer for the deceased Pope John Paul I in the Epiphany Patriarchal Cathedral’ in “JMP”, no. 12 (1978), p. 59.

• ‘Speech of Metropolitan Alexy on the 8th Anniversary of the Patriarchal Enthronement’ in “JMP”, no. 8 (1979), p. 14.

• ‘“Come and See” : religious Life in the USSR and the Training of Clergy’ in the newspaper “Voice of the Motherland”, no. 33 (2177) (August, 1979).

• ‘Words of Metropolitan Alexy on the Occasion of the Name-day of His Holiness Patriarch Pimen’ in “JMP”, no. 11 (1979), p. 10.

• ‘In the Service of the World’ in the newspaper “Neue Zeitung”, no. 269 (14 November, 1979).

• ‘Interview to the newspaper “Kodumaa” (“Motherland”)’ (in Estonian), no. 50 (12 December, 1979).

• ‘In the Power of the Holy Spirit – Service to the World : Report to the 8th General Assembly of the CEC, Crete, Greece, 18-25 October, 1979’ in “JMP”, no. 1 (1980), p. 54 ; no. 2, p. 62 ; no. 3, p. 57.

• ‘Speech at a Meeting of the Soviet public dedicated to the Day of Action against the Deployment of medium-range Missiles in western Europe’ in “JMP”, no. 2 (1980), p. 41.

• ‘Greetings on the Occasion of the 25th Anniversary of the Newspaper “Voice of the Motherland”’ in “Voice of the Motherland”, no. 14 (2210) (April, 1980).

• ‘In the Service of Peace – a Conversation recorded on the Eve of the Olympics-80’ in the newspaper “Neue Zeit”, GDR (19 July, 1980), p. 5.

• ‘Words on the Occasion of the 9th Anniversary of the Patriarchal Enthronement’ in “JMP”, no. 8 (1980), p. 7.

• ‘Celebration of the 70th Anniversary of Patriarch Pimen : Opening Remarks’ in “JMP”, no. 9 (1980), p. 16.

• ‘The Legacy of the Conference on Security and Disarmament of Europe is important for Peace’ in the newspaper “Aamulehti”, Finland (29 October, 1980).

• ‘Presentation of the Episcopal Staff to Bishop Athanasius (Kudyuk) on 1 September, 1980’ in “JMP”, no. 11 (1980), p. 11.

• ‘Words before the Memorial Service at the Saint John the Epiphany Church in the village of Kurkino, Tula Eparchy, in Connection with the 600th Anniversary of the Kulikovo Victory’ in “JMP”, no. 12 (1980), p. 13.

• ‘Words at the Opening of the Solemn Act at the Moscow Theological Academy and Seminary on the Occasion of the 600th Anniversary of the Kulikovo Victory’ in “JMP”, no. 12 (1980), p. 15.

• ‘A Message to the Readers of the Magazine “Our Life” on the Occasion of the Nativity of Christ’ in “Our Life” (ed. Russian Cultural and Democratic Union of Finland), no. 1 (241), (1981), p. 6.

• ‘For a peaceful Europe : Interview with the Newspaper “Voice of the Motherland”’ in “The Voice of the Motherland”, no. 11 (2259) (March, 1980), p. 13.

• “Interview : On the Eve of the Meeting in Legumkloster”.

• ‘Words on the Occasion of the 10th Anniversary of the Patriarchal Enthronement in the Epiphany Cathedral’ in “JMP”, no. 8 (3 June, 1981), p. 7.

• ‘Speech at the Second All-Union Conference of the Society “Rodina” on 27 May, 1981’ in “JMP”, no. 9 (1981), p. 48.

• ‘Congratulations to the Readers of the newspaper “Voice of the Motherland” for 1 May, Victory Day’ in “The Voice of the Motherland”, no. 19 (May 1982), p. 10.

• ‘Preserve the Sacred Gift of Life’ in “The Voice of the Motherland”, no. 23 (June, 1982), p. 11.

• “Annotation to the Records released for the 600th Anniversary of the Battle of Kulikovo” (Moscow, 1981).

• ‘Speech at the Reception in Honour of the Delegation of the Council of Evangelical Churches of Germany (FRG) on 24 June, 1982’ in “JMP”, no. 9 (1982), p. 61.

• ‘A Message to the Readers of the Magazine “Our Life” for Christmas and the New Year’ in “Our Life”, no. 6 (1982), p. 35.

• ‘Speech to His Holiness Patriarch Pimen on his Name-day in the Pimenovsky Church in Moscow on 9 September, 1982’ in “JMP”, no. 12 (1982), p. 36.

• ‘Presentation of the Episcopal Staff to Bishop Alexander (Timofeev) of Dmitrov, Intercession Church MDA on 14 October, 1982’ in “JMP”, no. 12 (1982), p. 40.

• ‘Words for the Participants of the “March of Peace-82” in the Holy Trinity-Saint Sergius Lavra on 24 July, 1982’ in “JMP”, no. 12 (1982), p. 104.

• ‘Stop the Nuclear Arms Race, prevent War’ in the newspaper “Izvestia” (30 April, 1983), p. 4.

• “Newspaper ‘Kodumaa’” (11 May, 1983), p. 7 (in Estonian).

• ‘Choice in Favour of Life’ in the newspaper “Moskovskie Novosti”, no. 20 (19 May, 1983), p. 6.

• ‘Speech at the Presentation of the Diploma of Doctor of Theology “honoris causa” on 12 November, 1983 in Prague’ in “JMP”, no. 4 (1983), p. 46.

• ‘Report : “Philokalia in Russian ascetic Thought”’ in “JMP”, no. 4 (1983), p. 46.

• ‘For the Sake of Life, we must work together’ in “Novaya Gazeta”, no. 119 (21 May, 1983).

• ‘A Call to the Christians of the World : Consultative Meeting of Representatives of the Churches of Europe in Moscow’ in the newspaper “Voice of the Motherland”, no. 24 (June, 1983), p. 12.

• ‘For the Salvation of the Sacred Gift of Life’ in the journal “Fatherland”, no. 5, p. 29.

• ‘Interview : “Put an End to the Arms Race”’ in the magazine “Soviet Country” (June, 1983).

• ‘Speech in the Epiphany Patriarchal Cathedral on the Day of Celebration of the 12th Anniversary of the Enthronement of His Holiness Patriarch Pimen’ in “JMP”, no. 8 (1983), pp. 16-17.

• ‘A Word at the Ecumenical Service at the Opening of the CEC Consultation : "Dynamics of Hope – Trust, Disarmament, Peace”, 26 May, 1983, Moscow’ in “JMP”, no. 8 (1983), p. 66.

• ‘Interview : The Danilovsky Monastery is being restored’ in the newspaper “Moskovskie Novosti”, no. 45 (6 November, 1983), p. 11.

• ‘Sermon on the Day of Celebration of the Icon of the Mother of God of Tikhvin’ in “JMP”, no. 10 (1983), p. 24.

• ‘A Word on the Name-day of His Holiness Patriarch Pimen, 9 September, 1983’ in “JMP”, no. 11 (1983), p. 7.

• ‘Uppsala World Christian Conference : “Life and Peace”’ in “JMP”, no. 11 (1983), pp. 36-39.

• ‘Message on the Feast of the Nativity of Christ and the New Year for the Readers of the Magazine “Our Life”’ in “Our Life”, no. 6 (1983), pp. 3-4.

• “Essays on the History of Orthodoxy in Estonia” (Doctoral Dissertation).

• ‘Speech at the Soviet-French Colloquium : “The Problem of Disarmament and the Strengthening of Peace” on 24 January, 1984”’ in “JMP”, no. 4 (1984), p. 38.

• ‘Speech at the All-Union Conference of the Soviet Peace Fund in the House of Unions, 31 January, 1984’ in “JMP”, no. 5 (1984), p. 54.

• ‘Speech at the Meeting of the Council of the Society "Rodina" on 16 February, 1984 “JMP”, no. 7 (1984), p. 51.

• ‘Speech at the Presentation of the Episcopal Staff to Bishop Eusebius (Savin) of Alma-Ata on 1 April, 1984 in the Epiphany Patriarchal Cathedral’ in “JMP”, no. 6 (1984), p. 13.

• ‘Words on the 13th Anniversary of the Enthronement of Patriarch Pimen in the Epiphany Patriarchal Cathedral on 3 June, 1984’ in “JMP”, no. 8 (1984), p. 11.

• ‘Words on the 74th Anniversary of the Birth of His Holiness Patriarch Pimen in the Church of the Rhizome in Moscow on 23 July, 1984’ in “JMP”, no. 9 (1984), p. 9.

• ‘Message to the Readers of the Magazine "Our Life" of the Russian Cultural and Democratic Union in Finland for Christmas and New Year’ in "Our Life", no. 6 (1984).

• ‘Words at the Opening of the 5th Theological Interview "Zagorsk-V", 13 November, 1984 in the Holy Trinity-Saint Sergius Lavra’ in “JMP”, no. 4 (1985), p. 64.

• ‘Interview with the newspaper “Uusi Suomi” : “The Russian Church is preparing for the 1000th Anniversary, the Metropolitan of Tallinn appeals to the Spirit of Helsinki”’ in “Uusi Suomi”, 7 June, 1985, p. 9.

• ‘Interview to the newspaper “Barkauden Lyakhti” : “The Trust of Churches and Peoples can prevent Wars”’ in “Barkauden Lähti”, 10 June, 1985.

• ‘Interview with the newspaper “Helsinki Sanomat” : “The Estonian Orthodox Church believes in its Future”’ in “Helsinki Sanomat”, 14 June, 1985, p. 20.

• ‘Speech at the official Reception in Honour of the Participants of the Theological Interview “Zagorsk V”, 21 November, 1984’ in “JMP”, no. 5 (1985), p. 63.

• ‘Protect the World : 10th Anniversary of the Signing of the Final Act of Helsinki’ in the newspaper "Voice of the Motherland", no. 51 (1985).

• ‘The Difficult Way of the Dramatic Century’ in “NG-Religions”, no. 11 (November, 1997).

• ‘I will not reach Jerusalem on Foot’ in “Kommersant-Daily”, no. 127, 1998.

• Epistles for the Feast of the Nativity of Christ to the Clergy, Monks and Orthodox Faithful of the Diocese of Tallinn, printed with parallel Estonian and Russian Texts for 1964, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985.

• Epistles for the Feast of Holy Pascha to the Clergy, Monks and Orthodox Faithful of the Diocese of Tallinn, printed in 1964, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985.

• ‘Message from His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia and the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church on the 75th Anniversary of the Assassination of Emperor Nicholas II and his Family’ in “Noble Assembly” : 1st publication or T Almanac (Moscow, 1995), pp. 70-72.

• ‘Russia is needed not only for itself, but for the whole World’ in “Literary Studies”, nos. 2/3 (1995), pp. 3-14.

• ‘To return to People the interethnic, political and social Peace : the answers of His Holiness Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, Alexy II to the Questions of the Reporter of the Newspaper "Culture"’ in “Russian Observer”, no. 5 (1996), pp. 85-86.

• ‘Address to the Participants of the international Conference "Spiritual Foundations of Politics and Principles of international Cooperation"’ in “JMP”, no. 7 (1997), pp. 17-19.

• ‘Statement regarding the Situation around the new Law "On Freedom of Conscience and on religious Associations"’ in “JMP”, no. 8 (1997), pp. 19-20.

• ‘Message from His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia and the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church on the 80th Anniversary of the Assassination of Emperor Nicholas II and his Family in “JMP”, no. 7 (1998), p. 11.

• ‘Address to the Participants of the scientific and theological Conference “Mission of the Church, Freedom of Conscience, Civil Society”’ in “JMP”, no. 9 (1998), pp. 22-37.

• ‘Speech at the Opening of the Cathedral Meeting "Russia : the path to salvation"’ in “JMP”, no. 11 (1998), pp. 49-50.

• ‘Speech at a Meeting with His Beatitude Archbishop Anastasius of Tirana and All Albania’ in “JMP”, no. 11 (1998), pp. 52-53.

• ‘Welcome Speech on the Occasion of the 50th Anniversary of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church Compound in Moscow’ in “JMP”, pp. 57-58.

• ‘Message to the Participants of the Church History Conference "Protopresbyter Gabriel Kostelnik’ and his Role in the Revival of Orthodoxy in Galicia"’ in “JMP”, pp. 58-61.

• “The Role of Moscow in defending the Fatherland” (Moscow : Sat. 2, 1998), pp. 6-17.

• “Words of His Holiness Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, Alexy II : on the Crisis of the Russian School in 6th Christmas Readings” (Moscow, 1998), pp. 3-13.

• ‘On the Mission of the Russian Orthodox Church in the modern World : Speech at the celebratory Act of the Tbilisi Theological Academy’ in “Church and Time” (DECR MP) 1998. no. 1, vol. 4 (1998), pp. 8-14.

• ‘A Word to the Participants in the Council Hearings of the Russian People's World Council on 18-20 March, 1998’ in “JMP”, no. 2 (1998) (5), pp. 6-9.

• ‘Open letter dated 17 October, 1991 by Protopriest A Kiselev, Prot. D Grigoriev, Yury N Kapustin, G A Raru, G E Trapeznikov on Overcoming the Split between the ROC and ROCOR’ in “JMP”, pp. 47-50.

• “Address of His Holiness Alexy II, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia to the Clergy and Parish Councils of Churches in Moscow at the diocesan Meeting on 23 December. 1998” (Moscow, 1999).

• ‘Report at the ceremonial Act dedicated to the 600th Anniversary of the Repose of Saint Sergius of Radonezh’ in “JMP”, Special no. (1999), pp. 36-41.

• ‘Greetings to the Participants of the Conference "Manuscript Collections of Church Origin in Libraries and Museums of Russia"’ in “JMP”, no. 1 (1999), pp. 41-42.

• ‘Manuscript Collections of Church Origin in Libraries and Museums of Russia’ in “Sat. / Synod, b-ka, Moscow), 1999, pp. 7-8.

• ‘Words for the Week of the Triumph of Orthodoxy’ in “JMP”, Special no. (1999), pp. 29-35.

• 'Speech at the opening of the VII International Christmas Readings' in “JMP”, no. 3 (1999). pp. 24-27.

• ‘The difficult Path of the Dramatic Age : on the 80th Anniversary of the Restoration of the Patriarchate in Russia’ in “JMP”, Special. no. (1999), pp. 46-50.

• “Orthodoxy in Estonia” (Moscow, 1999).

• “The Church and Spiritual Renaissance of Russia : Words, Speeches, Messages, Appeals, 1990-1998” (Moscow, 1999).

• “Russia : Spiritual Renaissance” (Moscow, 1999).

• ‘Appeal in Connection with the armed Action against Yugoslavia’ in “JMP”, no. 4 (1999), pp. 24-25.

• ‘Speech at a Meeting of the Academy of Social Sciences’ in “JMP” (1999), pp. 17-21.

• ‘Speech at a Meeting of the Russian Committee on Preparation for the Celebration of the 2000th Anniversary of Christianity’ in “JMP”, no. 7 (1999), pp. 32-34.

• ‘Speech at a solemn Meeting dedicated to the 275th Anniversary of the Russian Academy of Sciences’ in “JMP” (1999), p. 8.

• ‘Speech at the Meeting of the renewed Patriarchal Synodal Biblical Commission’ in “JMP”, no. 11 (1999), p. 18-20.

• ‘Speech at the solemn Presentation of Prizes in Memory of Metropolitan Makarii (Bulgakov) for 1998-1999’ in “JMP” (1999), pp. 28-29.

• “The Grievances of the Russian Land : Word and Image of the Primate” (Moscow, 1999).

• ‘“I look to the 21st Century with Hope” : Conversation with the Correspondent from "Church and Time" on 28 January, 1999’ in “Church and Time”, no. 1 (1999) (8), pp. 8-21.

• ‘Words, Speeches and Interviews from different Years : Speech when electing a Bishop ; Speech at the opening of the 2nd European Ecumenical Assembly ; What should a Priest be like ? ; The earth was entrusted to man by God ; "It is not your business to know the times or terms ..." ; The difficult Path of the dramatic Age ; Christian View of the ecological Problem’ in “JMP”, pp. 22-84.

• ‘Opening Remarks by Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia at a Meeting of the Organizing Committee on Preparations for the Celebration of the 2000th Anniversary of Christianity’ in “JMP”, no. 1 (2000), pp. 18-21.

• ‘Words at the first Service in the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour’ in “JMP” (2000), pp. 44-45.

• ‘Speech at the opening of the 5th World Russian People's Council’ in “JMP”. pp. 21-23.

• ‘Word after the Divine Liturgy and the grand Opening in Moscow of the Compound of the Orthodox Church of the Czech Lands and Slovakia’ in “JMP”, no. 2 (2000), pp. 52-54.

• ‘Speech at the Opening of the 8th International Christmas Educational Readings’ in “JMP”, no. 3 (2000), pp. 47-52.

• ‘Speech at the Opening of the theological Conference of the Russian Orthodox Church : "Orthodox Theology on the Threshold of the Third Millennium"’ in “JMP”, no. 4 (2000), pp. 42-44.

• ‘Speech at the Opening of the theological Conference of the Russian Orthodox Church : "Orthodox Theology on the Threshold of the Third Millennium"’ in “Eastern Messenger”, nos.5/6 (9/10) (2000), pp. 12-14.

• ‘Greetings to the Participants of the Orthodox Press Congress "Christian Freedom and Independence of Journalism"’ in “JMP”, no. 4 (2000), pp. 47-48.

• ‘Greetings to the Participants of the 10th Theological Conference of Saint Tikhon's Theological Institute’ in “JMP”, no. 5 (2000), pp. 15-16.

• ‘Speech at a Reception dedicated to the Enthronement of the Primate of the Japanese Autonomous Orthodox Church’ in “JMP”, no. 6 (2000), pp. 52-53.

• ‘Speech at the ceremonial Presentation of the volume "Russian Orthodox Church" : the 1st volume of the 25-volume "Orthodox Encyclopedia"’ in “JMP”, no. 7 (2000), pp. 11-12.

• ‘Speech at a Meeting of the Russian Organizing Committee on Preparations for the Meeting of the 3rd Millennium and the Celebration of the 2000th Anniversary of Christianity’ in “JMP” (2000), pp. 12-15.

• “Epistle to Archpastors, Pastors, Monastics and all the Faithful Children of the Russian Orthodox Church in Connection with the Bringing of the holy Relics of the Great Martyr and Healer Panteleimon from Mount Athos, June-August, 2000’ in “JMP”, no. 8 (2000), pp. 4-5.

• ‘Materials of the Bishops' Council of the Russian Orthodox Church in 2000’ on ‘Moscow Patriarchate web-site (www.russian-orthodox-church.org.ru.).

• ‘Speech at the Opening of the Conference “The Holy Land and Russian-Palestinian Relations : Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow, 11 October, 2000, Moscow”’ in “JMP” (2000).

Writings by various authors about the patriarch

• Nikitin, V A, "Holy Patriarch Alexis II : Life and Deeds for the Glory of God" (Moscow : Astrell Russ-Olympus, 2009).

• Tsypin, Vladislav & Kravets, S L, ‘Alexis II’ in “Orthodox Encyclopedia”, vol. 1 (Moscow : Church-Science Center, 2000), pp. 698-720. ISBN : 5-89572-006-4.

• Logachov, K I, ‘The Anniversary of Metropolitan Alexis : 60th Anniversary of the Birth’ in “Journal of the Moscow Patriarchate” (Moscow : Moscow Patriarchate, 1989), no. 8, pp. 11-13. [Юбилей митрополита Алексия [60-летие со дня рождения] B Журнал Московской Патриархии.]

• ‘In Memory of the Holy Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Alexius II’ in “Herald of Church History”, nos. 1-2 (2009), pp. 3-8. [Памяти Святейшего Патриарха Московского и всея Руси Алексия II В Вестник церковной истории.]

• Konovalov, V I, “Patriarch Alexis II : Life and Service at the turn of Millennia” Moscow : Exmo, 2012). ISBN : 978-5-699-41594-6.

• Rozhneeva, Olga, 'Patriarch Alexis II (Ridiger), of Moscow and All Russia' in "Guardians of the Faith" (Moscow : Sretensky Monastery, 2016). ISBN : 978-57533-1290-7. (in Russian)

• Segen, A Yuri, “Alexis II” (Moscow : Mole Guard, 2015). (Life of wonderful people series).

• Segen, A Yuri, “Primate Alexis II” (Moscow : Blagovest, 2017).

• Pimen, Patriarch Alexei I, ‘Speech at a Reception on the Occasion of the 50th Anniversary of the Metropolitan Alexy (Ridiger) of Tallinn and Estonia on 1 March, 1979’ in “JMP”, no. 5 (1979), p. 8.

• “50th Anniversary of the Metropolitan Alexy of Tallinn and Estonia : Album” (Tallinn, 1980).

• Polishchuk, E, ‘Visit of His Holiness Aleksey II, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia to Germany’ in “JMP”, no. 1 (1996), pp. 23-38.

• Polishchuk, E, ‘The Trip of His Holiness Patriarch Aleksey II to Lithuania’ in “JMP”, no. 9 (1997), pp. 44-52.

• “50th Anniversary of the Metropolitan Alexy of Tallinn and Estonia : Album” (Tallinn, 1980).

• ‘The 1996 Trip of His Holiness Patriarch Aleksey II to Kyrgyzstan, Central Asia’ in “JMP”, no. 1 (1997), pp. 16-37.

• Urzhumtsev, P, ‘Visit of His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II to the Holy Land’ in “JMP”, no. 8 (1997), pp. 30-39.

• Kiryanova, O, ‘Pastoral Visit of His Holiness Patriarch Alexey II of Moscow and All Russia to the Tobolsk-Tyumen Diocese’ in “JMP”, no. 10 (1998), pp. 46-53.

• Kiryanova, O, ‘Church Celebration of the Anniversary of the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church’ in “JMP”, no. 2 (1999), pp. 12-17.

• Kiryanova, O, ‘Names of His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II’ in “JMP”, no. 4 (2000), pp. 30-33.

• Zhilkina, M, ‘His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II : Biographical Sketch’ in “JMP”, Special no. (1999), pp. 3-28.

• Zhilkina, M, ‘Visit of His Holiness Patriarch Alexy of Moscow and All Russia to the Japanese Autonomous Orthodox Church’ in “JMP”, no. 6 (2000), pp. 27-50.

• Zhilkina M, ‘A Decade since the Enthronement of His Holiness Patriarch Alexy’ in “JMP”, no. 7 (2000), pp. 51-56.

• His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia : Photo Album (Moscow, 1999).

• ‘Chronicle of the Visits of His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia to the Dioceses of the Russian Orthodox Church, 1990-1998’ in “JMP”, Special no. (1999), pp. 51-54.

• Safonov, V, “Meeting of the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church with the Leaders of the Diocesan Departments of Education’ in “JMP”, no. 3 (2000), pp. 57-61.

• “Journal of the Moscow Patriarchate” (JMP)

– 1961, no. 9, p. 4 ; no. 10, p. 11.

– 1962, no. 2, p. 23.

– 1964, no., p. 14, no., p. 1

– 1965, no. 1, p. 5 ; no. 4, p. 5 ; no. 6, p. 2.

– 1966, no. 2, p. 34 ; no. 5, p. 4 ; no. 10, pp. 17, 18.

– 1967, no. 4, p. 3 ; no. 5, p. 37 ; no. 7, pp. 26, 39-40 ; no. 9, p. 1, 7 ; no. 10, p. 3 ; no. 12, pp. 3, 21.

– 1968, no. 2, p. 15 ; no. 3, pp. 3, 14 ; no. 7, p. 23 ; no. 9, p. 12 ; no. 11, p. 32 ; no. 12, pp. 17, 37.

– 1969, no. 4, p. 6 ; no. 8, p. 1 ; no. 9, p. 5 ; no. 11, p. 22.

– 1970, no. 1, p. 18 ; no. 2, p. 43 ; no. 3, p. 26 ; no. 6, pp. 11-32 ; no. 7, p. 11 ; no. 10, pp. 16, 55-59 ; no. 11, pp. 4-5 ; no. 12, p. 30.

– 1971, no. 2, p. 16 ; no. 3, p. 16 ; no. 4, p. 3 ; no. 6, p. 1 ; no. 7, p. 1 ; no. 8, p. 46 ; no. 9, p. 35 ; no. 10, p. 28 ; no. 11, pp. 2, 13, 15 ; no. 12, p. 40.

– 1972, no. 1, p. 23 ; no. 3, pp. 3, 45 ; no. 5, p. 17 ; no. 7, p. 33 ; no. 9,p p. 24, 30, 33 ; no. 10, p. 2 ; no. 12, pp. 7, 12, 17, 24.

– 1973, no. 1, p. 35, 65 ; no. 3, p. 25 ; no. 5, p. 5 ; no. 11, p. 9.

– 1974, no. 1, p. 27 ; no. 2, p. 11, 40 ; no. 5, p. 4, no. 9, p. 9 ; no. 11, pp. 9, 23.

– 1975, no. 1, pp. 30, 34 ; no. 2, p. 3 ; no. 3, p. 20 ; no. 6, p. 13 ; no. 10, p. 22 ; no. 12, p. 9.

– 1976, no. 1, p. 16 ; no 2, p. 12 ; no. 3, pp. 12, 20 ; no. 9, p. 5 ; no. 12, p. 10.

– 1977, no. 2, pp. 23, 67 ; no. 3, p. 7 ; no. 4, p. 22 ; no. 5, p. 4 ; no. 10, p. 9 ; no. 11, p. 3 ; no. 12, p. 3.

– 1978, no. 1, pp. 28, 34, 36 ; no. 2, p. 7 ; no. 6, p. 23 ; no. 7, p. 62 ; no. 10, p. 7 ; no. 11, p. 4 ; no. 12, pp. 10, 22.

– 1979, no. 1, p. 9 ; no. 3, pp. 21-22 ; no. 5, pp. 7, 11, 12 ; no. 6, pp. 2, 45 ; no. 8, pp. 38, 53 ; no. 9, pp. 8, 24, 50 ; no. 10, pp. 24, 25, 26 ; no. 11, p. 14 ; no. 12, pp. 3, 6, 57.

– 1980, no. 1, pp. 8, 45 ; no. 3, p. 4 ; no. 5, pp. 7, 17 ; no. 8, pp. 24-25 ; no. 9, pp. 9-10, 12, 34, 42 ; no 10, pp. 2-3, 21-22 ; no. 11, pp. 8, 12, 56 ; no. 12, pp. 8, 28, 58.

– 1981, no. 1, pp. 59-60 ; no. 2, pp. 4, 8, 13 ; no 3, p. 3 ; no. 4, p. 55 ; no. 5, pp. 6, 15, 33.

– 1982, no. 1, pp. 9, 59, 61 ; no. 2, pp. 5, 7, 55 ; no. 3, pp. 3, 17 ; no. 5, pp. 6, 59 ; no. 7, pp. 10, 33, 51, 59 ; no. 8, pp. 11, 45, 46, 53 ; no 9, p. 3 ; no. 10, p. 35 ; no. 12, pp. 4, 7, 39, 109, 124,129.

– 1983, no. 1, pp. 9, 11, 68 ; no. 2, pp. 5, 44, 47 ; no. 3, p. 26 ; no. 4, pp. 9, 45, 58 ; no. 5, pp. 7, 24, 27, 68 ; no. 7, pp. 14, 57-58 ; no. 8, pp. 5, 31 ; no. 9, pp. 5, 17, 21 ; no. 10, pp. 17, 22 ; no. 11, pp. 18, 21 ; no. 12, pp. 8-11.

– 1984, no. 2, p. 4 ; no 3, p. 49 ; no 4, pp. 5, 14, 53 ; no. 5, pp. 7-8, 11, 54 ; no. 6, pp. 3, 6 ; no 7, pp. 49, 52 ; no 8, pp. 6, 19, 61, 63 ; no 9, pp. 6, 8, 62 ; no. 10, pp. 4, 10, 13, 17, 42 ; no. 11, pp. 5, 51 ; no. 12, p. 3.

– 1985, no. 1, p. 46, 58 ; no. 2, p. 8 ; no. 3, p. 60 ; no. 4, pp. 5-6, 20 ; no. 5, pp. 6, 24, 58 ; no. 6, p. 65 ; no. 8, pp. 2, 7, 64 ; no. 9, pp. 9, 91 ; no. 10, pp. 9, 12-13, 52 ; no. 11, pp. 28, 85 ; no. 12, pp. 41, 43, 10.

– 1986, no. 1, p. 23 ; no. 11, pp. 2-3, 8-9.

– 1988, no. 10, p. 7.

– 1989, no. 6, p. 5.

References

Some of the references listed here make mention of the ancestry of Patriarch Aleksey II.

Kishkovsky, Sophia, ‘Patriarch Aleksy II’ in “The New York Times” (6 December, 2008)

Official Moscow Patriarchate biography

Official Moscow Patriarchate biography (in Russian)

Russian Wikipedia biography

Russian Wikipedia biography (alternate)

Drevo Encyclopaedia biography

Pravoslavie.ru biography

Russian Academic Dictionary biography

Pravmir.ru biography

Orthodox Encyclopedia biography

Orthodoxwiki biography

Wikipedia biography

Additional information :

Davis, Nathaniel, “A Long Walk to Church : A Contemporary History of Russian Orthodoxy”, 2nd ed. (Routledge, 2003). ISBN-10 ‏: 0813340675 ISBN-13 : 978-0813340678.

Pospielovsky, Dimitry, “The Russian Church Under the Soviet Regime 1917-1982”, 2 vols. (Crestwood, NY : St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 1984).

Prokurat, Michael ; Golitzin, Alexander & Petersen, Michael, eds., “The A to Z of the Orthodox Church” (Lanham, MD : Scarecrow Press, 2010), p. 274. ISBN : 978-0-8108-7602-6.

Rozhneva, Olga, “Patriarch Alexy II (Ridiger)” (Moscow : Sretensky Monastery, 2016). ISBN : 978-57533-1290-7.

Tsypin, Archpriest Vladislav, ‘Russian Orthodox Church under the Most Holy Patriarch Alexy I (Simansky) (1944-1970)’ in “History of the Russian Orthodox Church (1917-1997)” [Found in the Russian Wikipedia biography, in “Literature)”. See Chapter 10 about Patriarch Aleksey.] [The textbook has been published as 9th book (application) of the history of the Church by Metropolitan Macarius (Bulgakov) (Moscow : Valaam Monastery, Spaso-Preobrazhensky Monastery Publishing House, 1997), 831 pp.]

Vahter, Aarne. ‘Eestlane juhtis 80 miljonit õigeusklikku’ in “ekspress.ee” (4 February, 2003) (in Estonian).

Veedla, Aarne, “Patriarhi suguvõsa saladused” (5 December, 2008) (in Estonian).

“Second Finding of the Relics of St. Seraphim of Sarov (1991)

Finding of the Relics of Saint Tikhon (Belavin) (22 February, 1992)

“70th Anniversary of His Holiness Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Alexy II”

Restoration of Christ the Saviour Cathedral (2000)

“Return of the Wonder-working Icon of the Theotokos of Tikhvin” (June, 2004)

Act of Canonical Communion : Reunification of ROCOR and the Russian Orthodox Church (24 May, 2007)

Funeral of Patriarch Alexei II (Ridiger) (5 December, 2008)

“Chronology of Estonian History” (in Estonian). Museum of Laanemaa (5 December, 2008)

“Seventeen Days in the Life of Patriarch Alexy II” (5 December, 2008)

“Analysing the Transformation of Church-State Relations in Russia from 1987-2008” by Ryan Hunter, 2008.

‘Patriarch Alexy II’ in “Prominent Russians” in Russiapedia.rt.com

Saint Alexander Nevsky Cathedral Tallinn

Livejournal biography (in Russian)

vidania.ru article about Patriarch Aleksey II

Speeches given by Patriarch Aleksey II about the turn of the millennium in AD 2000

Speech by Patriarch Aleksey II (Ridiger) on the 2000th anniversary of the Nativity of Christ, 3 May, 2000

Orthodoxwiki “Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia”

Wikipedia “Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia”

“OCA Newspaper” editorial by Archpriest Leonid Kishkovsky about the reconciliation 2006

Orthodoxwiki “ROCOR and OCA”

Archdeacon Andrey Mazur

Video : Interview of Archdeacon Andrey Mazur (in Russian)

Video: Long interview with Archdeacon Andrey Mazur (in Russian)

“The Otherness of Patriarch Alexy II” by Archpriest Vladimir Vigiliansky 05 December 2012 in Pravmir

New York Times obituary by Sophia Kishkovsky

Eulogy by the Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams

“Prominent Russians : Patriarch Alexy II” in Russiapedia, by Olga Pigareva, RT

Antiochian Archdiocese obituary

Rbc.ru 2008 article "Alexy II is buried in the Yelokhovsky Cathedral" (9 December, 2008)

Video : 50th Anniversary of the Restauration of the Patriarchate in 1918 (1968) (in Russian)

Video : Patriarch’s body resting in state (in Russian)

Video : Announcement of repose (in English)

Video : Private life moments (in Russian)

Video : before the funeral (in Russian)

Video : Last Kiss at the end of the funeral (in Russian)

Video : Prayers at the burial, at Holy Epiphany Cathedral (in Russian)

OCA memorial in 2008

“Alexy II : The ‘Transitional’ Patriarch” by Vladimir Berezansky

“Funeral of His Holiness, Aleksy II, Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus’” (December, 2008)

“The Orthodox Church in Russia” OCA History article

Pravoslavie.ru announcement of the publishing of a new biography in 2016

13th Anniversary Celebration of the Repose of Patriarch Alexei II at Epiphany Cathedral (4 December, 2021)

Patriarch Pimen (Izvekov)

Patriarch Pavle (Stojčević)

Patriarch Bartholomew I (Archontonis)

Metropolitan Gregory (Chukov)

Metropolitan Volodymyr (Sabodan)

Metropolitan Amfilohije (Radović)

Metropolitan Theodosius (Lazor)

Metropolitan Laurus (Škurla)

Metropolitan Kirill (Gundyaev)

Archbishop John (Alexeyev)

Archbishop John (Garklavs)

Bishop Nikodim (Rotov)

Bishop Justin (Stefanović)

Video : Interview with Archdeacon Andrei Mazur (in Russian)

Video : One day, one year, 1991 (in Russian)

Video : Pilgrimage of Patriarch Aleksey II to the Holy Land, 1997 (in Russian)

Video : "The Way of the Patriarch. Memory of Patriarch Aleksey II" (in Russian)

Video : First Interview with Patriarch Aleksey II, 1990 (in Russian)

Video : 2004 "I did not lead another way | Patriarch Alexy II" (in Russian)

Video : 2008 "Patriarch Aleksey II : Heir to Holy Rus'. Movie Oleg Rakutko. (in Russian)

Video : Words of Patriarch Aleksey II at Christ the Saviour Cathedral, Moscow (in Russian)

Video : Words about Patriarch Nikon and the Old-Believers (in Russian)

Video : Last Interview with Patriarch Aleksey II, Part 1 (in Russian)

Video : Last visit to the Optina Monastery Desert (in Russian)

Video : About Patriarch Aleksey II (in Russian)

Video : In Memoriam video about the life of Patriarch Aleksey II, 5 December, 2009 (in Russian)

Video : Funeral Service of Patriarch Aleksey II 9 December, 2008

Video : Life and Death of Patriarch Alexei (in English)

‘Discovery of the Relics of Saint Tikhon of Moscow’ in “Canadian Orthodox Messenger” (Summer, 1992), p. 4.

‘Bishop tells of Bicentennial Pilgrimage with Russian Patriarch, Metropolitan’ in “Canadian Orthodox Messenger” (Winter 1993/1994), pp. 1-3.

‘Funeral of Patriarch Alexei II’ in “Canadian Orthodox Messenger” (Spring, 2009), p. 4.

‘In memoriam : Patriarch Alexei II’ in “Canadian Orthodox Messenger” (Spring, 2009), p. 4-5.

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