"Loved hockey and figure skating." What was Patriarch Alexy II. Patriarch Alexy II was killed for denying the death of the royal family Children of Patriarch Alexy 2

Patriarch Alexy II
15th Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia
June 7, 1990 - December 5, 2008
Elected: 7 June 1990
Enthronement: June 10, 1990
Church: Russian Orthodox Church
Predecessor: Patriarch Pimen
Successor: Patriarch Kirill
Metropolitan of Leningrad and Novgorod
July 29, 1986 - July 19, 1990
Predecessor: Anthony (Melnikov)
Successor: John (Snychev)
5th Administrator of the Moscow Patriarchy
December 22, 1964 - 1986
Predecessor: Pimen (Izvekov)
Successor: Sergius (Petrov)
Metropolitan of Tallinn and Estonia
until February 25, 1968 - Archbishop
September 3, 1961 - July 28, 1986
Predecessor: John (Alekseev, Georgy Mikhailovich)
Successor: Cornelius (Jacobs)
Birth name: Alexey Mikhailovich Ridiger
Birth: 23 February 1929 Tallinn, Estonia
Death: December 5, 2008 (age 79)
Novo-Peredelkino, Moscow, Russia
Buried: Epiphany Cathedral in Yelokhovo
Ordination: April 17, 1950
Adoption of monasticism: March 3, 1961
Episcopal consecration: September 3, 1961

Patriarch Alexy II(in the world - Alexei Mikhailovich Ridiger, Estonian Aleksei Rüdiger; February 23, 1929, Tallinn, Estonia - December 5, 2008, Moscow, Russia) - Bishop of the Russian Orthodox Church; from June 7, 1990 - Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia.
Active member (academician) of the Russian Academy of Education.

Name day - February 12 (February 25), the day of the repose of Metropolitan Alexy of Kyiv, miracle worker of Moscow and all Russia.

Origin. Childhood and youth

The Russian noble family of the von Ridigers, or Rüdigers (possible discrepancy in the old German spelling: von Ruediger, Rüdiger, Ruedinger, Redigeer), is of Courland (Baltic-German) origin; The patriarch belongs to a branch of the German family that converted to Orthodoxy in the 18th century.
According to the family tree of the Ridigers, during the reign of Empress Catherine II, the Courland nobleman Friedrich Wilhelm von Ruediger (German: Friedrich Wilhelm von Ruediger) converted to Orthodoxy and, with the name Fyodor Ivanovich, became the founder of one of the noble families of the Ridigers. The first known representative of the Riediger/Rüdiger family was Heinrich Nikolaus (Niels) Rüdinger (German Heinrich Nicolaus (Nils) von Ruedinger) his descendant Karl Magnus Rüdiger (German Karl (Carl) Magnus Ruediger) Major General, Privy Councilor, Governor of Vyborg , a member of the Estonian knighthood, whose son was the aforementioned Friedrich-Wilhelm, who passed into Russian citizenship in the Catherine era.

Father of Alexy II- Archpriest Mikhail Alexandrovich Ridiger (May 28, 1902 - April 9, 1964) - was born in St. Petersburg; was the last, fourth, child in the marriage of Alexander Alexandrovich (1842-1877; second son from the marriage of Georgy Fedorovich Ridiger and Margarita Feodorovna Hamburger) and Aglaida Yulyevna Balts (July 26, 1870 - March 17, 1956). After the October Revolution, he was taken by his parents to independent Estonia. In 1942 he was ordained a presbyter (priest) in the Kazan Church in Tallinn by Metropolitan Alexander (Paulus), the First Hierarch of the EAOC.

Mother - Elena Iosifovna Pisareva (1902-1959) - was born in Revel (now Tallinn, then in the Russian Empire), the daughter of a colonel in the tsarist army shot by the Bolsheviks. As a child, Alexey repeatedly visited the Valaam Monastery with his parents (at that time in Finland). The rector of the Koppel St. Nicholas Church in Tallinn, in which Mikhail Ridiger served as a deacon, and young Alexei served as an altar boy, priest Alexander Kiselev, played his role in introducing the future Patriarch to church service.

Already in early adolescence, according to his own testimony, he had a desire to become a priest. In 1941-1944, he was an altar boy in the church, and also accompanied his father during visits to camps for displaced persons, where there were thousands of Soviet citizens who were driven to Germany for forced labor. According to Metropolitan Kornily of Tallinn and All Estonia, who was 5 years older than Alexei Ridiger, knew him from childhood and helped Ridiger Sr. in caring for the Russians who ended up in these camps, several priests were rescued from captivity, who were then attached to Tallinn churches.

At the age of fifteen, he became a subdeacon of the Archbishop of Narva (later of Tallinn and Estonia) Pavel (Dmitrovsky). From May 1945 to October 1946 he served as an altar boy and sacristan of the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, since 1946 he served as a psalmist in Simeonovskaya, and since 1947 in the Kazan Church in Tallinn.

In 1947 (he was not accepted in 1946 when he passed the exams, since, according to the then rules, it was forbidden to accept minors in religious educational institutions) he entered the Leningrad Theological Seminary immediately in the third grade, and after graduating from it in 1949, he became a student of the Theological Academy in Leningrad.

On April 15, 1950, Metropolitan Grigory (Chukov) of Leningrad was ordained a deacon; April 17, 1950 - to the presbyter and appointed rector of the Church of the Epiphany in the Estonian city of Jõhvi of the Tallinn diocese.

priestly ministry

As a parish clergyman in the mining town of Jyhvi, where at first he served alone, he continued his studies at the Leningrad Theological Academy, from which he graduated in 1953, receiving the title of Candidate of Theology for the course essay “Metropolitan of Moscow Filaret (Drozdov) as a dogmatist”.

On July 15, 1957, he was transferred to the city of Tartu, where he served as rector of the Assumption Cathedral and dean of the Tartu district.

August 17, 1958 was elevated to the rank of archpriest; On March 30, 1959, he was appointed dean of the united Tartu-Viljandi deanery of the Tallinn diocese.
After the death of his mother, which followed on August 19, 1959, he decided to become a monk; On March 3, 1961, at the Trinity Cathedral of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, he was tonsured with the name Alexy - in honor of another saint: not Alexy, the man of God, whose name he was named in baptism, but Alexy, Metropolitan of Kyiv, St. Moscow.
episcopal ministry

On August 14, 1961, the Holy Synod decided: “To be Bishop of Tallinn and Estonia to Hieromonk Alexy (Ridiger), with instructions to him and the temporary administration of the Riga diocese”; On August 23, he was elevated to the rank of archimandrite by Archbishop Nikodim of Yaroslavl and Rostov.

On September 3, 1961, Archbishop Nikodim (Rotov) led his first episcopal consecration, consecrating Archimandrite Alexy in the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral in Tallinn as Bishop of Tallinn.

For a quarter of a century he was at the Tallinn cathedra as a diocesan bishop - until 1986: from June 23, 1964 - archbishop, from February 25, 1968 - metropolitan; then, after being transferred to Leningrad, for another six years he continued to manage it concurrently until 1992, including already being Patriarch.

In his numerous interviews for the media, Patriarch Alexy said that when he was at the Tallinn cathedra, he opposed the intentions of the authorities: to close the Pyukhtitsky monastery, 38 parishes, to remake the cathedral into a planetarium, to demolish the oldest wooden Kazan church in the city. During his stay at the department of Alexy Special attention devoted to the publication of church literature, sermons and catechesis in Estonian. For some time, Bishop Alexy also ruled the Riga diocese, however, having received the post of deputy chairman of the Department for External Church Relations on November 14, 1961, he refused the Riga cathedra.

International, ecumenical and social activities before the patriarchate

In 1961, his active foreign policy and ecumenical activities began: as part of the delegation of the Russian Orthodox Church participated in the III Assembly of the World Council of Churches (WCC) in New Delhi (1961); was elected a member of the Central Committee of the WCC (1961-1968); was president of the World Conference "Church and Society" (Geneva, Switzerland, 1966); member of the commission "Faith and order" of the WCC (1964-1968). As the head of the delegation of the Russian Orthodox Church, he participated in theological interviews with the delegation of the Evangelical Church in Germany "Arnoldshain-II" (Germany, 1962), in theological interviews with the delegation of the Union of Evangelical Churches in the GDR "Zagorsk-V" (Trinity-Sergius Lavra, 1984 ), in theological interviews with the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland in Leningrad and the Pyukhtitsky Monastery (1989). Delegate of the World Christian Conference "Life and Peace" (April 20 - 24, 1983 in Uppsala, Sweden); was elected as one of the Presidents of the Conference.

For more than a quarter of a century he was a member of the apparatus and leadership of the Conference of European Churches (CEC). Since 1964 - one of the presidents (members of the presidium) of the CEC; was re-elected president at subsequent general assemblies. Since 1971 - Vice-Chairman of the Presidium and Advisory Committee of the CEC. March 26, 1987 elected Chairman of the Presidium and Advisory Committee of the CEC. At the VIII General Assembly of the CEC in Crete in October 1979, he was the keynote speaker on the theme "In the power of the Holy Spirit - to serve the world." In a lengthy report devoted to both theological (ecclesiological) and political issues, in particular, he said, citing the work of Archbishop Vladimir (Sabodan): “Invisible unity, like the unity of Christ and the Holy Spirit, lives in the visible multitude of Churches, each having its own special face. Non-Orthodoxy is somewhat akin to Orthodoxy.”

Since 1972 he has been a member of the Joint Committee of the CEC and the Council of Episcopal Conferences of Europe (SECE) of the Roman Catholic Church. May 15 - 21, 1989 in Basel, Switzerland, was co-chairman of the I European Ecumenical Assembly on the theme "Peace and Justice", organized by CEC and SEC. November 1 - 2, 1990 in Moscow (already being the Patriarch) chaired the meeting of the CEC. In September 1992, at the X General Assembly of the CEC, his term of office as Chairman of the Presidium of the CEC expired.

He took part in the work of international and Soviet peacekeeping public organizations. Since 1963 - Member of the Board of the Soviet Peace Fund. Member of the founding meeting of the Rodina society, at which he was elected a member of the Society's council from December 15, 1975; re-elected on May 27, 1981 and December 10, 1987.

On October 25, 1980, at the V All-Union Conference of the Society of Soviet-Indian Friendship, he was elected its vice-president, holding the post until 1989.

In 1989 he was elected a People's Deputy of the USSR from the Soviet Charity and Health Fund.

Since February 8, 1990 - Member of the Presidium of the Leningrad Cultural Foundation.
Work in the highest administration of the Russian Orthodox Church before the patriarchate

In February 1960, the leadership of the Council for the Affairs of the Russian Orthodox Church changed. The new chairman of the Council, V. A. Kuroyedov, who replaced G. G. Karpov, immediately set the task of renewing the leadership of the Moscow Patriarchate: the chairman of the DECR, Metropolitan Nikolai (Yarushevich), was sent to rest, who energetically opposed the closure of the parishes near Moscow, which were under his jurisdiction as a metropolitan Krutitsky and Kolomensky, and whose activity outside the church was recognized by the political leadership of the USSR as "unsatisfactory"

Under such conditions, Bishop Alexy (Ridiger) began to make a quick career in the central structures of the Moscow Patriarchate. On November 14, 1961, he was appointed deputy chairman of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate, becoming deputy of the new chairman of the Department, a young and energetic protege of the Council of Archbishop Nikodim (Rotov) of Yaroslavl.

On December 22, 1964, he was appointed Administrator of the Moscow Patriarchate and, ex officio, a permanent member of the Holy Synod; since May 7, 1965, at the same time - chairman of the Educational Committee. On February 25, 1968, he was elevated to the rank of metropolitan.

On June 18, 1971, he was awarded the right to wear a second panagia. Member of the Commission of the Holy Synod for the preparation of the Local Council in 1971, as well as chairman of the procedural and organizational group, chairman of the secretariat of the Local Council; since December 23, 1980 - deputy chairman of the commission for the preparation and holding of the celebration of the 1000th anniversary of the Baptism of Russia and chairman of the organizational group of this commission, and since September 1986 - the theological group.

In 1984 he received the title of Doctor of Theology, his dissertation was the three-volume work Essays on the History of Orthodoxy in Estonia.

1. Appoint Metropolitan Alexy of Tallinn and Estonia as Metropolitan of Leningrad and Novogorodsk, a permanent member of the Holy Synod, entrusting him with the administration of the Tallinn Diocese.
2. To release His Grace Metropolitan Alexy of Leningrad and Novgorod from the post of manager of the affairs of the Moscow Patriarchate from September 1, 1986

Subsequently, as a Patriarch, he repeatedly spoke in the sense that the decision of the Synod was a punishment for a certain letter of his on December 17, 1985 addressed to M. Gorbachev, in which he proposed to reconsider the relationship between the state and the Church in the USSR. In those years, K. M. Kharchev, Chairman of the Council for Religious Affairs under the Council of Ministers of the USSR, in his interview in 2001, pointed out a different background of that personnel transfer:

Patriarch Pimen persuaded me for a year to agree to the removal from the post of the then manager of the affairs of the Moscow Patriarchate. [He was Metropolitan Alexy of Tallinn, who became patriarch a year later - ed.]

During his tenure at the Leningrad and Novgorod cathedra, Metropolitan Alexy achieved the return to believers of a number of churches, shrines and relics (in particular, the relics of St. Alexander Nevsky).
Deputy activity

On March 18, 1989, when he was Metropolitan of Leningrad and Novgorod, Alexy was elected a People's Deputy of the USSR from the public organizations "Health and Mercy Fund", where he was a member of the Commission of the Council of Nationalities on the development of culture, language, national and international traditions, protection of historical heritage. At the Congress of People's Deputies, he voted for the inclusion in the agenda of the issue of the 6th article of the Constitution of the USSR, which provided for the leading role of the CPSU in society, for the expansion of the rights of autonomies, for the removal of the word "Soviet" from the phrase "Soviet constitutional system". According to the Estonian politician Edgar Savisaar, a former member of the Congress, Alexy collaborated with him in making public the secret protocols of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact and sympathized with the struggle for the restoration of the independence of the Republic of Estonia.
Election to the Patriarchal Throne

Patriarch Pimen died on May 3, 1990. Already one month later (before the expiration of 40 days of mourning), the Local Council was convened to elect his successor.

The Council of Bishops on June 6, 1990, which preceded the Local Council, revealed the leadership of Metropolitan Alexy of Leningrad in terms of the number of votes received from the three candidates included in the voting ballots.

The Local Council, which opened on June 7, held two rounds of voting (none of the proposed additional candidates scored the number of votes required to be included in the voting list): in the first round, Metropolitan Alexy received 139 votes, Metropolitan Vladimir (Sabodan) of Rostov and Novocherkassk - 107 , Metropolitan of Kyiv and Galicia Filaret (Denisenko), who presided on the first day of the Council, - 66. In the second round, which took place on the same day, Alexy, who received 166 votes, bypassed Vladimir by 23 votes and was elected Patriarch.

On June 10, 1990, the enthronement (launching) of Alexy took place in the Moscow Epiphany Cathedral. Alexy II became the first Patriarch of Moscow to use a number in his name (in historiography, it is customary to call the 17th-century patriarchs Joasaph I and Joasaph II, although numbers were not used in their era).
Patriarchy of Alexy II

Until July 20, 1990, when the Holy Synod decided to “separate the Novgorod diocese from the Leningrad Metropolis” and appointed the former Tashkent and Central Asian Lev (Tserpitsky) bishop of Novgorod and Starorussky, he remained the ruling bishop of Leningrad and Novgorod, and also, until August 11, 1992, - Tallinn.

During the period of primacy of Patriarch Alexy II (1990-2008), the following significant trends and phenomena were observed in the life of the Russian Orthodox Church:

Limitation of convocation (in exceptional cases), due to the adoption of the new Charter of the Russian Orthodox Church in 2000, of the Local Council as a body of "church administration and church court" (since 1990 it has not been convened even once in violation of the Charter of 1988 that was in force until 2000) and the transfer of part his powers to the Council of Bishops; according to some critics, the bureaucratization and clericalization of church life and administration;
The cross-border nature (for the first time in the history of the Moscow Church) of the exclusive jurisdiction (“canonical territory”) of the ROC;
A steady significant increase in the number of parishes, monasteries, theological educational institutions, dioceses and clergy in all countries of the "canonical territory" of the Russian Orthodox Church, which caused reproaches for the inability to "Orthodox evangelization" and excessive enthusiasm for church building;
Strengthening the administrative autonomy of the canonical divisions of the Russian Orthodox Church located in states other than Russia former USSR, - self-governing Churches;
Continuation of the policy directions that cause rejection and protests on the part of the church: ecumenism and what opponents call Sergianism or neo-Sergianism (See also in the article Diomede (Dzyuban));
The growing role of the ROC and its leadership in the public policy of Russia and some other CIS countries;
Preservation and aggravation of the canonically abnormal situation of parallel religious structures in Ukraine, as well as Estonia (See articles Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate), Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyiv Patriarchate, Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church, Estonian Apostolic Orthodox Church);
Repeated exacerbation of traditional (since the 1920s) tensions in relations with the Patriarchate of Constantinople (since 1995), associated with the claims of the Moscow Patriarchate for informal leadership in ecumenical Orthodoxy, as well as with the Romanian Patriarchate in connection with the restoration of the Bessarabian Metropolis by the latter;
Diplomatic confrontation with the leadership of the Roman Catholic Church (For more details, see Catholicism in Russia#Relations with the Moscow Patriarchate (ROC));
Financial and economic autonomy of the structures of the ROC at all levels from the respective canonical centers.

The last public service was celebrated by Patriarch Alexy on December 4, 2008, on the feast of the Presentation of the Most Holy Theotokos and on the 91st anniversary of the enthronement of St. Tikhon (Bellavin): after the Liturgy in the Dormition Cathedral of the Kremlin, the Patriarch led a moleben at the relics of St. Tikhon in the Great Cathedral of the Donskoy Monastery in Moscow; Metropolitan Nicholas of Mesogeia and Lavreotiki and other members of the delegation of the Greek Orthodox Church prayed at the service.
Position and statements on issues of public morality
His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia at the opening of the III World Russian People's Council (December 4, 1995) said: “In our time, in the words of Pushkin, “newborn freedom, suddenly numb, has lost its strength.” In this regard, I would like to remind you that Russian society today lacks true catholicity, that is, such a state when we - no matter how different the Creator may have created us - work with inspiration for the common good, perceiving any work as a service to the Lord and the Fatherland, remembering every hour and every minute that we are responsible before God for our neighbor, for our family, for our people, for our Motherland, for the peace and well-being of the whole world.

Resonance and condemnation from the liberal public in the Western media was caused by the position he voiced on the issue of homosexuality and its public manifestations.

In his letter dated March 16, 2006, the patriarch personally thanked Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov for refusing to hold a gay pride parade for a group of gay people. The letter also expressed his negative attitude towards “non-traditional” relations between the sexes, which is quite in line with the traditional teachings of the Orthodox Church.

On October 2, 2007, speaking at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, he again expressed his negative attitude towards non-traditional sexual orientation, calling homosexuality the same disease as “kleptomania”, and also expressed the idea that civilization is threatened by a discrepancy between Christian morality and human rights , the defense of which is used to justify moral decline.

He condemned "moral relativism and attempts to destroy traditional moral norms."
Cooperation with the state authorities of the USSR before the patriarchate

In the period before his election as Patriarch, His Grace Alexy, like many other hierarchs of the Russian Orthodox Church, loyally participated in the activities of official socio-political organizations, mainly of a peacekeeping nature. He repeatedly went on business trips abroad with predominantly ecumenical goals (See more details above, in the section “International, ecumenical and social activities before the patriarchate”).
Alexy (second from left), Patriarch Pimen at a reception on the occasion of the anniversary of the October Revolution with Leonid Brezhnev. Late 1970s Photographer - G. Samariy

On February 17, 1974, in his summary, Metropolitan Alexy of Tallinn and Estonia, in particular, wrote: “The measure applied to A. Solzhenitsyn by the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR to deprive him of citizenship of the USSR is quite correct and even humane and meets the will of all our people, oh which is evidenced by the reaction of the Soviet people to the decision of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet. Church people fully approve this decision and believe that the words of ap. John the Theologian: “They went out from us, but were not ours” (1 John 2:19).

In the 1990s, some material about the agent "Drozdov", recruited on February 28, 1958, "on patriotic feelings to identify and develop an anti-Soviet element from among the Orthodox clergy" was made public, - from the report of the 4th department of the KGB of the ESSR on intelligence work for 1958 year, which, according to the historian Indrek Jürjo, a responsible employee of the State Archives of Estonia, points to Ridiger Alexei Mikhailovich, at that time a parish priest: “Mr. annual report of the KGB for 1958 correspond to the Estonian origin of the clergyman, year of birth, education and career path.

According to the study by Christopher Andrew and Vasily Mitrokhin The Mitrokhin Archive, in 1975 A. Ridiger founded the Motherland Society, which served as a cover organization for the activities of the KGB; the activity of Rodina was supervised by the PGU officer of the KGB of the USSR P. I. Vasiliev. Publications about Drozdov's collaboration with the KGB were based on documents from the KGB archives, which were officially accessed by a number of individuals in late 1991.

The fact of A. M. Ridiger's undercover cooperation with the KGB was never officially confirmed by the state security agencies of the Russian Federation or the USSR. September 20, 2000, with a refutation of allegations of cooperation, in response to a short article in the British The Times (dedicated to the release in Russia of a study on the economic activities of the Russian Orthodox Church and mentioned cooperation with the KGB in passing: “President Putin is unlikely to demand an investigation, not least because that he and Patriarch Aleksi II have a common past connected with the KGB” (President Putin is unlikely to press for action, not least because he and Patriarch Aleksi II share a KGB past)), Vsevolod Chaplin, an employee of the DECR, spoke in connection with which The British research organization Keston College published the conclusions of its analysis of the documents at its disposal: "Allegations that the Patriarch and other high-ranking bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church collaborated with the KGB are based on reality."

On December 5, 2008, on the day of the death of Patriarch Alexy II, the BBC wrote, summing up his episcopal career:

“Patriarch Alexy II had an incredible career during which he switched from suppressing the Russian Orthodox Church to being its champion. A favorite of the KGB, he quickly moved up the church hierarchy, following the Kremlin's orders at a time when dissident priests were being jailed. As the de facto Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Church, he helped cover up repressions against Russian Christians, defending the Soviet system from the outside world. He quickly rose to prominence and was elected head of the Russian Orthodox Church at a pivotal moment in 1990 as the USSR was nearing its collapse. Surprisingly, but it is likely that he seized the moment and became the head of the revival and prosperity of the Church.
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Death and burial
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Died Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Alexy II
During the farewell ceremony at the Cathedral of Christ the Savior
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Middle row from left to right: Eduard Kokoity, Sergey Bagapsh, Boris Tadich, Serzh Sargsyan, Vladimir Putin, Lyudmila Putina, Svetlana Medvedeva, Dmitry Medvedev, Vladimir Voronin, Alexander Lukashenko
Funeral of Patriarch Alexy II-17.jpg

At about 11 a.m. on December 5, 2008, the head of the press service of the Moscow Patriarchate, Vladimir Vigilyansky, reported that the Patriarch died at his residence, located next to the railway platform and the village of Peredelkino, in the morning of the same day, "an hour - an hour and a half ago." On the same day, the Patriarchate denied the circulating speculation about the unnatural nature of the death of the Patriarch.

According to the official version, the cause of death was acute heart failure: the patriarch suffered from coronary heart disease, suffered several heart attacks and periodically traveled abroad for examination. The most serious health incident took place in October 2002 in Astrakhan. After the then severe stroke suffered by the Patriarch, rumors began to spread in Ukraine and among the Russian Church Abroad about a certain appearance to him in the altar of the Astrakhan Cathedral of St. Theodosius of the Caves. The press service of the DECR Patriarchy issued an official refutation, stating that "rumors are maliciously spread by opponents of the Church who are interested in bringing confusion into the minds of believers." On April 27, 2007, the Russian media disseminated information about the sharp deterioration in the health of the Patriarch, who is in Switzerland. On December 12, 2008, at a diocesan meeting, Metropolitan Yuvenaly (Poyarkov) read out a letter sent to him by the Patriarch on November 28 of the same year from a vacation in Spain, where the Patriarch wrote, in particular: “My vacation was interrupted by atrial fibrillation, and for cardioversion I had to leave to Munich. I had to undergo not only an examination, as previously assumed, but also treatment.”

On the evening of December 5, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew said at Vespers: "The Mother Church of Constantinople shares the grief of our Russian brothers over the death of our brother Alexy, Patriarch of Moscow."

On the evening of December 6, the coffin with the body of Patriarch Alexy was delivered to the Moscow Cathedral of Christ the Savior, where, at the end of Sunday all-night vigil a farewell ceremony was held with the newly deceased Patriarch, which lasted until the morning of December 9 (Tuesday); funeral services and continuous reading of the Gospel were performed in the Temple. For believers who wished to say goodbye to the Patriarch, the temple was open around the clock. According to the press service of the Moscow police department, more than 100,000 people took part in the farewell ceremony for the patriarch.

On December 6, 2008, the Holy Synod, which elected Metropolitan Kirill (Gundyaev) of Smolensk and Kaliningrad as Locum Tenens of the Patriarchal Throne, who also headed the commission for organizing the funeral of the Patriarch, decided to hold the funeral of Patriarch Alexy in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior on December 9 of the same year, and the funeral - in the Epiphany Cathedral Cathedral of Moscow.

On December 7, 2008, the President of the Russian Federation D. A. Medvedev signed the Decree “On organizational measures in connection with the death of Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia”, which, without declaring mourning, “instructed” cultural institutions and television and radio companies to cancel entertainment events and programs in the day of the funeral of the Patriarch, and the Government of the Russian Federation and the state authorities of Moscow to assist the Moscow Patriarchate in organizing the funeral of the Patriarch, to provide coverage of events related to the farewell to the Patriarch to all-Russian television and radio broadcasting organizations.

On December 9, 2008, after the funeral liturgy, which was led by the Patriarchal Locum Tenens Metropolitan Kirill, concelebrated by a host of bishops (the majority of the episcopate of the Russian Orthodox Church served, as well as primates and representatives of other local Churches), and the funeral service, which was led by Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople, the body of the deceased was transferred to Epiphany Elokhovsky Cathedral, where he was buried in the southern (Blagoveshchensky aisle). During the funeral, after the versification of the 17th kathisma, Metropolitan Kirill, who was walking past the coffin to the altar to perform incense, became ill and was placed by two bishops on the altar, from where he did not appear for some time; the incident was presented as "passing out" by some news outlets. Archpriest Vs. Chaplin stated that there was no loss of consciousness, but that Metropolitan Kirill "felt unwell". The media also reported on several other bishops and other officials who were unwell.
Question of circumstances and causes of death

On September 4, 2009, responding to the versions put forward by some people on the topic of the possible causes and circumstances of the death of the Patriarch, the head of the press service of the Patriarchate, Volodymyr Vigilyansky, explained, in particular, that the late Patriarch did not allow anyone into his chambers at night; also, there was no "panic button" in his chambers, because the patriarch is said to have been against it. On the same day, Andrey Kuraev, a former assistant to the patriarch, said that Alexy II died after falling and hitting the back of his head in the toilet.
Russian Orthodox Church and secular power under Alexy II
Main article: Russian Church in the Patriarchate of Alexy II

In an interview with the Izvestiya newspaper on June 10, 1991, when asked about his attitude to the Declaration of Metropolitan Sergius, the Patriarch replied:

the statement of Metropolitan Sergius, of course, cannot be called voluntary, for he, who was under terrible pressure, had to declare things that were far from the truth in order to save people. Today we can say that there is a lie in his Declaration. The Declaration set as its goal "to put the Church in the right relationship with the Soviet government." But these relations, and in the Declaration they are clearly described as the subordination of the Church to the interests of state policy, are precisely not correct from the point of view of the Church. It must be admitted that the Declaration does not put the Church in a “correct” relationship with the state, but, on the contrary, destroys the distance that even in a democratic society should be between the state and the Church, so that the state does not breathe on the Church and does not infect her with its breath, spirit coercion and silence. As for my defense of this Declaration, it must be remembered that the criticism of the Declaration was mainly directed against the words: "we want to consider the Soviet Union our civil Motherland, whose joys are our joys and whose troubles are our troubles." The opponents of the Declaration argued that by such a declaration the joys of an atheistic state were identified with the joys of the Church. It would indeed be absurd. But after all, the Declaration does not contain the word “which”, that is, the state, Soviet Union, but there is the word "which", correlated with the word "Motherland". That is, we are talking about the Motherland, the joys of which, regardless of the political regime that dominates it or over it, really please the Church. That is why I defended this provision of the Declaration all the time, and I agree with it today. As for the rest of the provisions of the Declaration... We were in no hurry to verbally abandon it, until in fact, in life we ​​could not take a truly independent position. During this year, I believe, we were really able to get out from under the obsessive tutelage of the state, and therefore now, having as a fact our distance from it, we have the moral right to say that the Declaration of Metropolitan Sergius as a whole is a thing of the past and that we are not guided by her.

To the journalist’s remark about the well-known report of Vasily Furov, Deputy Chairman of the Council for Religious Affairs, to the Central Committee of the CPSU in 1974, which speaks of His Grace Alexy as one of the most loyal “Soviet authorities” bishops of the Russian Church, who understands the “disinterest” of the state in strengthening religiosity , the patriarch replied that, upon his appointment as bishop in Tallinn in September 1961, he managed to defend the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral and the Pyukhtitsky Monastery from closure.

After the election of Alexy II as Patriarch, as far as can be judged from open sources, he developed basically even relations with the top leadership of the country, including with the Presidents of Russia: Boris Yeltsin and Vladimir Putin.

On July 10, 1991, at a solemn meeting of the Congress of People's Deputies of the RSFSR, dedicated to the inauguration of the first President of the RSFSR Boris Yeltsin, after the latter's oath and after the performance of the anthem (music by Mikhail Glinka), he addressed him with a word, after which he read out the text of the address signed by the Heads and representatives of churches and religious associations of the RSFSR. Having handed over the address, the Patriarch "overshadowed B. N. Yeltsin with the sign of the cross."

On August 19, 1991, during the August events, during the service of the liturgy in the Assumption Cathedral of the Kremlin, he ordered to lower the petition “[For our God-protected country,] its authorities and army” on the litanies.

During the October events of 1993, he offered mediation to both warring parties; with his participation, negotiations began in the Moscow Danilov Monastery, which did not lead to anything.

Participated in the procedure for the inauguration of Boris N. Yeltsin in 1996; attended the ceremony of transferring presidential powers to Vladimir Putin on December 31, 1999.
Patriarch Alexy II in the Kremlin Cathedral of the Annunciation gives a blessing to V.V. Putin on the day of the inauguration of the latter on May 7, 2000

Alexy II did not take part in the inauguration ceremony of Putin on May 7, 2000 and May 7, 2004, being present only among the invited guests along with representatives of other religious denominations; however, on May 7, 2000, “at the end of the inauguration ceremony of the President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, a prayer service was served in the Annunciation Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin for the health and longevity of the new head of state. Vladimir Putin was blessed by the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Alexy II. During the service, the President's wife, Lyudmila Aleksandrovna Putina, was next to the President. The primate of the Russian Orthodox Church, in parting words to Vladimir Putin, noted that Russia is gaining a new head, who has already enlisted the support of the majority of the country's inhabitants.

Despite the different, according to many observers, attitude of the secular authorities to this issue, he refused to agree to the visit of Pope John Paul II to Russia, referring to unresolved problems between the Churches.

As early as 1989, state bodies stopped exercising active control over the life of religious organizations. In the 1990s, the state began to provide active, including legal and financial, assistance to the Church in the restoration of churches, the development of spiritual education, pastoral care in government departments, in the army, in places of deprivation of liberty, etc. Many high-ranking civil servants received at this time the highest church awards. A number of large churches were built at the expense of regional budgets or large companies, which, coupled with the financial opacity of the structures of the Patriarchate, raises questions from critics of the ROC. In his response to the Patriarch on January 12, 2008, in the Iversky (formerly Assumption) Cathedral of the Valdai Monastery, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in particular: “Sberbank of Russia has invested tens of millions of dollars in the reconstruction of the temple. It remains only to revive the painting, to gild the domes. I promise you that we will do it as soon as possible.”

In the 2000s, some analysts, human rights activists, and representatives of other faiths began to express fear that the Church began to claim the role of the bearer of a de facto state ideology. Such fears were especially amplified in connection with the discussion about the introduction of the subject of the Fundamentals of Orthodox Culture into the curriculum. general education schools as a regional component. Accusations are made of the political background of some of the canonical prohibitions imposed on the clergy.

After a statement made on December 11, 2007 by Dmitry Medvedev, in which the latter turned to Vladimir Putin "with a request to agree in principle to head the Russian government after the election of a new president of our country", on December 13 he gave an interview to the Rossiya TV channel (Vesti, December 13, 2007) , where he said the following in connection with such a personnel offer: “Of course, this is probably a difficult step, because it is not easy for a person who occupies the highest position in the state, is a national leader, to take second place. But Vladimir Vladimirovich's attitude to his duty, his love for the Motherland, what he did for Russia, I think, should encourage him to overcome this seeming difficulty. I believe that such a combination will ensure the continuity of the course pursued by V.V. Putin over the past eight years.”

On February 12, 2008, official representatives of the Moscow Patriarchate expressed their dissatisfaction with the signing of the Decree of the President of the Russian Federation of February 6, 2008 No. 138, which abolished, in particular, Decree of the President of the Russian Federation of January 14, 2002 No. military service» (Sobraniye zakonodatelstva Rossiyskoy Federatsii, 2002, No. 3, p. 192). Moscow Patriarchy lawyer Ksenia Chernega, in a commentary for the official website of the Russian Orthodox Church, stated: “The Russian Orthodox Church believes that the conscription of a priest into the army is contrary to the internal regulations of the Church. But according to Article 15 of the Law “On Freedom of Conscience”, the state must respect internal regulations. Therefore, our principled position is that the deferral for priests must be preserved.” On February 22, 2008, Vladimir Vigilyansky, press secretary of the Moscow Patriarchate, recalled at a press conference that before the revolution of 1917, there were 60 thousand clergy in the entire Russian Church, while at the time of the press conference it did not even reach 30 thousand, and in Russia itself - only 15 thousand priests; stating that the problem of the catastrophic shortage of clergy is not the fault of the Church, “but of the theomachist regime, which throughout the last century exterminated the clergy,” he noted: “In this situation, the position of the state as the successor of the power that destroyed and shot priests seems not very moral” .

On February 29, 2008, Russian President Putin signed the federal law “On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of the Russian Federation Regarding Licensing and Accreditation of Professional Institutions religious education(spiritual educational institutions)”, which establishes the possibility for educational institutions of professional religious education to obtain a certificate of state accreditation.

On March 3, 2008, 4 days before the official voting results were summed up, Alexy II sent congratulations to the First Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation D. A. Medvedev "in connection with the victory at presidential elections”, noting that the latter “has to work painstakingly to create a new image of Russia in the third millennium, and this will require from [him] patience, love, faith and at the same time courage.” Early in the morning of April 27 of the same year in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow, at the end of Easter matins, he addressed V. V. Putin and D. A. Medvedev, who were present at the service, saying in particular: “We are grateful to you, dear Vladimir Vladimirovich, for eight years of presidency, during which you have done a lot for our country. Both of you have a difficult feat of serving your Fatherland and your people. I also congratulate your spouses - Lyudmila Alexandrovna and Svetlana Vladimirovna, who will support you now and in the future, help you in difficulties and trials.

On May 7, 2008, in the Kremlin's Annunciation Cathedral, after the inauguration ceremony of the new President of Russia, he performed a prayer service on the occasion of the inauguration of President of Russia Dmitry Medvedev; read out to the latter a welcoming address, in which he noted that the new President of Russia was taking on "a heavy burden of responsibility for the present and future of our state in a difficult time of its socio-economic transformations." On May 8 of the same year, he congratulated V. Putin on his assumption of the post of Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation.

According to the NG Religion of September 3, 2008, the statement of Archpriest Vs. Chaplin on August 26 of the same year in connection with the military conflict in Georgia (“Political decisions do not determine questions about church jurisdictions and spheres of pastoral responsibility”) put the ROC “after the official recognition of the two Transcaucasian republics by President Dmitry Medvedev, in a well-known opposition to the political course of the country's leadership. » On November 6, 2008, Patriarch Alexy II, at a meeting with a delegation of the Georgian Patriarchate in Moscow, said: “We are always happy to receive envoys from the fraternal saint of the Georgian Orthodox Church, with which we have so much in common: a single holy Orthodox faith, a single history, centuries-old cultural ties. We believe that no political cataclysms can shake our fraternal unity, and our meeting today is convincing evidence of this.”

In his last interview, given on November 1, 2008 and published posthumously, he assessed his historical role: “I had to establish completely new relations between the state and the Church, which were 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 decisions that were made on church issues came from his office. And now completely new relations have been established, when the Church herself makes decisions and is herself responsible for her actions before her conscience, history, and people.”

The day after his death, December 6, 2008, the Kommersant newspaper wrote about him: “Patriarch Alexy II became the first representative of the church who managed to bring the interests of religious and state authorities so close that it became impossible to separate one from the other.” .
See also: Economic activities of the Russian Orthodox Church
Awards

Awards of the Russian Orthodox Church and other local Churches:

Order of the Holy Apostle Andrew the First-Called with a diamond star
Order of Glory and Honor (2005)
Order of the Holy Prince Daniel of Moscow, 1st class
Order of St. Alexis, Metropolitan of Moscow and All Russia, 1st class
Order of St. Macarius, Metropolitan of Moscow and All Russia, 1st class
Order of the Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Grand Duke Vladimir I degree (May 27, 1968)
Order of the Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Grand Duke Vladimir II degree (May 11, 1963)
Order of St. Sergius of Radonezh, 1st class (February 21, 1979)
Order of St. Innocent, Metropolitan of Moscow and Kolomna, 1st class
Order of the Holy Right-believing Grand Duke Dimitry Donskoy, 1st class (2005)
Order of Saints Equal-to-the-Apostles Cyril and Methodius, I degree (Czechoslovak Orthodox Church, October 20, 1962)
Order Reverend John Rylsky I degree (Bulgarian Orthodox Church, May 1968)
Order of the Apostle Mark (Alexandrian Orthodox Church, 1969)
Order of the Life-Giving Cross I and II degree (Jerusalem Orthodox Church, 1968, 1984)
Order of the Holy Great Martyr George the Victorious I and II degree (Georgian Orthodox Church, 1968, 1972)
Order of the Apostles Peter and Paul II degree (Antioch Orthodox Church, September 1, 1981)
Other Orders of the Metropolia of the Patriarch of Antioch
Order of the Holy Hieromartyr John Archbishop of Riga, 1st Class (Latvian Orthodox Church, May 28, 2006)
Medal of the 1500th Anniversary of the Jerusalem Patriarchate (1965)
Gold medal of the 1st degree of the Holy Great Martyr Demetrius of Thessalonica (Greece, September 25, 1980)
Gold medal of the 1st degree of the Holy Great Martyr Catherine Metropolis of Katerini (Greece, May 4, 1982)
Medal "15 years of the Kemerovo and Novokuznetsk diocese" (Kemerovo and Novokuznetsk diocese, March 22, 2008)

State awards of the Russian Federation:

Order of St. Andrew the First-Called (February 19, 1999) - for an outstanding contribution to the spiritual and moral revival of Russia, the preservation of peace and harmony in society
Order of Merit for the Fatherland, 1st class (February 23, 2004) - for outstanding contribution to strengthening peace and harmony between peoples, restoring the historical and cultural heritage of Russia
Order of Merit for the Fatherland, II degree (September 11, 1997) - for his great contribution to the achievement of unity and harmony in society and many years of peacekeeping
Order of Friendship of Peoples (February 22, 1994) - for his great personal contribution to the cause of the spiritual revival of Russia and active peacekeeping
State Prize of the Russian Federation for outstanding achievements in the field of humanitarian activity in 2005 (June 9, 2006, presented on June 12).

State awards of the USSR:

Awards of the subjects of the Russian Federation:

Order "The Key of Friendship" (Kemerovo Region)
Order of the White Lotus (Kalmykia, 1997)

departmental awards:

Commemorative medal of A. M. Gorchakov (Russian Foreign Ministry, 2002)
Badge "For Mercy and Charity" (Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation, 2003).
Medal "For contribution to the development of the agro-industrial complex", I degree (Ministry of Agriculture of Russia, 2005)
Medal of Anatoly Koni (Ministry of Justice of Russia, 2000)

Foreign state awards:

Order of Glory (Azerbaijan, September 14, 2005) - for merits in the development of friendly relations between the peoples of Azerbaijan and Russia
Order of the Maarjamaa Cross, 1st class (Estonia, September 29, 2003)
Order of the Three Stars, 1st class (Latvia, May 27, 2006)
Order of Friendship of Peoples (Belarus, March 26, 2004) - for fruitful activities in the rapprochement and mutual enrichment of national cultures, a great personal contribution to the development of the spiritual and intellectual potential of the fraternal peoples of Belarus and Russia
Order of Francysk Skorina (Belarus, September 23, 1998) - for special merits in the development and strengthening of friendly ties between peoples
Order of Honor (Belarus, 2008)
Medal of Francysk Skaryna (Belarus, July 22, 1995) - for the great contribution of the Orthodox Church to the spiritual revival of the Belarusian people
Order of the Republic (Moldova, November 12, 2005)
National Order of the Cedar (Lebanon, October 6, 1991)
Order of the Grand Duke of Lithuania Gediminas I degree (Lithuania, 1997)
Order of Dostyk, I degree (Kazakhstan, 2002)
Order of the Republic (PMR, February 8, 1999) - for an invaluable contribution to strengthening the true Orthodox faith of our fathers, great, constant attention, help shown to the children of the One Holy Catholic Apostolic Church of our State and in connection with the 70th anniversary of the birth

Public awards:

Honorary Diploma of the Soviet Peace Fund (August 23, 1969)
Medal and certificate of honor of the Soviet Peace Fund (December 13, 1971)
Commemorative personal table medal of the Soviet Peace Fund (1969)
Medal of the World Peace Council (1976) - in connection with the 25th anniversary of the peace movement
Medal of the Soviet Peace Committee (1974) - in connection with the 25th anniversary of the committee's formation
Honorary diploma of the Soviet Peace Committee (November 1979)
Certificate of honor 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 Honor of the Board of the Soviet Peace Fund (December 15, 1982) - for active participation in the activities of the fund
Diploma of the Society of Soviet-Indian Friendship
According to Keston News Service, in 1988 he was awarded the USSR KGB Honorary Diploma.

Honorary citizen of a number of regions and cities:

Honorary Citizen of Moscow
Honorary Citizen of St. Petersburg
Honorary Citizen of Novgorod
Honorary Citizen of Sergiev Posad
Honorary Citizen of the Republic of Kalmykia
Honorary Citizen of the Republic of Mordovia
Honorary Citizen of the Leningrad Region
Honorary Citizen of the Republic of Karelia (2006)
Honorary citizen of the city of Dmitrov (2003)
Honorary citizen of Murom (Vladimir region, 2006)
Honorary citizen of the Kemerovo region (2005)
Honorary citizen of the city of Podolsk, Moscow region (2001)

Honorary Degrees
Honorary Doctor of the Baku Slavic University
Honorary Doctor of Petrozavodsk State University (2000)

Memory of Patriarch Alexy II

On December 7, 2008, Archpriest Georgy Mitrofanov, a member of the ROC Synodal Commission for Canonization, stated: “ Synodal Commission on canonization, he adheres to the point of view that, as a rule, it is possible to consider material on the possibility of canonization of a Christian not earlier than 50 years after his death. He also noted that, among other things, for canonization it is necessary to carefully study the nature of the life and work of the candidate.
By the decision of the Holy Synod of December 10, 2008, the Synodal Library of the Russian Orthodox Church was named after His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II. The grand opening of the entrance plaque with the new name of the Synodal Library was performed by Patriarch Kirill on February 26, 2009.
The city government of Tallinn decided to support the proposal of the mayor of the city, Edgar Savisaar, to name the square in honor of Patriarch Alexy II in front of the Orthodox Church of the Icon of the Mother of God "Quick Hearing" under construction, which was opened on September 30, 2009 by the mayor of the Estonian capital and Metropolitan of Tallinn (Moscow Patriarchate) Cornelius (Jacobs).
In January 2009, a memorial sign was erected in the city of Murom (Vladimir region), in the form of a memorial plaque on a large fragment of capr-dioptase.
On March 27, 2009, a memorial plaque with the name of Patriarch Alexy II was unveiled on the facade of the Church of the Holy Great Martyr Tatiana at Lomonosov Moscow State University on Bolshaya Nikitskaya Street in Moscow.
In January 2009, the Parliament of Karelia intended to start drafting a bill to rename one of the islands of the Valaam archipelago in honor of the deceased; in February, the proposal was rejected by the State Committee of the Parliament, citing federal legislation.
December 26, 2009 in the village of Frolovskoye Nizhny Novgorod region in memory of His Holiness Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Alexy II, a worship cross was consecrated.
On August 4, 2010, a monument to Alexy II was unveiled in Yoshkar-Ola.

He was fluent in Russian and Estonian. He knew German well and a little English.

He lived in a suburban patriarchal residence in Novo-Peredelkino (7th Lazenki Street; the former estate of the Kolychevs in the village of Spasskoye-Lukino) of Moscow.

The economic support of the Patriarchal residence in Peredelkino was carried out by the nuns of the Pyukhtitsky metochion in Moscow, headed by Abbess Filareta (Smirnova).

According to the site Pravoslavie.Ru, since January 11, 2000, by order of i. about. President of Russia V. Putin was under guard Federal Service protection (FSO).

Alexy ΙΙ is the third primate of the Orthodox Church who died in 2008 (after the Greek Archbishop Christodoulos and the head of ROCOR, Metropolitan Laurus).

In his youth, he received a sports category in rowing in the Estonian sports society "Kalev".

The mobile phone was used only abroad.

Literature

Konovalov V.I. Patriarch Alexy II: Life and service at the turn of the millennium. - M.: Eksmo, 2012. - 320 p., ill. - (Patriarchs of the Russian Church). - 3000 copies, ISBN 978-5-699-41594-6

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The name of Alexy II Patriarch of Moscow occupies a firm place in church science. Even before the primatial throne, he published more than 150 works on church-historical and theological topics. He became the fifteenth Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church and received the honorary title of His Holiness His Holiness Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia.

In the world, he is Alexei Mikhailovich Ridiger. He was born on February 23, 1929 in the Estonian city of Tallinn. The family of the future Patriarch was deeply religious. Alexei's father, Ridiger Mikhail Alexandrovich, was a native of St. Petersburg and descended from an old St. Petersburg family. The mother of the Saint, Elena Iosifovna Pisareva, was an Estonian.

In pre-war Europe, the life of Russian families. who emigrated from their homeland, was not very wealthy. But although material life was scarce, this did not prevent His Holiness from developing culturally.

From a young age, the boy aspired to worship. The spirit of the Orthodox Church has always reigned in the family of the Primate. It has always been believed that the temple and the family are an inseparable part. That is why for young Alexei there was no question of choosing a path through life.

At the age of six, the boy took his first conscious steps in an Orthodox church. He acted as an assistant to the priest, spilling the sacred water. Then he definitely decided that when he grows up, he will become a clergyman.

Youth of Alexei II Patriarch of Moscow

His Holiness began to serve in the church from a young age. At the age of 15, he became a subdeacon of Bishop Isidore and Archbishop Paul of Estonia and Tallinn. In 1945, Alexei became a sacristan and altar boy at the local cathedral. A few years later he entered the theological seminary of St. Petersburg. And five years later he became rector of the Epiphany Monastery in Johvi. In 1957, he was also appointed rector of the Assumption Cathedral. During the year he served in two monasteries.

Episcopal and patriarchal ministry of His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II

At the age of 32, His Holiness took monastic vows. In the same year, a resolution was adopted to award the title of Estonian and Tallinn Bishop to Alexis Ridiger. So he became the manager of the Riga diocese.

This time was not easy. AT communist country more and more revolutionary actions flared up, which were aimed at persecuting religiosity. This is the time of Khrushchev's persecution. True, these were not pre-war times when church ministers were exterminated. At that time, everything was simply done by slandering the church in mass media reports: newspapers, radio, television. The authorities wanted to persecute Christians by closing religious schools and churches.

Patriarch Alexy II himself says this about this time: “Only the Lord knows how much every clergyman who remained in Soviet Russia had to endure at this time. We defended the interests of the Orthodox Church.”

During his ministry, His Holiness formed a large number of new dioceses. Created new centers of church and spiritual leadership. All this contributed to the revival of religious and church life. He also constantly came up with peacekeeping initiatives in confrontation and hostilities in the Balkans, Moldova, the North Caucasus, South Ossetia and Iraq.

Where is buried Patriarch Alexy II

The 15th Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church died on the bright Christmas Lent - December 5, 2008. Before his anniversary, Alexy did not live only two months. The death of Patriarch Alexy was a shock to the entire Orthodox people.

Today, believers very often turn to the relics of His Holiness:

• for help;
• for advice;
• for healing;
• with thanks.

Even after the death of the Patriarch, his pilgrimage route develops by itself. Many come to his burial place. He is buried in the Cathedral of the Epiphany, which is also called Yelokhovsky by the people.

People come to him, talk to him, consult him, ask for something or worship a great Holy Man. And they come to him as usual simple people, and leaders, famous figures, and even presidents.

The Lord is always with you!

Watch a video about His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow:

4. 09. 2009, Portal-Credo. en On September 4, Professor of the Moscow Theological Academy, Archdeacon Andrei Kuraev, entered into a correspondence debate on his blog with the famous Russian actor Stanislav Sadalsky, who claims in his interview with Sobesednik that Patriarch Alexy II died a violent death. And making it clear that the current primate of the ROC MP is somehow involved in this.

As the correspondent of Portal-Credo.Ru reports, commenting on Sadalsky's reference to the statement of the protodeacon himself about concealing the true circumstances of the death of the Patriarch, Fr. Andrew writes:

"I did not mean the murder of the Patriarch at all." Of the two initial versions of the death of Alexy II, the protodeacon recognizes the version of a heart attack as partly correct: “As such, a heart attack would not have killed the patriarch. It just happened in the most inconvenient circumstances for help ... "

At the same time, he admits: “It is possible that there was no attack at all. It's just that an elderly person, at some kind of turn or sudden movement, for a second lost coordination of movements - and fell. But, falling, the back of his head hit the corner of the chair. And this corner interrupted the vein.

Protodeacon Andrei Kuraev also reports that on the walls of the room in which the Patriarch was at the time of death, there were “bloody marks from his hands.” The professor testifies that Alexy II himself created the conditions that prevented him from being helped: “It was in the inner chambers of the Patriarch, which he himself locked from the inside at night. The doors are double, the insulation from the rest of the building, where the nuns bustle around, is complete. No one heard the groans of the Patriarch. Even the guards did not have the keys to his chambers.

According to the version of Andrei, the doors of the patriarch's chambers were broken only at 8.30, after which they found the body of Alexy II in the bathroom. Explaining the lack of a coherent official version of the death of the Patriarch, the protodeacon lists possible perplexities: “It is clear that the procurators had a lot of questions.”

Why was there no panic button in the bathroom? Why was an elderly and seriously ill person with a pacemaker alone? Why didn't the guards have the keys? How could there be not soft and shockproof furniture next to him? Why didn't the housekeeper nun tell the guards right away? It is clear that it was difficult for the Patriarchy to say that the Primate met death in the lavatory.

What would be quite ordinary for a common man is perceived as a scandal when applied to
Patriarch. Yes, and schismatics around and within the church would gladly lament about the "death of Arius." In this regard, the version about the death of the Patriarch as a result of an accident, actively disseminated on the day of his death, Fr. Andrew calls "camouflage".

By the way, DDP was. The car of the patriarch and his driver really got into an accident: a KAMAZ classically flew towards them. The driver died. And with the patriarch I had to “sort it out on the spot”, already in the chambers. The body of the driver, crushed by KAMAZ, practically without a head and without both legs, was then placed in a coffin for a “funeral service”. Otherwise, it is simply impossible to explain its complete and sudden “disappearance”. But where did the body of the patriarch go? Only Kirill Gundyaev knows this. Surely there is something to hide? RAY.

Speaking about the protection of the late Patriarch, Fr. Andrey Kuraev explains: “These are professionals from the FSO. They are simply tactful and did not consider themselves entitled to impose on the Patriarch the standards adopted in their department.” (Yeah: “professionals” are good. The result of their professional activity is right there! BEAM)

Sadalsky's political argument that Alexy II could have been killed for refusing to recognize the independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia and accept their dioceses as part of the ROC-MP, is refuted by the protodeacon by the fact that the position of the patriarchate on this issue has not changed even with the arrival of Patriarch Kirill. “The death of the Primate of the Church always has a political echo,” Fr. Andrei. - But the death of the Patriarch is not always the result of his policy

"The chambers were covered in blood, and there were even handprints on the walls."

1. There is still no medical report on the death of Patriarch Alexy II.
   All disputes and "Maybe like this, maybe like that"- from the lips of possible killers - the medical examination decides. Why is it not carried out? We don't even know the time of death. It's just unheard of!
2. So far, the films of the external and internal surveillance cameras of the patriarch's chambers have not been made public. Where are they? If the cameras were turned off, then please tell us: who did it and for what purpose?
3. Where is the personal driver of Patriarch Alexy and his nun on duty, who was always with him, day and night? They have been missing since December 5, 2008, and no one still has any information about their whereabouts.
4. Why was Patriarch Alexy II buried with his face covered?
   In violation of all the rules. If he had “a broken vein at the back of his head, according to Mr. Kuraev’s explanations, then why did they have to cover his face?
5. Why did the appearance of the body in the coffin during the farewell in Peredelkino and during the funeral service in the KhHS differ sharply? There are many photographs and video documents that clearly prove this. In the coffin, during the funeral, a person was completely missing his head and legs.
   TEXT
   Besides: the hands of the patriarch were NOT his hands. And NOT the hands of a person who "died of heart failure." Many who knew Patriarch Alexy II well during his lifetime testify to "their black color", "swollen and dislocated joints" "absence of characteristic freckles" and even... oh "uncut, dirty nails."
6. Why did Kirill Gundyaev behave so strangely and speak wildly about the deceased in a television interview on December 6? Cyril was clearly inadequate - as if drunk, and allowed himself open hate speech against the deceased.

December 22, 2008 archim. Arseniy on the Portal forum-Credo. en I fully share the opinion of Lege and Larisa, I can only add. The fact that the strange death of the patriarch is discussed by everyone so persistently and persistently, and at the same time there are such numerous versions of his death, is not our fault. Blame the patriarchy!

There is too much untruth, too many contradictory, completely illogical interpretations by the patriarchy, of events connected with the death of the patriarch. Everything I read in the press and heard in the media completely contradict one another, and this fact itself gave rise to such disputes around the death of the patriarch.
Indeed, the patriarchate is telling a lie, taking advantage of people's religious illiteracy, that "monks are buried with their faces covered." This is not true. The farewell procedure, everywhere and always, involves only a completely open face in order to exclude hoaxes and setups at the funeral. This is the norm of burial accepted all over the world. When parting, people should see who they are burying.

I don't think anyone will dispute this fact. As for high government officials (to whom, it goes without saying, the patriarch also belonged), they are buried ONLY with their faces open, in order to exclude all sorts of idle gossip about who was buried. Patriarch Alexy the First (Count Simansky) generally lay with an open face. My friend, was at that time next to the coffin, and saw him well.

I myself have been serving the Lord in the Holy Church since the mid-70s! How many of the dead I prayerfully admonished during this time, I didn’t count two thousand or more, only the Lord knows. However, they were all with open faces, and with a clearly defined silhouette of the toes of the legs and face. With their faces covered, only victims of terrible accidents or terrorist attacks are buried. That is, only in the case when the sight of the deceased can frighten or cause shock in bystanders or children by its very appearance.

So, what happened to Ridiger generally borders on something terrible and terrible.

Neither the pronounced relief of the toes, nor the face (which was generally closed), I did not see at the funeral of the patriarch, although I have photos taken at close range. And this is possible only if the appearance of the deceased is distorted beyond recognition. If the best in the world, Russian make-up artists, failed to restore it!

For the heads of state, and dozens of bishops, to say goodbye to the deceased, with their face covered, this is not at all comprehensible to the mind! And it is not clear - it is contrary to common sense. If the face of the patriarch was not revealed during the farewell ceremony, then this indicates that he passed away in some terrible way. Which one exactly? Whether it was an accident, or an explosive bullet, or a grenade explosion, I think we will never know about it.

Returning to the question of who exactly could organize this, I can only say one thing, it is unlikely that any state services have anything to do with this - firstly, Ridiger was a “brother” for them all and supported any of their antics, he simply if they needed it, they would never go for its elimination, secondly, they have such wide opportunities and means that they could take him out of life in a natural and inconspicuous way for others. Without noise and scandals.

In this case, it is likely that forces with limited options in the choice of means were operating. Either some maniac acted, or a madman, and the people are simply afraid to admit that they failed to ensure the safety of the protected object. It is also possible that the threads stretch into the depths of church intrigues, because it is not for nothing that some of the highest officials of the MP stirred so actively immediately after the death of the patriarch.

Sincerely yours + Arseniy

December 22, 2008 at the Portal-ForumCredo. en Leger Artis. Until now, there is no official medical conclusion on the causes of death of Patriarch Alexy, signed by the Commission of at least three of their doctors. It is not reported where and under what circumstances he died. There is not even a date and time of death.

It is obvious that the one who impudently rushes now to the patriarchal white doll was interested in the death of the patriarch. All these “falls”, the pre-election PR campaign, the ostentatious “Worships” for the press, the nervousness and chaotic statements of high-ranking patriarchal officials, the search for an enemy, the aggravated conspiracy theory - all testify that there is no smoke without fire. But there is nothing hidden that would not become clear.

During the funeral of the patriarch, there were massive cases of "epilepsy".
From statements on the forums of the PortalCredo Ru:

12. 12. 2008 Victor
In the XXC, the Liturgy was attended by all kinds of heretics, Jews of other faiths and crucifiers of Christ. However, he began serving in this post from a meeting with the New York rabbis, and ended his earthly existence with them.
13. 12. 2008 L. Gumerova.
Why be surprised if ecumenism, this heresy of heresies, is their banner? To equalize everyone with a comb: and whoever serves Christ all his life and carries the Cross for Him, and a Jew, and a Buddhist, and anyone else, no matter who comes to their club: to talk about the brotherhood of peoples and drink and eat from the belly.

The death of the patriarch, probably, should now reveal a lot, and people will begin to wake up from this dope. Let everything not be in vain, and most importantly: not as they planned!

12. 12. 2008 Svyatoslav.
I completely agree. All this heretical episcopate is not pleasing to God. Yes, and the temple itself is all in atheistic symbolism, it is not our temple and not God's. This is the temple of the Antichrist. And also visited there, earlier, on the so-called. the “funeral service” of the atheist Yeltsin by Alexy, and the main Masons of the world. Everything is defiled.

According to media reports. The Zavtra newspaper writes: “According to insider sources, the sudden death of Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia, perhaps not coincidentally coincided with the publication of the results of a genetic examination to identify the remains of Nicholas II, which was carried out in one of the military medical centers of the Pentagon” .
Allegedly, this is why the information that originally appeared about a certain accident involving a car in which the Patriarch was returning to Peredelkino on the evening of December 4 was quickly blocked, asking journalists not to spread this version, and subsequently officially refuted.

In the same way, the version of the “severe and prolonged illness” of Alexy II was relegated to the background. As you know, on the eve of the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church, who has repeatedly expressed distrust of the authenticity of the remains, served the Liturgy in the Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin and a prayer service in the Donskoy Monastery, felt great, and on December 5, his participation in the Russian People's Cathedral was scheduled.

12. 12. 2008 Alexander
During the funeral of the patriarch, there were massive cases of demon possession and the so-called. "falling". From real grace, a person never becomes ill (see the lives of the saints) The XXC is not only defiled, but was originally built as a concrete remake, a temple, a mausoleum for the ambitions of the "patriarch" and Luzhkov. The fall of Cyril and the mass episcopal death during the funeral of the "patriarch" are the most discussed topics in church circles. You see how many patriarchs squirm like a snake, this is their sore point.

9. 12. 2008 Vasily. Article forum: « The Patriarchal Locum Tenens, Metropolitan Kirill, called for wreaths to be laid at the tomb of the Patriarch, "not raising anyone with conflicts and enmity." During the funeral, the metropolitan lost consciousness.” Kirill was in the altar for about 50 minutes and after two injections by the doctors he tried several times to get up again, put on a miter and tried to go out onto the solea. But he was so stormy that he could not even get up from his chair. He was in a semi-conscious state for about 20 minutes.

I say this as a living witness who has been at the altar all this time. Then Archbishop Anastay of Kazan was literally dragged there, who also lost consciousness and was brought to his senses right in the altar on the floor. Only 5-6 bishops: (Vasily Zaporozhsky, 76 years old; Vladimir Kotlyarov, 80 years old; Cornelius of Estonia, 80 years old; Pankraty of Solovetsky or Valaamsky and a couple of little-known ones were in the altar - literally firewood. Here Putin and Medvedev have seen enough of how our masters fell down like sheaves ...

Mother Russia, STOP, finally, licking the boots of geeks and bloody tyrants!

HOW MUCH IS IT POSSIBLE?

Weasel demon -
in the holy
gathered.
But here from Heaven
a sly voice rang out:
"Where are you going,
cursed demon?
I did not create such
more miracles
to sell
holiness
you snorted
and I myself gave you
on the paw

Roll you back
to your lot!
Pretty you're in sales
succeeded
you've fooled the people quite a bit.
It's time for him from demons -
to freedom.

It's time for Russia to stand up
to normal growth.
And you go away, wait
your tail
don't forget:
archangel Michael
you are my sentence
proclaimed."

The driven demon howled
and staggered
rolled up his hoof
and stumbled -
and collapsed like a sack,
without any power...

And the Archangel raised his sword
Michael.

Rough and dirty KGB performance.
The only one who fiercely hated Patriarch Alexy II , killed and sat in his place.

BEAM: A brutal, brutal murder whose motive is REVENGE. The only one (it is impossible to use the word "man") who could and passionately wanted to take revenge on the patriarch: Kirill Gundyaev. Revenge for what

Other facts of the criminal activity of Kirill Gundyaev, the head of the mafia structure of the MP.

ORGANIZED CRIME UNDER THE SHAPE OF "CHURCH".
The customer of the persecution of believers in Suzdal and Vladimir is the crime boss V. Gundyaev.

It is necessary to investigate egregious cases of violation of the Constitution of the Russian Federation and articles of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation in Suzdal and Vladimir, accompanied by gross violation of the fundamental rights and freedoms of law-abiding citizens of Russia on its territory.

In the cities of Suzdal and Vladimir, civil servants, employees of law enforcement agencies and the administration of these cities (the head of the Vladimir territorial department of the Federal Property Management Agency V. Gorlanov and others) organized criminal harassment (criminal harassment) and persecution for faith, up to a threat to health and life, - law-abiding citizens, indigenous people of Russia.

It looks incredible, but it is on the part of civil servants, employees of the state apparatus, the court and the prosecutor's office of the cities of Suzdal and Vladimir, whose professional and official duties include the protection and protection of the rights and freedoms of honest citizens of the Russian Federation, that a planned, organized policy of cruel harassment is carried out at all levels, persecution, all kinds of humiliation, persecution and physical destruction of people.

All this suggests a criminal gang of enemies of Russia and the Russian people operating in one of the central regions of the country (organized crime).

The long-term litigation for the property and temples of the ROAC has now ended with the illegal seizure and, in fact, the expulsion of believers from their temples, built literally from the ruins by their own hands. These are completely illegal decisions. They must be completely abolished and punished by all those responsible for these criminal acts. They caused irreparable damage to the national, cultural and spiritual heritage of Russia and led to the suffering of thousands of innocent people.

We draw the attention of readers to the facts of criminal activity and the personality of citizen Vladimir Gundyaev. In our opinion, it is he who is the main "customer" of all this organized persecution and the head of a criminal gang.

Since the beginning of the 90s, citizen Vladimir Gundyaev has been engaged in illegal actions: criminal scams, money-grubbing, usury, theft of state and people's property. As a monk and bishop, he is expressly prohibited from owning property by the Charter of the Church. He made his initial capital by trading in humanitarian bibles sent to the Russian people as a gift from the Vatican.
Gundyaev is connected with the entire criminal world of Russia, in particular with the well-known criminal authorities Sergey Mikhailov (nickname "Mikhas", Vladimir Kumarin, nickname "Kum", as well as with the notorious "Jap", Vyacheslav Ivankov) and is their mentor.

In July 2008, priceless relics from the royal treasuries of the Kremlin were handed over to him personally; This transmission was witnessed by Patriarch Alexy II. On December 1, 2008, an article by a journalist from the newspaper Kommersant, Vasily Lipsky, appeared on the Credo Portal, demanding a report on where the shrines are now and why no one has seen them.

It goes without saying that Patriarch Alexy asked the same questions to Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk. Three days after this article, on the night of December 5, 2008, Patriarch Alexy was brutally murdered in his residence in Peredelkino.

The circumstances of his death are hushed up. There is still no official medical opinion; the Russian people do not even know the time of his death. The funeral service in the XXC was frankly mystified: the body of a non-Patriarch Alexy II was placed in the coffin, which is clearly evidenced by numerous photo and video materials that have spread around the world and caused an unceasing wave of indignation of the world community.

In addition, the personal chauffeur of the patriarch and the nun on duty, who were always inseparable from Patriarch Alexy, disappeared. Nobody knows what happened to them.

In the summer of 2008, the then Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk traveled abroad, and the royal shrines of the Kremlin, historically unique and the most precious asset of the people, could well have been taken abroad for sale.

The fact remains that they were handed over to M. Kirill in the presence of many witnesses, but no one has ever seen them again and no one knows about their specific whereabouts.

On October 13, 2006, Metropolitan Valentin of Suzdal and Vladimir was also attacked by a bandit in his own residence in Suzdal along Teremki Street, 2. They beat him on the head, tortured him, rolled him into a carpet, trying to strangle him. Miraculously, he survived, but he had to go through many ordeals associated with his critical state of health. Prior to that, he was repeatedly brought to trial on non-existent trumped-up charges.

On March 9, 2008, the rector of the ROAC parish in the name of the Sovereign Icon of the Mother of God in the city of Belorechensk, Krasnodar Territory, Priest Alexy Gorin, born in 1959, was killed. The circumstances of his death do not exclude the ordered nature of this brutal murder.

Under circumstances that have not yet been clarified, the former sisters of the Marfo-Marin Convent perished. But the fact is that: on August 5, 2009, in the Tver region, Likhoslavsky district, the village of Vladychnya, citizen Natalya Moliboga secretly went to the cemetery where four sisters of the monastery were buried, who ended their life in the village of Vladychnya.

Without informing the villagers about this, she dug up the graves of the sisters and took them to the Marfo-Mariinsky Convent in Moscow. The sisters are not glorified and these burials are civil.

Residents of the village of Vladychnya who visited the cemetery were shocked by such blasphemy. Patriarch Alexy II categorically objected to disturbing the ashes of the deceased sisters of the monastery. In fact, the exhumation of the remains took place. The question is: why?

It is known that Natalia Moliboga also made an attempt on the grave of Father Mitrofan Serebryansky, the former spiritual mentor of the Convent and a personal friend Grand Duchess Elizabeth Romanova.

The people of Vladimir Gundyaev practically destroyed to the ground, that is, historically completely destroyed, the Marfo-Mariinsky Convent. The legitimate abbess, mother Elizaveta Kryuchkova, was expelled from the Convent. Her lawyer Mikhail Seroukhov was attacked in Moscow on October 26, 2006: beaten and hospitalized with a concussion. The document folder has disappeared.

During the trial, the legal adviser of the Patriarchate, K.A. Chernega, was forced to admit that the Patriarchate made a mistake by indicating inaccurate passport data of the nun Elizaveta. The other two lawyers didn't even know that a Doctor of Laws was a degree.

Blatant threats, utter incompetence on the part of IMO lawyers, made a strange impression. No one could answer the question: why was Mother Elizabeth dismissed from her post?

It is quite obvious that criminal structures turned out to be in the Abode. The monastery's millions of funds have been plundered, the children's health resort has been sold. A shopping center and a parking lot are being built on the territory of the Monastery for the personal enrichment of Vladimir Gundyaev.

In June 2009, Gundyaev’s people (citizen Mikhail Donskov, Natalia Moliboga and the wife of the oligarch Vasily Anisimov Ekaterina) gangster attacked the Church of Mary Magdalene in Jerusalem and contrary to the will and will of the Holy Martyr, Grand Duchess Elizabeth, contrary to the opinion and prohibitions of the abbess, servants of the temple and believers , defiled her tomb and unlawfully seized part of her relics.

This act of vandalism in a holy place caused and continues to cause indignation and strong condemnation of the general public around the world.

It is necessary to stop this criminal lawlessness, the flow of murders and violence against honest and law-abiding citizens of Russia, who are not only illegally deprived of their property, strength and health, but their basic rights are violated: freedom of conscience, freedom of speech and life itself.

This completely contradicts not only the articles of the Basic Law, the Constitution of the Russian Federation, or the Criminal Code of Russia, but also the elementary norms and rules of the human community in general.

Crimes against the people of Russia must be suppressed by law. Criminals and robbers must be convicted and held accountable. They must bear the punishment due to their wrongful acts.

Russia has guarantors of the execution and respect for the laws of the Russian Federation and the rule of law on the territory of the Russian Federation. The Russian people and the world community expect immediate action from them if there is still at least some kind of power in Russia.

Some information about the activities of Mr. Gundyaev.

In the mid-1990s, a scandal erupted over the publication of the sale of imported cigarettes by M. Kirill, which he received through the Church's humanitarian aid channels. Based on customs documents, the journalists established that the cigarettes were supplied by Philip Morris Products Inc. Cigarettes came from Switzerland, from the city of Basel, Güterstrasse, 133.

All references in the customs documents are to a certain agreement on humanitarian assistance of the Russian Orthodox Church dated April 11, 1996. On the same customs documents it was marked: “Producer: RJR Tobacco (USA). Seller: DECR of the Moscow Patriarchate, warehouse address: Moscow, Danilovsky Val, 22, Danilov Monastery.

In addition to super profits from the sale of cigarettes, it turned out that through the DECR he heads, Metropolitan Kirill is engaged in the sale of alcohol, the tourism business, precious stones, oil, etc. At the same time, the firms established by M. Kirill disappear after a while, which allows him to make denials, and new ones appear in their place.

Lidia Mikhailovna Leonova, the daughter of the cook of the Leningrad Regional Committee of the CPSU (who is called the illegal wife, and sometimes the metropolitan's sister), more precisely, a number of commercial enterprises are registered at her home address in Smolensk. Also, according to information received in the media in certain years, Metropolitan Kirill owns real estate in Switzerland, and on his accounts in US and European banks there are billions of dollars, and in Russia he (together with his former deputy Metropolitan Clement) established bank Peresvet.

Considering that Vladyka’s huge amount of money practically did not benefit the Church, all this information, which had been in the media for many years, created a corresponding reputation for Metropolitan Kirill: the reputation of a person who serves not God, but mammon.

At the same time, it should be noted that all of the above activities of Metropolitan Kirill are contrary to church canons. The bishop is a monk, and it is forbidden for a monk to own property. Of course, Russian believers are not Pharisees, and if M. Kirill were the owner, for example, of a private house and a car, and not "factories, newspapers, steamboats", no one would blame him for this. In addition, the canonical rules forbid clerics from lending money on interest, and generally receiving interest in any of the existing ways, including through banks.

With Kumarin and Mikhailov.

Vyacheslav Ivankov, the notorious Yaponchik, in the form of a priest (!) "baptizes" the son of a crime boss in the Orthodox Church of New York. Photo from the FBI archive, 1995

On December 5, 2008, His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia, the fifteenth Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church since the introduction of the Patriarchate in Russia, died.

Patriarch Alexy (in the world - Alexei Mikhailovich Ridiger) was born on February 23, 1929 in the city of Tallinn (Estonia). His father studied at a law school, graduated from a gymnasium in exile in Estonia, in 1940 he graduated from the theological three-year courses in Tallinn and was ordained a deacon, and then a priest; for 16 years he was the rector of the Tallinn Nativity of the Virgin of the Kazan Church, was a member, and later the chairman of the diocesan council. The mother of His Holiness the Patriarch is Elena Iosifovna Pisareva (+1959), a native of Revel (Tallinn).

From early childhood, Alexei Ridiger served in the church under the guidance of his spiritual father, Archpriest John the Epiphany, later Bishop Isidor of Tallinn and Estonia; from 1944 to 1947 he was a senior subdeacon of the Archbishop of Tallinn and Estonia, Pavel, and then of Bishop Isidore. He studied at a Russian high school in Tallinn. From May 1945 to October 1946 he was an altar boy and sacristan of the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral in Tallinn. Since 1946, he served as a psalmist in Simeonovskaya, and since 1947 - in the Kazan Church of Tallinn.

In 1947 he entered the St. Petersburg (at that time - Leningrad) Theological Seminary, from which he graduated in the first category in 1949. On April 15, 1950, Aleksei Ridiger was ordained a deacon, and on April 17, 1950, a priest and was appointed rector of the Epiphany Church in the town of Johvi, Tallinn diocese. In 1953, Father Alexy graduated from the Theological Academy in the first category and was awarded the degree of Candidate of Theology.

On July 15, 1957, Father Alexy was appointed rector of the Assumption Cathedral in the city of Tartu and dean of the Tartu district. On August 17, 1958, he was elevated to the rank of archpriest. On March 30, 1959, he was appointed dean of the united Tartu-Viljandi deanery of the Tallinn diocese. March 3, 1961 in the Trinity Cathedral of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, he was tonsured a monk. On August 14, 1961, Hieromonk Alexy was appointed Bishop of Tallinn and Estonia, with the assignment of temporary administration of the Riga diocese. On August 21, 1961, Hieromonk Alexy was elevated to the rank of archimandrite. On September 3, 1961, Archimandrite Alexy was consecrated Bishop of Tallinn and Estonia at the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral in Tallinn.

On November 14, 1961, Bishop Alexy was appointed Deputy Chairman of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate. On June 23, 1964, Bishop Alexy was elevated to the rank of archbishop. On December 22, 1964, Archbishop Alexy was appointed manager of the affairs of the Moscow Patriarchate and became a permanent member of the Holy Synod. He remained at the post of business manager until July 20, 1986. On May 7, 1965, Archbishop Alexy was appointed chairman of the Educational Committee. Released from this position, according to a personal request, October 16, 1986. From October 17, 1963 to 1979, Archbishop Alexy was a member of the Commission of the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church on Christian unity and interchurch relations.

On February 25, 1968, Archbishop Alexy was elevated to the rank of Metropolitan. From March 10, 1970 to September 1, 1986, he carried out the general management of the Pension Committee, whose task was to provide pensions for the clergy and other persons working in church organizations, as well as their widows and orphans. On June 18, 1971, in consideration of the diligent efforts to hold the Local Council of the Russian Orthodox Church in 1971, Metropolitan Alexy was awarded the right to wear a second panagia. Metropolitan Alexy performed responsible functions as a member of the Commission for the preparation and holding of the celebration of the 50th anniversary (1968) and 60th anniversary (1978) of the restoration of the Patriarchate in the Russian Orthodox Church; a member of the Commission of the Holy Synod for the preparation of the Local Council of the Russian Orthodox Church in 1971, as well as the chairman of the procedural and organizational group, the chairman of the secretariat of the Local Council; since December 23, 1980, he has been deputy chairman of the Commission for the preparation and holding of the celebration of the 1000th anniversary of the Baptism of Russia and chairman of the organizational group of this commission, and since September 1986 - the theological group. On May 25, 1983, he was appointed chairman of the Responsible Commission to develop measures for receiving the buildings of the Danilov Monastery ensemble, organizing and carrying out all restoration and construction work to create the Spiritual and Administrative Center of the Russian Orthodox Church on its territory. He stayed in this position until his appointment to the St. Petersburg (at that time - Leningrad) department. On June 29, 1986, he was appointed Metropolitan of Leningrad and Novgorod with instructions to manage the Tallinn diocese.

On June 7, 1990, at the Local Council of the Russian Orthodox Church, he was elected to the Moscow Patriarchal Throne. The enthronement took place on June 10, 1990.

Activities of Metropolitan Alexy in the international field

As part of the delegation of the Russian Orthodox Church, he participated in the work of the III Assembly of the World Council of Churches (WCC) in New Delhi (1961); was elected a member of the Central Committee of the WCC (1961-1968); was President of the World Conference "Church and Society" (Geneva, Switzerland, 1966); member of the commission "Faith and organization" of the WCC (1964 - 1968). As head of the delegation of the Russian Orthodox Church, he participated in theological interviews with the delegation of the Evangelical Church in Germany "Arnoldshain-II" (Germany, 1962), in theological interviews with the delegation of the Union of Evangelical Churches in the GDR "Zagorsk-V" (Trinity-Sergius Lavra, 1984 ), in theological interviews with the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland in Leningrad and the Pyukhtitsky Monastery (1989). For more than a quarter of a century, Metropolitan Alexy devoted his works to the activities of the Conference of European Churches (CEC). Since 1964, Metropolitan Alexy has been one of the presidents (members of the presidium) of the CEC; was re-elected president at subsequent general assemblies. Since 1971, Metropolitan Alexy has been Vice-Chairman of the Presidium and Advisory Committee of the CEC. On March 26, 1987, he was elected chairman of the Presidium and Advisory Committee of the CEC. At the VIII General Assembly of the CEC in Crete in 1979, Metropolitan Alexy was the keynote speaker on the theme "In the power of the Holy Spirit - to serve the world." Since 1972, Metropolitan Alexy has been a member of the Joint Committee of the CEC and the Council of Bishops' Conferences of Europe (SECE) of the Roman Catholic Church. On May 15-21, 1989, in Basel, Switzerland, Metropolitan Alexy was co-chairman of the First European Ecumenical Assembly on the theme "Peace and Justice", organized by the CEC and SEKE. In September 1992, at the Tenth General Assembly of the CEC, the term of office of Patriarch Alexy II as chairman of the CEC expired. His Holiness spoke at the Second European Ecumenical Assembly in Graz (Austria) in 1997. Metropolitan Alexy was the initiator and chairman of four seminars of the Churches of the Soviet Union - members of the CEC and the Churches that maintain cooperation with this regional Christian organization. Seminars were held at the Assumption Pyukhtitsky Convent in 1982, 1984, 1986 and 1989.

Since 1963, he was a member of the board of the Soviet Peace Fund, participated in constituent assembly society "Rodina", where he was elected a member of the council of the society on December 15, 1975; re-elected on May 27, 1981 and December 10, 1987. On October 24, 1980, at the V All-Union Conference of the Society of Soviet-Indian Friendship, he was elected vice-president of this Society. On March 11, 1989, he was elected a member of the board of the Foundation for Slavic Literature and Slavic Cultures. Delegate of the World Christian Conference "Life and Peace" (April 20-24, 1983, Uppsala, Sweden). Elected at this conference as one of its presidents. From January 24, 1990, he was a member of the board of the Soviet Charity and Health Fund; since February 8, 1990 - a member of the Presidium of the Leningrad Cultural Fund. From the Charity and Health Foundation in 1989 he was elected a people's deputy of the USSR.

As a co-chairman, he entered the Russian Organizing Committee for the preparation for the meeting of the third millennium and the celebration of the two thousandth anniversary of Christianity (1998-2000). On the initiative and with the participation of His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II, an inter-confessional conference "Christian Faith and Human Enmity" was held (Moscow, 1994). His Holiness the Patriarch chaired the conference of the Christian Interfaith Advisory Committee "Jesus Christ the same yesterday and today and forever" (Heb. 13:8). "Christianity on the Threshold of the Third Millennium" (1999); Interreligious peacemaking forum (Moscow, 2000).

His Holiness Patriarch Alexy was an honorary member of the St. Petersburg and Moscow Theological Academies, the Cretan Orthodox Academy (Greece); doctor of theology of the St. Petersburg Theological Academy (1984); doctor of theology honoris causa of the Theological Academy in Debrecen of the Reformed Church of Hungary and the Theological Faculty of Jan Comenius in Prague; Doctor of Theology honoris causa from the General Seminary of the Episcopal Church in the USA (1991); Doctor of Theology honoris causa of the St. Vladimir Theological Seminary (Academy) in the USA (1991); doctor of theology honoris causa of the St. Tikhon Theological Seminary in the USA (1991). In 1992 he was elected a full member of the Russian Academy of Education.

The patriarch was also a Doctor of Theology honoris causa from Alaska Pacific University in Anchorage, Alaska, USA (1993); laureate of the State Prize of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) named after A.E. Kulakovsky "For outstanding selfless activity to consolidate the peoples of the Russian Federation" (1993). In 1993, Alexy II was awarded the title of Honorary Professor of Omsk State University for outstanding achievements in the field of culture and education. In 1993 he was awarded the title of Honorary Professor of Moscow State University for outstanding services in the spiritual revival of Russia. in 1994 - an honorary doctor of philological sciences from St. Petersburg University.

His Holiness was also an honorary doctor of theology from the Faculty of Theology of the Serbian Orthodox Church in Belgrade, an honorary doctor of theology from the Tbilisi Theological Academy (Georgia, April 1996). Alexy II - winner of the gold medal of the University of Kosice in the Faculty of Orthodox Theology (Slovakia, May 1996); honorary member of the International Foundation for Mercy and Health; Chairman of the Public Supervisory Board for the Reconstruction of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior. He was awarded the highest award of the Russian Federation - the Order of the Holy Apostle Andrew the First-Called, the Order of Merit for the Fatherland, many orders of the Local Orthodox Churches and state orders of different countries, as well as awards from public organizations. In 2000, His Holiness the Patriarch was elected an honorary citizen of Moscow, he was also an honorary citizen of St. Petersburg, Veliky Novgorod, the Republic of Mordovia, the Republic of Kalmykia, Sergiev Posad, Dmitrov.

His Holiness was awarded the national awards "Person of the Year", "Outstanding People of the Decade (1990-2000), who contributed to the prosperity and glorification of Russia", "Russian National Olympus" and the honorary public title "Person of the Epoch". In addition, His Holiness the Patriarch is a laureate of the international award "Perfection. Blessing. Glory", awarded by the Russian Biographical Institute (2001), as well as the Main Prize "Person of the Year", awarded by the holding "Top Secret" (2002).

On May 24, 2004, the Patriarch was awarded the UN "Defender of Justice" award for outstanding services in strengthening peace, friendship and mutual understanding between peoples, as well as the Order of Peter the Great (I degree) number 001.

On March 31, 2005, His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia was presented with a public award - the Order of the Golden Star for Loyalty to Russia. On July 18, 2005, His Holiness the Patriarch was awarded a jubilee civil order - the Silver Star "Public Recognition" number one "for the laborious and selfless work to provide social and spiritual support to veterans and participants in the Great Patriotic War and in connection with the 60th anniversary of the Great Victory".

His Holiness Patriarch Alexy was the chairman of the Patriarchal Synodal Biblical Commission, the editor-in-chief " Orthodox Encyclopedia"and Chairman of the Supervisory and Church Scientific Councils for the publication of the Orthodox Encyclopedia, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Russian Charitable Foundation for Reconciliation and Accord, heads the Board of Trustees of the National Military Fund.

During the years of his hierarchal service, Metropolitan Alexy visited many dioceses of the Russian Orthodox Church and countries of the world, and was a participant in many church events. Several hundred of his articles, speeches and works on theological, church-historical, peacemaking and other topics have been published in the ecclesiastical and secular press in Russia and abroad.

His Holiness Patriarch Alexy headed the Councils of Bishops in 1992, 1994, 1997, 2000 and 2004, and invariably presides over meetings of the Holy Synod. As Patriarch of All Russia, he visited 81 dioceses, many of them several times - more than 120 trips to dioceses in total, the goals of which were primarily pastoral care for remote communities, strengthening church unity and the testimony of the Church in society.

During his hierarchical service, His Holiness Patriarch Alexy led 84 hierarchal consecrations (71 of them after being elected to the All-Russian See), ordained more than 400 priests and almost the same number of deacons. With the blessing of His Holiness, theological seminaries, religious schools, and parochial schools were opened; structures were created for the development of religious education and catechesis. His Holiness pays great attention to the establishment in Russia of new relations between the state and the Church. At the same time, he firmly adheres to the principle of separation between the mission of the Church and the functions of the state, non-interference in each other's internal affairs. At the same time, he believes that the soul-saving service of the Church and the service of the state to society require mutually free interaction between church, state and public institutions.

His Holiness Patriarch Alexy called for close cooperation between representatives of all areas of secular and ecclesiastical culture. He constantly reminded of the need to revive morality and spiritual culture, to overcome artificial barriers between secular and religious culture, secular science and religion. A number of joint documents signed by His Holiness laid the foundation for the development of cooperation between the Church and health care and social welfare systems, the Armed Forces, law enforcement agencies, justice, cultural institutions and other state structures. With the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II, a system of care for military personnel and law enforcement officers has been created.

The Patriarch came up with many peacekeeping initiatives in connection with the conflicts in the Balkans, the Armenian-Azerbaijani confrontation, the hostilities in Moldova, the events in the North Caucasus, the situation in the Middle East, the military operation against Iraq, and so on; it was he who invited the parties to the conflict to the negotiations during the political crisis in Russia in 1993.