Russians bid farewell to Orthodox leader

|PIC1|Thousands of Russians lined up on Sunday to pay their last respects to late Orthodox leader, Alexy II, as he lay in state at Moscow’s Christ the Saviour Cathedral on Sunday.

Mourners, many carrying bouquets, queued up over several streets in spite of the cold drizzle to bid farewell to the Orthodox patriarch who died of heart failure on Friday, aged 79.

Alexy II was appointed leader of the Russian Church in 1990 and is credited with restoring the Church as a central moral and spiritual force in society after years of repression under the Soviet Union. During his 18 years at the helm of the world’s largest Orthodox church, he oversaw the construction of thousands of new churches across Russia .

The patriarch had to fight off frequent accusations, however, that he used to work for the KGB as well as criticism that the Church had become too closely aligned to the Kremlin under his leadership.

Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kalingrad has been appointed interim leader of the Russian Orthodox Church until a new leader is chosen in the next six months.

Alexy II will lie in state at Christ the Saviour until his funeral at Moscow’s Epiphany Cathedral on Tuesday.