Moscow, December 6, 2023
Photo: patriarchia.ru
December 5 marked the 15th anniversary of the repose of His Holiness Patriarch Alexei II, who presided over the Russian Orthodox Church from 1990 until his repose in 2008.
In commemoration of his repose, the Divine Liturgy was celebrated by His Eminence Metropolitan Arseny of Lipetsk and Zadonsk and His Eminence Archbishop Thomas of Odintsovo yesterday in the Theophany Cathedral in Moscow where His Holiness is buried, reports the Russian Orthodox Church.
Following the Liturgy, His Eminence Metropolitan Gregory of Voskresensk, Chancellor of the Moscow Patriarchate, Met. Arseny, Abp. Thomas, and other clergy celebrated a memorial panikhida at the tomb of former patriarch.
A number of monastics and laymen came to pray at the tomb of Pat. Alexei.
Before the panikhida, Met. Gregory, spoke about the reposed patriarch:
The revival of the Church is connected with the time of the primacy of His Holiness Patriarch Alexei II. The Church had many opportunities in those years, and he was the driving force behind those processes. Churches that had been destroyed and desecrated in the past were reopened. Churches were built where there had never been any. New diocesan centers were established. Educational institutions were opened. The Church could once again testify to its faith with good deeds and social service developed, the care of military personnel began, and many other good deeds began, which previously were only a dream. Under His Holiness Patriarch Alexei II, a host of New Martyrs and Confessors of the Russian Church, many saints of God, were glorified. Thanks to the tireless efforts of His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II, the estrangement that existed between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia was overcome.
Many people remember His Holiness Patriarch Alexei II as a kind man, as a pastor who instructed, who admonished, who did everything to make our Church flourish, so that we, dear bishops, fathers, brothers, and sisters, would have the opportunity to sincerely turn to our God, the opportunity to embark on the path of God’s Kingdom.
A wreath from Pat. Kirill and bouquets of white roses were laid on Pat. Alexei’s tomb after the panikhida. ;
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His Holiness Patriarch Alexei II was born on February 23, 1929 in Tallinn, Estonia to a deeply believing family. He served in the Church from early childhood, and as an episcopal subdeacon from the age of 15.
He graduated from the St. Petersburg Seminary in 1949 and was ordained as a deacon on April 15, 1950, and as a priest two days later, being appointed the rector of the Theophany Church in Jõhvi, Estonia.
He graduated from the theological academy in 1953 and was awarded the degree of candidate of theology for his thesis “Metropolitan Philaret (Drozdov) of Moscow as a Dogmatician.”
He took his monastic vows on March 3, 1961 at the Holy Trinity-St. Sergius Lavra and was elevated to the rank of archimandrite on August 21. On September 3, he was consecrated as the bishop of Tallinn and All Estonia. He was elevated to the rank of Metropolitan in 1968.
In 1986, he was appointed as the Metropolitan of Leningrad and Novgorod, and it was during this time that St. Xenia of St. Petersburg was canonized and churches and monasteries and relics began to be returned to the Church.
He was elected as Patriarch on June 7, 1990 and enthroned on June 10 in the Theophany Cathedral where he is now buried. He reposed in the Lord on December 5, 2008 in his residence outside Moscow.
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