Alexius II

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Alexius II in February 2008

Alexius II (secular name Alexei Michailowitsch Rüdiger or Ridiger (after a variant of the letter ü translated into Cyrillic), Russian Алексей Михайлович Ридигер , *  February 23, 1929 in Tallinn , Estonia ; † December 5, 2008 in Moscow ) was from 10. June 1990 until his death patriarch of Moscow and all of Russia and thus the head of the Russian Orthodox Church .

The spelling of his name in Russian is Алексей ( Alexej , modern Russian) or Алексий ( Alexij , Old Russian or Old Church Slavonic).

Life

Alexius II was born as Alexei Rüdiger in a German-Baltic merchant family. Alexei's father was Michael Alexándrowitsch Rüdiger (Russian: Михаил Александрович Ридигер), actually "Baron von Rüdiger", of German ( Kurland ) noble descent. He came from a branch of the family that had adopted the Orthodox faith in the 18th century and was born in St. Petersburg in 1902 . After the October Revolution he fled to Estonia with his parents . Alexei's father Michael was ordained priest there in 1942; he died in 1964. Alexei's mother was Jeléna Ióssifowna Píssarewa (Russian: Елена Иосифовна Писарева), born in 1902 in Reval (Tallinn), died in 1959 there. She was the daughter of a colonel in the tsarist army who had been shot by the Bolsheviks .

Alexei was ordained a priest in 1950 . In 1961 he was sheared a monk and ordained bishop of Tallinn and Estonia. In June 1990 he was elected patriarch after the death of Pimen I. During his time there was the post-Soviet rebirth of the Russian Orthodox Church, which was characterized by the return of numerous buildings and properties to the church, as well as the rebuilding and restoration of destroyed and damaged sacred buildings. On August 28, 2004 the icon of Our Lady of Kazan was brought to him by the Vatican and handed over to him.

His actions in the office of Patriarch included the canonization of the last Russian tsar Nicholas II. One of Alexius II's ecclesiastical political successes was the reunification with the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad , which was separated from the Church in the Soviet Union after the October Revolution had split off.

Alexius II in 2000

Alexius II died on December 5, 2008 of heart failure in his residence in Novo-Peredelkino . After several days of funeral ceremonies in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior , where his body was laid out, he was buried in a crypt in the Moscow Epiphany Cathedral in Yelokhovo on December 9, according to his wishes .

On January 27, 2009, Kyrill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad (henceforth: Kyrill I) was elected by a Sobor as his successor in the office of Patriarch .

KGB past

According to documents smuggled out of Russia by Vasily Nikititsch Mitrochin , some of which have appeared in the British press, Patriarch Alexius II was an agent of the KGB during the Soviet era . Allegedly he was recruited on February 28, 1958 under the code name Drosdow . The Russian Church doubts the authenticity of these documents. Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin points out that at this time all bishops had to work with the Council for Religious Affairs ; this state institution then forwarded its material to the KGB.

Position on the Roman Catholic Church

Alexius II spoke out in principle for a step-by-step rapprochement with the Roman Catholic Church , but he refused a visit by the Pope to Russia, as he viewed this as an advertisement for the Catholic faith in the country. A meeting planned for 1997 with Pope John Paul II in the Cistercian Abbey of Heiligenkreuz near Vienna was canceled shortly beforehand by the Patriarch on the grounds that the Catholics were proselytizing . The Vatican did not agree to a joint declaration against proselytism demanded by the Russian Orthodox Church as a prerequisite for a meeting.

In 2007 he welcomed the Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum from Pope Benedict XVI. , which for the Roman Church generally released mass according to the traditional Tridentine rite , the extraordinary form of the Roman rite , as this could strengthen and promote the ecumenical movement with the Orthodox churches. Shortly before the death of Alexius II, it was announced that there might be a first meeting with Pope Benedict XVI. should have come in autumn 2009 in Baku, Azerbaijan, on the occasion of the summit of the leaders of the world religions.

literature

Web links

Commons : Patriarch Alexy II  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ "Your Resurrection, O Christ, has saved us". In: 30giorni.it, Giulio Andreotti . 2007, accessed on August 28, 2018 .
  2. ↑ State Council of the Russian Orthodox Church 2009. In: sobor.de, Cathedral of Sts. Neo-martyrs and confessors of Russia and St. Nicholas. 2009, retrieved on August 28, 2018 : “the Council of 1990 that elected the Most Holy Patriarch Alexy II”
  3. ↑ Lenta.ru, December 5, 2008 (Russian)
  4. ↑ Russian Patriarch 'was KGB spy' in the Guardian on February 12, 1999.
  5. ^ Felix Corley: Confirmed: Russian Patriarch Worked with KGB in Catholic World News on September 22, 2000.
  6. ^ Sueddeutsche.de: Russian Orthodox Church: Patriarch Alexij II died ; December 5, 2008
  7. ↑ Russian Orthodox Church: Patriarch Alexij II died ( Memento from March 24, 2002 in the Internet Archive )
  8. ^ Kath.net: Patriarch of Moscow welcomes Summorum Pontificum ; September 4, 2007
  9. ↑ http://de.rian.ru/culture/20081110/118222170.html
predecessor Office successor
Pimen I. Patriarch of Moscow
1990–2008 		Cyril I.
personal data
SURNAME Alexius II
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Rüdiger, Alexei Michailowitsch (secular name); Ридигер, Алексей Михайлович (secular name, Russian); Алексей (Russian, secular form); Алексий (Russian, clerical form)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Russian Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia
DATE OF BIRTH February 23, 1929
PLACE OF BIRTH Tallinn , Estonia
DATE OF DEATH December 5, 2008
Place of death Moscow , Russia