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Revision as of 11:38, 18 January 2008 by Frjohnwhiteford (talk | contribs) (→Personal life: Removing assertions of opinion and irrelevant commentary)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)| Alexius II | |
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| Church | Russian Orthodox Church |
| See | Moscow |
| Predecessor | Patriarch Pimen I |
| Born | Aleksei Ridiger |
Patriarch Alexius II (born February 23, 1929) is the 16th and current Patriarch of Moscow and the primate of the Russian Orthodox Church.
Early years
He was born as Aleksey Ridiger (Russian: Aleksej Michajlovič Ridiger, Алексей Михайлович Ридигер) in Tallinn, Estonia, to the family of Russian emigrants; he is a descendant of the German Baltic noble family of von Rüdiger, a branch of which adopted Orthodoxy in the 18th century.
Career
He graduated from Leningrad clerical seminary in 1949; was ordained deacon in 1950; graduated from Leningrad clerical academy in 1953.
On August 14, 1961, he was chosen to be the Bishop of Tallinn and Estonia. On June 23, 1964, he was promoted to archbishop; and, on February 25, 1968, at the age of 39 to metropolitan. From 1986 until his election as Patriarch, he was Metropolitan of Novgorod and Leningrad. After the death of Patriarch Pimen I in 1990 Alexei was chosen to become the new Patriarch of The Russian Orthodox Church.
Despite his age, Patriarch Alexius II is very healthy and leads an active pastoral life. He's frequently seen on Russian TV, meeting with politicians.
Personal life
He married Vera Alekseesva, the daughter of a priest from Tallinn Georgi Alekseev, on April 11, 1950. They divorced in a less than a year.
The Patriarchal residence is located in Peredelkino, a suburb of Moscow; it includes a 350 year old restored church, a museum, and a three-story house. There is also a winter residence - an apartment in the center of Moscow. Both residences act as living quarters and Patriarch's office at the same time. He commutes in an armored car under the protection of federal agents. Being a monk, Patriarch Alexius II is not allowed to possess any property himself; residences and cars are the property of the Moscow Patriarchate.
Name
His name (secular 'Алексей, clerical Алексий) is transliterated from the Cyrillic alphabet into English in various forms, including Alexius, Aleksi, Alexis, Alexei, Alexey and Alexy. When he became a monk, his name was not changed; this departure from custom was common in the Russian Church in Soviet times.
Controversies
Alleged work for the KGB
Patriarch Alexius II is alleged to have been a KGB agent according to multiple sources including Gleb Yakunin and Yevgenia Albats who both were given access to the KGB archives He was mentioned in the KGB archives by the code name DROZDOV. It should be noted, however, that it was very unusual for any person to be referenced in KGB documents prior to 1980 without a code name, regardless of their affiliation with the KGB. It has been alleged that archival documents seen by Yevgenia Albats stated that Alexius was been awarded an Honorary Citation by the KGB chairman in 1988. It has also been claimed, based on documents allegedly taken from the Estonian KGB archives that Alexius was a highly successful agent who "pacified" rebellious monks. According to Oleg Gordievsky, Alexius has been working for the KGB during forty years, and his case officer was Nikolai Patrushev .
According to Konstantin Preobrazhenskiy, Alexius II did not privately deny his involvement with the KGB and told to Oleg Kalugin: “Why are you exaggerating what happened? Yes, we collaborated with the KGB, even I did. But it was a struggle for peace, for disarmament! There’s nothing wrong with that!” Konstanin Khrachev, former chairman of Soviet Council on Religious Affairs, explained: "Not a single candidate for the office of bishop or any other high-ranking office, much less a member of Holy Synod, went through without confirmation by the Central Commitee of the CPSU and the KGB". Professor Nathaniel Davis points out: "If the bishops wished to defend their people and survive in office, they had to collaborate to some degree with the KGB, with the commissioners of the Council for Religious Affairs, and with other party and governmental authorities."
Patriarch Alexius has denied that he was a KGB agent, but he has, however, acknowledged that compromises were made with the Soviet government by bishops of the Moscow Patriarchate, himself included, and publicly repented of these compromises:
- "Defending one thing, it was necessary to give somewhere else. Were there any other organizations, or any other people among those who had to carry responsibility not only for themselves but for thousands of other fates, who in those years in the Soviet Union were not compelled to act likewise? Before those people, however, to whom the compromises, silence, forced passivity or expressions of loyalty permitted by the leaders of the church in those years caused pain, before these people, and not only before God, I ask forgiveness, understanding and prayers."
According to Nathaniel Davis, when asked by the Russian press about claims that he was a "compliant" bishop, "Aleksi defended his record, noting that while he was bishop of Tallinn in 1961, he resisted the communist authorities' efforts to make the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral in the city a planetarium (which, in truth, they did do elsewhere in the Baltic states) and to convert the Pyukhtitsa Dormition nunnery to a rest home for miners." Official records show that the Tallinn diocese had a lower number of forced Church closings than was typical in the rest of the USSR during Patriarch Alexius' tenure as bishop there.
Sotnikova controversy
Patriarch Alexius II has been a patron of Gulnaz Sotnikova who is the founder of the Non-profit organization Russian Charitable Fund for Reconciliation and Accord that supports orphanages and veterans' groups as well as develops educational programs.. She is also the president of Holding company Vetrex specializing in tourism and medical sevices . According to the lobbying group American Foreign Policy Council, Vetrex was involved in obstetrical and gynecological practices, run maternity centers and abortion clinics and might had been involved in unlicensed fetal organ harvesting. However Sotnikova has never been charged or convicted of any crimes, and Vertex ceased providing abortions in 1999.
Opposition to homosexuality
Patriarch Alexius II has consistently opposed the display of homosexuality in Russia, and in particular, opposed gay parades in Moscow and St. Petersburg. The Church "has invariably supported the institution of the family and condemns untraditional relations, seeing them as a vicious deviation from God-given human nature," Alexius II writes. Alexius sparked further controversy in October 2007 when he called homosexuality an "illness" and a "distortion of the human personality like kleptomania".
Footnotes
- Wife of the Patriarch, by Evgeniy Sidorenko, Moscow News, № 21 (2001-05-22)
- Alexiy Ridiger, by Yakov Krotov
- ^ Confirmed: Russian Patriarch Worked with KGB, Catholic World News, retrieved 29-12-2007
- Russian Patriarch "was KGB spy"
- Chekists in Cassocks: The Orthodox Church and the KGB - by Keith Armes, Demokratizatsiya
- The Russian Orthodox Church under Patriarch Aleksii II and the Russian State: An Unholy Alliance? - by Leslie L. McGann, Demokratizatsiya
- Christopher Andrew and Vasili Mitrokhin, The Mitrokhin Archive: The KGB in Europe and the West, Gardners Books (2000), ISBN 0-14-028487-7
- ^ Yevgenia Albats and Catherine A. Fitzpatrick. The State Within a State: The KGB and Its Hold on Russia - Past, Present, and Future. 1994. ISBN 0-374-52738-5, page 46.
- ^ Konstantin Preobrazhenskiy - Putin's Espionage Church, an excerpt from a forthcoming book, "Russian Americans: A New KGB Asset" by Konstantin Preobrazhenskiy
- The Wall Street Journal, 'Cold War Lingers At Russian Church In New Jersey' December 28, 2007
- The Putin System, video N4
- Yevgenia Albats and Catherine A. Fitzpatrick. The State Within a State: The KGB and Its Hold on Russia - Past, Present, and Future. 1994. ISBN 0-374-52738-5, page 46.
- Nathaniel Davis, A Long Walk to Church: A Contemporary History of Russian Orthodoxy,(Oxford: Westview Press, 1995),p .96 Davis quotes one bishop as saying: "Yes, we -- I, at least, and I say this first about myself -- I worked together with the KGB. I cooperated, I made signed statements, I had regular meetings, I made reports. I was given a pseudonym -- a code name as they say there... I knowingly cooperated with them -- but in such a way that I undeviatingly tried to maintain the position of my Church, and, yes, also to act as a patriot, insofar as I understood, in collaboration with these organs. I was never a stool pigeon, nor an informer."
- From an interview of Patriarch Alexius II, given to "Izvestia" No 137, June 10, 1991, entitled "Patriarch Alexius II: -- I Take upon Myself Responsibility for All that Happened", English translation from Nathaniel Davis, A Long Walk to Church: A Contemporary History of Russian Orthodoxy,(Oxford: Westview Press, 1995),p 89. See also History of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, by St. John (Maximovich) of Shanghai and San Francisco, December 31, 2007
- Nathaniel Davis, A Long Walk to Church: A Contemporary History of Russian Orthodoxy,(Oxford: Westview Press, 1995),p. 89f
- Nathaniel Davis, A Long Walk to Church: A Contemporary History of Russian Orthodoxy,(Oxford: Westview Press, 1995), fn. 115, p. 272
- http://www.stetson.edu/~psteeves/relnews/9907g.html, January 5, 2008
- ^ Moskovskie Novosti: Who is Gulia Sotnikova? April 4, 2000
- (U.S. Food Aid Through Patriarchate May Be Abused, Priest Says; Distributor Tied to Illegal Activity & Trafficking in Parts of Unborn Babies - by Russia Reform Monitor No. 584, February 11, 1999).
- http://www.interfax-religion.com/?act=news&div=1164
- Patriarch Alexy of Russia assails gays in speech at Council of Europe, International Herald Tribune, 2 October 2007
- http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;jsessionid=RFBLLGOXBYBQNQFIQMGCFFWAVCBQUIV0?xml=/news/2007/10/03/wgay103.xml
Further reading
- Andrew, Christopher and Vasili Mitrokhin. The Sword and the Shield : The Mitrokhin Archive and the Secret History of the KGB. New York : Basic Books, 1999. Chapter 28 deals with the KGB infiltration of Soviet-era churches.
- Knox, Zoe (2005). "Russian Orthodoxy, Russian nationalism, and Patriarch Aleksii II". Nationalities Papers. 33 (4): 533–545.
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External links
- Template:Ru icon His Holiness Alexy II, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia
- Template:En icon His Holiness Alexy II, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia
- photo gallery
- "Alexy II in France to meet Orthodox followers". Russia Today. October 1, 2007.
- The Address of Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia to the PACE
| Preceded byPimen I | Patriarch of Moscow 1990– |
Succeeded byIncumbent |
