PATRIARCH ALEXY
II
OF MOSCOW AND ALL
RUSSIA
Curriculum Vitae
His
Holiness Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and àll Russia is the 15th primate
of the Russian Orthodox Church since the patriarchal office was
established in Russia in 1589.
Patriarch Alexy (secular name Aleksey
Mikhailovich Ridiger) was born on 23 February 1929 in Tallinn to a
profoundly devout family. His father, Mikhail Aleksandrovich Ridiger (d.
1962), was born in St. Petersburg, studied at the Law School there and
graduated from a gymnasium when in emigration in Estonia. After finishing
the three-year theological courses in Tallinn in 1940, he was ordained
deacon and later priest. For 16 years he was rector of the Church of the
Nativity of the Theotokos in Tallinn and member and later chairman of the
Diocesan Council. The Patriarch's mother, Yelena Iosifovna Pisareva (d.
1959), was born in Revel (now Tallinn).
When a boy, he was often taken by his
parents on their annual pilgrimages to the Convent of the Dormition at
Pukhtitsy and the Monastery of the Dormition at Pechery near Pskov. In the
late 30s, they made two pilgrimages to the Monastery of the Holy
Transfiguration in Valamo Island on Ladoga Lake, which largely determined
the religious way of life the future Patriarch was to
choose.
From his yearly childhood Alexy
Ridiger served in the church, first under the guidance of his spiritual
father, Archpriest Ioann Bogoyavlensky, later Bishop Isidor of Tallinn and
Estonia (d. 1949). From 1944 to 1947 he was a senior sub-deacon under
Archbishop Pavel Dmitrovsky of Tallinn and Estonia (d. 1946) and later
under Bishop Isidor. He studied at a Russian secondary school in
Tallinn.
In 1945 sub-deacon Alexy was charged
with preparations for re-opening the Cathedral of St. Alexander Nevsky in
Tallinn to resume services in it after it was closed during the
occupation. He served as an altar-boy and sacristan at this cathedral from
May 1945 to October 1946. From 1946 he was a psalm-reader first at St.
Simeon's and later at the Church of Our Lady of Kazan in Tallinn. He
entered the Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) Seminary in 1947 and graduated
from it with honours in 1949. During his first year at the St. Petersburg
Academy, Alexy Ridiger was ordained deacon (15 April 1950) and two days
later priest and was appointed rector of the Church of the Epiphany at the
town of Jyhvi in the Tallinn diocese. Father Alexy graduated from the
theological academy with distinction and was granted the degree of
Candidate of Theology.
On 15 July 1957 Father Alexy was
appointed rector of the Cathedral of the Dormition in Tartu and dean of
the Tartu church district. On 17 August 1958 he was elevated to the rank
of archpriest. On 30 March 1958 he was appointed dean of the
Tartu-Vilyandi deanery of the Tallinn diocese. On 3 March 1961 he
professed monastic vows at the Trinity Cathedral of Holy Trinity-St.
Sergius Laura.
On 14 August 1961 hieromonk Alexy was
nominated Bishop of Tallinn and Estonia and was appointed temporary
administrator of the Riga diocese. On 21 August 1961 hieromonk Alexy was
elevated to the rank of archimandrite. On 3 September 1961 he was
consecrated Bishop of Tallinn and Estonia at St. Alexander Nevsky's
Cathedral in Tallinn.
On 14 November 1961 Bishop Alexy was
appointed vice-chairman of the Department for External Church Relations.
On 23 June 1964 he was elevated to the rank of archbishop. On 22 December
1964 he was appointed chancellor of the Moscow Patriarchate and became a
permanent member of the Holy Synod. He occupied the post of chancellor
till 20 July 1986. On 7 May 1965 Archbishop Alexy was appointed chairman
of the Education Committee. He was relieved of this duty at his own
request on 16 October 1986. From 1963 to 1979 he was member of the Holy
Synod Commission for Christian Unity and Interchurch
Relations.
On 25 February 1968 Archbishop Alexy
was elevated to the rank of metropolitan. From 10 March 1970 to 1
September 1986 Metropolitan Alexy was in charge of the Pensions Fund which
ensured pensions for the clergy, widows and orphans of the clergy and
staff of church organizations. On 18 June 1971 Metropolitan Alexy was
granted the right to wear a second pectoral icon in recognition of the
assiduous services he rendered in conducting the 1971 Local Council of the
Russian Orthodox Church.
Metropolitan Alexy fulfilled
important functions as member of the commissions for the 50th anniversary
(1968) and the 60th anniversary (1978) of the restoration of patriarchal
office in the Russian Orthodox Church and as member of the Holy Synod
preparatory committee for the 1971 Local Council, chairman of the Local
Council procedure group and chairman of its secretariat. From 23 December
1980 he acted as vice-chairman of the preparatory committee for the
Millennium of the Baptism of Russia and chairman of its organizing
sub-committee, and from September 1986 as chairman of its theological
sub-committee. On 25 May 1983 he was appointed chairman of the executive
committee for the restoration of St. Daniel's' Monastery and the
construction of the Religious and Administrative Center of the Russian
Orthodox Church in its territory. He remained in this office until he was
appointed to the Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) see. On 29 June 1986 he
was appointed Metropolitan of Leningrad and Novgorod and administrator of
the diocese of Tallinn.
On 7 June 1990 the Local Council of
the Russian Orthodox Church elected him to the Patriarchal See of Moscow.
His enthronement took place on 10 June 1990.
Metropolitan Alexy's work in the
international field: delegate to the 3d Assembly of the World Council of
Churches in New Delhi (1961), member of the WCC Central Committee
(1961-1968), president of the World Conference "Church and Society"
(Geneva, Switzerland, 1966), member of the WCC Commission on Faith and
Order (1964-1968), head of the Russian Orthodox delegation to the
theological talks "Arnoldshain-II" with the Evangelical Church in Germany
(FRG, 1962), "Zagorsk-V" with the Union of Evangelical Churches in Germany
(the Holy Trinity-St. Sergius Laura, 1984), and theological talks with the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in Finland (Leningrad, and Piukhtitsy Convent,
1989).
For over 25 years Metropolitan Alexy
dedicated his efforts to the Conference of European Churches. From 1964 he
was a President (member of the Presidium of the CEC) and was re-elected as
such at its subsequent General Assemblies. From 1971 he was vice-chairman
of the CEC Presidium and Advisory Committee. On 26 March 1987 he was
elected chairman of the CEC Presidium and Advisory Committee. He was the
key-speaker on "Serving the World in the Power of the Holy Spirit" at the
8th CEC Assembly on Crete in 1979. From 1972 he was on the Joint Committee
of the CEC and the Council of Bishops' Conferences in Europe of the Roman
Catholic Church. He was co-moderator of the 1st European Ecumenical
Assembly "Peace with Justice" that took place in Basel, Switzerland, from
May 15 to 21, 1989. His term as CEC moderator expired at the 10th CEC
General Assembly in September 1992.
Metropolitan Alexy was initiator and
moderator of the four seminars held for CEC member churches and other
churches in the Soviet Union at the Piukhtitsy Convent in 1982, 1984, 1986
and 1989. Metropolitan Alexy was actively involved in the work of
international and Russian public peace organizations. From 1963 he
was member of the Soviet Peace Fund Board. He also participated in the
constituent assembly of the 'Rodina' Society which elected him to the
board of the society on 15 December 1975. He was re-elected on 27 May 1981
and 10 December 1987. On 24 October 1980, he was elected vice-president of
the USSR-India Society at its 5th All-Union Conference. On 11 March 1987
he was elected to the board of the Foundation for Slavonic Literature and
Cultures. He was a delegate to the World Christian Conference "Life and
Peace" (Uppsala, Sweden, April 1982), which elected him one of its
presidents. He served on the Board of the Soviet Charity and Health
Foundation from 24 January 1990 and on the presidium of the Leningrad
Cultural Foundation from 8 February 1990. Nominated by the Charity and
Health Foundation, he was elected a USSR People's Deputy in
1989.
Patriarch Alexy is an honorary member
of the Theological Academies in St. Petersburg. Moscow and Crete, Greece.
He holds the degree of Doctor of Theology from the St.Petersburg
Theological Academy (1984); Doctor of Theology 'honoris causa' from the
Theological Academy in Debrezen of the Reformed Church in Hungary; from
the Jan Comenius Theological Faculty in Prague, the General Seminary of
the Episcopal Church in the USA (1991), St. Vladimir's Seminary in the USA
(1991), St. Tikhon's Seminary in the USA (1991). In 1992 he was elected
full member of the Russian Academy of Education. In 1993 he was made
Doctor of Theology 'honoris causa' by the Alaska Pacific University in
Anchorage, USA. He is winner of the Kulakosvky State Prize of the Republic
of Sakha (Yakutia) "For Outstanding Services in the Consolidation of the
Russian Peoples". He was made honorary professor by the Omsk State
University for outstanding services in culture and education and by the
Moscow State University for outstanding services in the cause of spiritual
revival in Russia. In 1994 Patriarch Alexy was made honorary Doctor of
Philology by St. Petersburg University (24 January); honorary Doctor of
Theology by the Theological Faculty of the Serbian Orthodox Church in
Belgrade (15 May); full member (academician) of the International Academy
of Information Technology (Moscow, January 1996); honorary Doctor of
Theology by the Tbilisi Theological Academy (Georgia, April 1996); Golden
Medal holder by the Faculty of Orthodox Theology of the Kosice University
(Kosice, Slovakia, May 1996), honorary member of the International Charity
and Health Foundation; chairman of the Public Supervising Council for the
Reconstruction of the Church of Christ the Saviour. Patriarch Alexy has
been awarded many orders by Local Orthodox Churches and state orders by
various countries.
During the years of his episcopal
ministry, Metropolitan Alexy has visited many dioceses of the Russian
Orthodox Church and many countries of the world and participated in many
church events. Patriarch Alexy has published over 450 articles, addresses
and papers on theology, church history, peacemaking and ecumenical and
other issues in the ecclesiastical and secular press in Russia and
abroad.
As Patriarch of All Russia, he has
already made more than 110 pastoral visitations to different dioceses to
take pastoral care of remote communities and to strengthen church unity
and witness of the Church in society. Patriarch Alexy has paid great
attention to the training of clergy, to religious education of laymen and
moral formation of the younger generation. To this end, he gave his
blessing to the opening of theological seminaries, colleges and parish
schools and to the establishment of structures for religious education and
catechization. In 1995, the development of church life allowed the Church
to come closer to the restoration of its missionary
structure.
Patriarch Alexy pays considerable
attention to the establishment of new relations between church and state
in Russia. He firmly adheres to the principle of separation and
non-interference between church and state. At the same time, he believes
that the soul-saving ministry of the Church and the social service of the
state require free interaction between ecclesiastical, public and state
institutions. Due to the adoption of the new laws on the freedom of
conscience and on religious organizations, in the development of which
Patriarch Alexy was actively involved in the late 80s (at present he
follows closely the preparation of bills, making comments on them), the
Church has regained the opportunity for engaging not only in catechetical
and religious-educational efforts, but also for carrying out charitable
work in hospitals, houses for the elderly and penitentiary
institutions.
The pastoral approach of Patriarch
Alexy has helped to relieve tension in relations between the state system
of museums and preservation of monuments of art in Russia and the Church
caused by unjustified fears, narrow corporate or personal interests. In
particular, the Patriarch has signed a number of joint documents with the
Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation and with the leadership of
certain museum compounds situated in the territories of historically and
religiously significant monasteries. These documents have settled the
above-mentioned problems and breathed new life into the monasteries.
Patriarch Alexy has repeatedly called for close cooperation among
representatives of all fields of secular and church culture. He always
reminds people of the need to revive morality and spiritual culture and to
overcome barriers between secular and religious cultures and between
secular science and religion. Some joint documents signed by Patriarch
Alexy have laid the foundation for the development of the Church's
spiritual care of health institutions, as well as of servicemen and staff
of the law enforcement agencies.
In the course of political, social
and economic reforms His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II has repeatedly
reminded people of the priority of moral objectives over all others, of
the paramount importance of the goal serving the good of society and
concrete individuals in the political and financial-economic
activities.
Continuing the tradition of Christian
peacemaking, His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and all Russia
assumed the mission of reconciling the political passions that burst out
during the socio-political crisis in Autumn 1993 in Russia, threatening to
grow into a civil war. He invited the conflicting parties to negotiations
and acted as mediator at them. The Patriarch came out with numerous peace
initiatives with regard to the civil war in former Yugoslavia, the
conflict in Nagorny Karabakh, the Chechen Republic,
etc.
A great number of new dioceses have
been formed during the years of the Patriarchal ministry of the present
Primate of the Ruissian Orthodox Church, thus bringing centers of
religious and administrative governance closer to parishes and promoting
the revival of church life in remote regions.
As the ruling bishop of Moscow,
Patriarch Alexy II pays great attention to the revival and development of
internal diocesan and parish life. His efforts have offered a model for
organizing diocesan and parish life in other
places.
Along with his tireless efforts to
develop the internal life of the Church and to involve in it all church
members without exception so that it could be truly conciliar, Patriarch
Alexy pays great attention to the unity of all Orthodox Churches for the
sake of their common witness to the Truth of Christ before the world. His
Holiness Patriarch Alexy considers practical cooperation among various
Christian confessions in alleviating the needs of the world today to be a
Christian duty and the way to the fulfillment of Christ's commandment of
unity.
Patriarch Alexy ceaselessly promotes
peace and concord in society, which include benevolent mutual
understanding and social cooperation among the followers of different
religions and worldviews.
Message of His Holinness Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Alexy II to users of the Internet
Christmas Message
by His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II
of Moscow and All Russia
to archpastors, pastors, the monastics
and all children
of the Russian Orthodox Church
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