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Russia's Orthodox patriarch sends pope "Easter kiss"
March 30, 2002
AFP

The head of Russia's Orthodox Church, Alexy II, put aside a long-running feud with the Roman Catholic church to send ailing Pope John Paul II an "Easter kiss" and best wishes "for many blissful years," Interfax reported.

"Greeting you with love and an Easter osculation (kiss) on these joyful days, I sincerely wish the Lord may save and fortify you, multiplying your powers for many blissful years," the Russian patriarch said Saturday in his message to the pontiff.

The 81-year-old pope, who is suffering from advancing Parkinson's disease and arthritis, has had to cut back on his duties in the run-up to this weekend's Roman Catholic Easter.

The patriarch is currently locked in a bitter row with the Vatican over alleged Roman Catholic proselytism in Russia and has refused to meet the pope until he renounces so-called Vatican "expansionism" in this predominantly Orthodox country.

Catholics, numbering around 500,000 in Russia, represent a tiny minority of Russia's 145 million-strong population, most of whom will celebrate Orthodox Easter on May 5.