#6 - JRL 7273
Religion back in Russia with Putin presidency:
Orthodox Church
July 31, 2003
AFP
After decades of repression under communism, the Russian Orthodox Church has "reunited" with the country's leadership under the presidency of Vladimir Putin, Patriarch Alexy II said Thursday.
The ailing Church head presided over celebrations marking the canonization of Saint Seraphim 100 years ago -- in a ceremony attended by then tsar Nicholas II.
"Today's celebration is a sign of the reunification of the Church and the State, after the unnatural rupture provoked by the tragic history of the 20th century," Alexy II said at the ceremony in the southern Volga town of Sarov.
Putin, a former KGB chief, is an avowed Orthodox believer and the Church so vilified in the Soviet era has seen a great revival under his presidency and that of his predecessor Boris Yeltsin.
"One hundred years ago, Sarov's land was glorified by a great lover of God, Saint Seraphim, and Emperor Nicholas prayed in the middle of a crowd of believers," the patriarch said.
"One hundreds years later, Sarov again welcomes the head of the Russian state, President Vladimir Putin," he added.
"We live in a secular country, but this does not distance the Church from national life, from resolving problems of general interest."
Nearly 70 percent of Russians proclaim themselves Orthodox believers and the Church has taken on an increasingly important role in public life since Putin came to the presidency in March 2000.
Putin told the ceremony Thursday that the celeberations of Saint Seraphim's canonization were possible "thanks to the re-establishment of religious and spiritual freedom in Russia."
Aware of the increasing tension regarding the country's large Muslim minority, he was quick to point out that all religions in Russia helped "reinforce the State, harmony between the inhabitants of this multiconfessional country and public morality."
During the ceremony, Putin presented Sarov a four-tonne bell that was placed before the church devoted to Saint Seraphim, a monk born in 1759 who was said to have had several visions of the Virgin Mary and to have received the Holy Spirit.
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