Russian Orthodox Church elects leader

Moscow: The interim leader of the Russian Orthodox Church, seen as a modernizer who could seek a historic reconciliation with the Vatican and more autonomy from the state, has been overwhelmingly elected patriarch. Metropolitan Kirill received 508 of the 700 votes cast during an all day church congress on Tuesday in Moscow’s ornate Christ the Saviour Cathedral, the head of the commission responsible for the election, metropolitan Isidor, said hours after the secret ballot was over. Kirill defeated a conservative rival, metropolitan kliment, who received 169 votes, Isidor said. Another 23 ballots were declared invalid. It was the first vote for a Russian orthodox patriarch since the fall of the officially atheist soviet union in 1991. Kirill, 62, will be installed on Sunday as the successor to Moscow
Patriarch Alexy ll, who had headed Russia’s dominant church since 1990.Alexy ll died December 5, aged 79, after leading the church in a powerful post-soviet revival.

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