Alexy II of Moscow

Alexy II Of Moscow

Patriarch Alexy II (or Alexius II, Russian: Патриарх Алексий II; secular name Alexey Mikhailovich Ridiger Russian: Алексе́й Миха́йлович Ри́дигер; 23 February 1929 – 5 December 2008) was the 15th Patriarch of Moscow and all the Rus', the primate of the Russian Orthodox Church.

Elected Patriarch of Moscow eighteen months prior to the fall of the Soviet Union, he became the first Russian Patriarch of the post-Soviet period.