First under President Boris N. Yeltsin and then under Mr. Putin, Mr. Yeltsin’s successor, Aleksy II significantly deepened the role of the church in everyday life -- erecting and restoring cathedrals, introducing Orthodox religious education in public schools and becoming a prominent voice on moral issues. While church attendance has remained low, growing numbers of Russians identify themselves as Russian Orthodox.

Image Patriarch Aleksy II in April 1999. He was often criticized for the Russian Orthodox Churchs close relations with the Kremlin. Credit... Srdjan Ilic/Associated Press

At the same time, the patriarch successfully lobbied the government over the last decade to adopt restrictions on other Christian denominations to impede their efforts to attract adherents in Russia. In the 1990s, Protestant and Roman Catholic churches in the West saw Russia as fertile territory and sent missionaries here, spurring a backlash.

Relations between Patriarch Aleksy and the Roman Catholic Church were tense during his tenure over the issue of proselytizing, and as a result, he would not agree to a visit to Russia by Pope John Paul II.

Aleksy II did end another religious dispute, reaching an agreement with the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia to bring the churches closer together. The breakaway church had split in 1927, after the Moscow church’s leader declared loyalty to the Communist government.

The agreement was signed in the rebuilt Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow, which Stalin had leveled and later became the site of a swimming pool.