Aleksei Makarkin, December 05, 2008 (RFE/RL) - Aleksy II has already gone down in the history of the Russian Orthodox Church as the patriarch who settled the historic issue of the unification of the Church with the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad. In doing so, he healed a dramatic church split that had lasted through most of the 20th century. The wisdom and diplomacy of this patriarch -- who himself began life in emigration as the son of cleric in independent between-the-wars Estonia -- played the key role in that unification.
Complete article is at:
http://www.rferl.org/content/c... 