MOSCOW, February 1 (RIA Novosti) - The Russian Orthodox Church enthroned on Sunday its new leader, Patriarch Kirill, at a ceremony held in the Christ the Savior Cathedral in Moscow.
Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad was elected as the 16th Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia on Tuesday by the Local Council of the Russian Orthodox Church, succeeding Patriarch Alexy II, who died in December at the age of 79.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin were among the hundreds of people who attended the ceremony in the Cathedral.
