Aleksy II (redirected from Patriarch Alexius II)

Aleksy II or Alexy II (əlyĕk`sē), 1929–, Russian Orthodox clergyman, b. Estonia, as Aleksy M. Ridiger. He spent 11 years as a parish priest before becoming bishop of Tallinn and Estonia in 1961. Aleksy came to Moscow in 1962, served (1964–68) as archbishop in Moscow, and was (1968–90) metropolitan of Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) and Novgorod. In 1990 he was elected patriarch of Moscow (head of the Russian Orthodox Church). As patriarch under Gorbachev and during the disintegration of Communist rule and the Soviet Union and the reestablishment of an independent Russia, Aleksy has overseen a great revival in the Russian church and its influence. His name sometimes appears as Alexi and Aleksiy.