Ninety years on, the miraculous Kursk-Root Icon of the Mother of God arrived on Wednesday in the south Russian city of Kursk, its native land.

The Local Council of the Russian Orthodox Church opened at the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow this morning and elected Metropolit Kirill as the 17th Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church.

Russian Orthodox Church Metropolitan Filaret, Metropolitan of Minsk and Sluzk, Exarch of Patriarch for all Byelorussia has withdrawn his candidacy for the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, declaring his support for Metropolitan Kirill, the Moscow Patriarchy said Tuesday.

People without Russian Federation passports will form a majority of those who will take part in the election two weeks from now of the next patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church, just one of the remarkable changes from the past with which the Moscow Patriarchate, the Kremlin, and the Russian people are now having to come to terms.

The acting leader of the Russian Orthodox Church gave a tribute to the late Patriarch Alexy II on Tuesday at a funeral service in Moscow, praising his achievements in reviving the Church since communism.

Thousands of people have been paying final farewells to Patriarch Alexy II, lying in state in a central Moscow cathedral, in tribute to his role in reviving Russian Orthodox Christianity after decades of the atheist Soviet rule.

Russian Orthodox bishops pick their man to lead the church - at least for now. Their choice is Kirill, who is a potentially divisive figure and a believer in greater independence from the state.

Pope Benedict XVI has offered condolences following the death of the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Alexy II.

The collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 was accompanied by a proclamation of autonomy by a segment of Ukraine's Orthodox Church, whose leader is known as the Kyiv Patriarch. Another part of the Orthodox Church - the so-called Moscow Patriarchate - recognizes the Patriarch in Russia. Both churches claim millions of followers and also reflect Ukraine's political divide between those who favor closer ties with Russia and those seeking to orient their country towards Europe.

Pope has a primace over all bishops, a Vatican-Orthodox commission working to heal the 1,000 year split between Catholic and Orthodox churches has agreed but disagreed over just what that authority permits him to do.

The Russian Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches are gradually overcoming the disputes that have plagued their relations in the past, the Russian church's chief spokesman said on Tuesday.