Despite pouring rain, mourners waited in long lines stretching along the Moskva River on Monday to pay their last respects. Tens of thousands of people passed through Christ the Savior Cathedral over the weekend, as it stayed open day and night
Alexy II, who led the world's largest Orthodox Church for 18 years, died of heart failure on Friday at the age of 79. His body will lie in state until his funeral on Tuesday.
The coffin and the solea, a raised area in the sumptuous, gold-domed cathedral, are adorned with white roses, the patriarch's favorite flowers.
As mourners pack the cathedral, which was demolished by the Bolsheviks and built anew in the 1990s, priests are holding short services by the coffin every hour.
Leaders and officials of the world's main religions are due in Moscow to attend the funeral.
Alexy II became patriarch in 1990, a year before the Soviet Union's collapse, and presided over the rebuilding of thousands of churches and monasteries and the construction of hundreds of new churches across the country.
He was credited with restoring ties with the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, founded by immigrants who fled the Bolsheviks, but was criticized by some for close ties to the Kremlin. He has also been accused of working with the KGB during the Soviet era, allegations denied by the Church.
Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad, appointed acting leader of the Church, is one of the hierarchs likely to replace Alexy II.
Alexy II will be buried in Moscow's Epiphany Cathedral.
