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Split since Russian Revolution, Orthodox churches to reunite

The Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, whose founders fled Bolshevik rule almost a century ago, is poised to reunite with the Moscow-based church.

The formerly rival churches will seal their historic reconciliation at a ceremony on May 17 in the Russian capital's largest cathedral.

President Vladimir Putin has hailed the move, which will end more than eight decades of bitter estrangement, as an "epoch-making event."

The head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Aleksy II, and Metropolitan Lavr, the leader of the New York-based Church Abroad, are due to sign an "act of restoration of canonical relations."

Clergymen from both churches will then celebrate a lavish joint Mass in Moscow's Christ the Savior Cathedral. Moscow's largest cathedral was blown up by Soviet dictator Josef Stalin and rebuilt after the 1991 Soviet collapse.
Read entire article at Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty