Russian Church Asks God To Help Choose New Leader

`Let the Holy Spirit point to the most worthy candidate,` read a placard held up by one believer.

The Russian Orthodox Church prayed for divine guidance on Sunday at the start of a contest for a new leader that is likely to pit conservatives against those who want to open up the church to the rest of the world.

The new patriarch will lead a church of about 165 million believers worldwide and determine whether to repair ties with the Roman Catholic Church that have been strained since a schism in 1054 split Christianity into eastern and western branches.

Several dozen of the church's most senior clergy, in gold-embroidered vestments, held prayers in Moscow's Cathedral of Christ the Saviour asking God's to help them choose a worthy successor to Patriarch Alexiy II, who died last month.

The cathedral is a powerful symbol of the church's resurgence since the end of Soviet rule. Blown up by the Communist authorities and replaced with an open-air swimming pool, it was rebuilt on the same site in the 1990s.

There has been no overt campaigning for the patriarch's role but there has been a vigorous debate in the Russian media between church-goers who favour sticking to tradition and modernisers who want stronger ties with other Christian faiths.

Religion scholars say the contest will focus around Metropolitan Kirill, 62, who spearheaded contacts with other religions, and a conservative camp whose favoured candidate could be 59-year-old Metropolitan Kliment.

Kirill, acting head of the church, led a prayer for the memory of Alexiy II as he opened a session of the Council of Bishops. The body will draw up a short-list of at least three candidates for the role.

RISEN FROM RUINS

"Thousands of churches and hundreds of monasteries across all our land have risen from ruins in less than 20 years, largely thanks to the devoted work of our deceased patriarch."

"We cannot but understand the greatness of the task that faces us to be worthy of the memory of this great luminary of the Russian church," Kirill told the gathering of bearded senior clerics, dressed in black robes and cylindrical hats.

A church official said the Council of Bishops will deliberate in private and will name its short list either late on Sunday or early on Monday.

A Local Council -- made up of about 700 priests, monks and lay people -- will then convene on Tuesday to choose the next patriarch. The final voting procedure has yet to be decided, but could involve a secret ballot or drawing lots at random.

The cathedral, a short distance from the Kremlin, was surrounded by hundreds of police. Orthodox activists gathered outside holding up ecclesiastical banners embroidered with the image of Jesus Christ.

"Let the Holy Spirit point to the most worthy candidate," read a placard held up by one believer.

Alexiy II became patriarch in the dying days of the Soviet Union. He oversaw a revival of the Russian Orthodox faith after decades of Communist repression but resisted an historic meeting with the Roman Catholic pontiff.

His critics accused him of allowing the church to fall under the sway of the Kremlin. Former President Vladimir Putin was regularly shown at the patriarch's side and the church held back from publicly criticising the failings of Russia's leaders.