His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and all Russia

By election of the Council, through which the Will of God is believed to have been revealed in the Russian Orthodox Church the burden of primatial service has been placed on my unworthyness. Great is the responsibility of this service.

Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and all Russia

June 8, 1990

The enthronement of His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and all Russia took place on June 10, 1990.

 Alexy II is the 15^th Patriarch of Moscow since the establishment of the Patriarchate and 5^th – since the restoration of the Patriarchal  See (Office) in 1917.

The Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church - His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and all Russia - according to the Statute of the Russian Orthodox Church ( adopted at the Local Council in 1988 ) shall:

• Summons Local and Bishops’ Councils,
• Convene  the Holy Synod sessions and presides at them.

The head of the Russian Orthodox Church shall:

• Have the primacy in honor among the episcopate, be responsible for the implementation of  the decisions of the Councils and the Holy Synod ,
• Provide the Councils with the reports on the situation in Church for a period between their meetings,
• Bless and exercise authoritative supervision over all Synod institutions and spiritual educational establishments,
• Address pastoral messages to the Pleroma of the Russian Church  ,
• Bless and create fraternal  relations (brotherhood) with the Primates of Orthodox Churches and  Heads of other confessions,
• Represent the Russian Church in its relations with the state authorities.
• His Holiness Patriarch blesses and entrust bishops with temporal administration of dioceses.
• His Holiness Patriarch of Moscow and all Russia shall be the diocesan bishop of the Moscow diocese.