|PIC1|The Russian Orthodox Church is to elect a successor to the late Alexy II in January, interim leader Metropolitan Kirill announced on Wednesday.

Speaking to the media after a meeting of the Church’s Holy Synod, Kirill said the new patriarch would be elected during a meeting on 28 and 29 January and enthroned in a ceremony on 1 February.

Kirill, a known reformer in favour of greater separation between the Church and the Kremlin, is one of the candidates to succeed Alexy II. The other favourite is Metropolitan Kliment of Kaluga and Borovsk, who favours close ties with the Kremlin.

Alexy II died of heart failure last Friday at the age of 79. He was appointed in 1990, just one year before the demise of the Soviet Union and made it his priority to restore the Church as a central moral and spiritual force in society after years of repression under Soviet authorities.

During his 18 years at the helm of the world’s largest Orthodox Church, he was unable to quash accusations that he had worked for the KGB and faced criticism for allowing the Church to become too closely aligned to the Kremlin.

Supporters credit him with reviving the Orthodox Church and overseeing the construction of thousands of new churches across Russia.

He was buried after a funeral service in Moscow’s Christ the Saviour Cathedral on Tuesday.