Journal 122 – The Orthodox church officially presided over Yeltsin’s funeral

The former Soviet president, Boris Yeltsin, was buried on Monday, April 23, in Moscow. The service was held in full accordance with Orthodox Christian tradition in the ornate Christ the Savior Cathedral. This Cathedral was destroyed by the Soviet government in 1931, the year of Yeltsin’s birth. It was reconstructed with Yeltsin’s approval when he was the president.
It was the first time, since the death of Czar Aleksander III in 1894, that the Orthodox church officially presided over the funeral of a head of state. In the previous journals, I have written, that the czar’s son, Nikolai II, was murdered with his family after Bolshevik revolution in 1917. The whole family was buried in a secret mass grave. After this, the Soviet government effectively put a stop to religious life in the country. Right now, we are witnesses’ very interesting times.