The church says...
The Russian Orthodox Church says its Patriarch Alexy II has died, according to AP.
The church says the 79-year-old died at his residence outside Moscow on Friday. It did not give the cause of death, but the patriarch had long suffered from a heart ailment.
The outspoken patriarch had led the world`s biggest Orthodox church since 1990, presiding over a flock that by most estimates numbers two-thirds of Russia`s population of 142 million.