By Dmitry Solovyov
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Senior clergy from the Russian Orthodox church backed a moderniser who favours closer ties with the Vatican on Sunday in the first round of voting to choose their first new patriarch since the fall of the Soviet Union.
Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad, one of the most senior Russian clerics to have met the Roman Catholic pontiff, won the most votes in the church's Council of Bishops and enters the next round of voting as favourite.
But two other nominees were shortlisted for the final vote, which gets underway on Tuesday, and religious scholars have said Kirill could face a backlash from traditionalists who may rally around another candidate to block him.
The Russian Orthodox church has been without a patriarch since Alexiy II -- who was chosen for the role in the dying days of the Soviet Union and oversaw a dramatic revival of the faith after Communism ended -- died last month.
Alexiy's 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.
The new patriarch will lead a church of about 165 million believers worldwide and determine whether to repair ties with the Vatican that have been strained since a schism in 1054 split Christianity into eastern and western branches.
DIVINE GUIDANCE
Kirill, the church's 62-year-old top diplomat who raised hopes of a rapprochement by meeting Pope Benedict in the Vatican in December 2007, won 97 of the 197 valid votes cast.
Metropolitan Kliment of Kaluga and Borovsk, a 59-year-old head of the church's economic affairs widely regarded as the traditionalists' favoured candidate, polled 32 votes.
Belarussian-based Metropolitan Filaret had 16 ballots. The 73-year-old cleric has good relations with the large Catholic community in Belarus and is also close to President Alexander Lukashenko, accused in the West of crushing democracy.
Earlier on Sunday, the church's most senior clergy gathered in the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, rebuilt on the site of an open-air swimming pool after the Communists blew up the original building.
"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," said Kirill, who is acting head of the church.
"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.
Voting in the final round could differ dramatically from the first ballot because it will be held in the church's Local Council -- which unlike the Bishop's Council includes laypeople and monks.
Alexiy II often accused the Vatican of trying to convert people with an Orthodox background to Catholicism and though he sent delegations to the Vatican, he himself resisted an historic meeting with the Pope.
(Writing by Christian Lowe; Editing by Ralph Boulton)
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Last updated: 26 January 2009, 13:24
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