Yeltsin to be viewed
MOSCOW — Russia is saying farewell to Boris Yeltsin in ceremonies filled with symbols that reflect the epochal changes that transformed the nation during his eight years as president.
Officials today prepared Moscow's Christ the Savior Cathedral — a vast, gleaming church that is the most potent sign of the Russian Orthodox revival after decades of Communist atheism — for the viewing of the body of the first president of post-Soviet Russia.
Yeltsin, who died Monday at age 76, sometimes appeared at church services but was not seen as an overtly pious man.
Nevertheless, the Russian Orthodox Church credits him as a key figure in its changed fortunes.
"By his strength, he helped the restoration of the proper role of the Russian Orthodox Church in the life of the country and its people," church spokesman Metropolitan Kirill said in a statement.
Yeltsin's burial Wednesday also will resonate with Russia's changes. Unlike most Soviet leaders, he won't be interred in the cold formality of the burial ground at the Kremlin walls; instead, his grave will be at Novodevichy Cemetery, a leafy and comforting expanse next to Moscow's most famous monastery.
Yeltsin is remembered not only for his bold and principled stand against the 1990 hard-line Communist coup attempt and for launching Russia on the path to political pluralism, if not a full-fledged democracy.
He also is remembered for the economic torment that afflicted tens of million of Russians during his presidency.
