Russian Orthodox Church believers celebrate Easter or the Resurrection of Christ this Sunday, with festive Easter services, eggs and special Easter cakes.

President Vladimir Putin gave the Russian Orthodox Church credit Sunday for helping revive “family values” and maintain social order in Russia following the collapse of Soviet communism, AFP said.

“The fruitful actions of the Russian Orthodox Church... in preserving civil peace and accord in the country and resolving pressing social problems cannot be overlooked on this day,” Putin said in a message to mark Russian Orthodox Easter released by the Kremlin.

“It is gratifying that religious organizations are paying great attention to important and demanding work such as the strengthening the authority of family values and moral education in society for the younger generation,” Putin said.

In a separate message to Patriarch Alexy II, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Putin said he was pleased that Easter “has again truly become a popular holiday.

”This shows the results of your work as the representative of the Russian Orthodox Church in the rebirth of traditional moral values, the preservation of historical-cultural heritage and the education of the younger generation,“ the message said.

Religious worship was formally forbidden or strongly discouraged in the Soviet Union and of the few clergy that did work in Soviet times many doubled as KGB informants or were otherwise compromised by close collaboration with the authorities.

The church in Russia however has seen a dramatic revival since the 1991 breakup of the Soviet Union and the Kremlin has emphasized it regards the church as a key pillar of post-Soviet Russian society and wants to see it strengthened.

Putin has also encouraged the reunification of the church in Russia with the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, the formal name of the church founded by those believers who fled Russia in the wake of the 1917 Bolshevik revolution.

MosNews