The murder of two Jesuit priests from Moscow's Catholic community in their apartment in central Moscow, just a block from the Russian capital's police HQ, is making church officials concerned about recent killings of clerics.

In the latest sign of a warming of relations between Russia and Cuba, President Raul Castro has attended the consecration of Cuba's first Russian Orthodox church in the capital, Havana.

A bishop from Russia's Arctic region of Chukotka who attacked the hierarchy of the Russian Orthodox Church for its ties to the Kremlin and for its involvement with other churches.

Patriarch Ilia of Georgia and Russian Orthodox Church Patriarch Aleksei II are doing all they can to ensure that the conflict between their nations does not become "a people's war, a holy war", echoing earlier nationalistic fervour.

After a visit to Russia, the Vatican's top official for Christian unity has said a meeting between Pope Benedict XVI and Patriarch Alexei II of the Russian Orthodox Church is "possible". Such an encounter would be a first.

President Vladimir Putin's successor, Dmitry Medvedev, has been inaugurated in the Kremlin with pomp, circumstance, and prayers from Patriarch Alexei II of the Russian Orthodox Church - which has paid tribute to the new national leader.

President Putin has attended a memorial service conducted by Patriarch Aleksei II, head of the Russian Orthodox Church, at a church built near a Soviet police secret killing field, to commemorate the victims of Josef Stalin.

A senior leader of the Russian Orthodox Church has said the major churches in Europe need to join forces and seek allies from other faiths to ensure society upholds traditional ethical values - and has criticised Christians who take a different view.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has said his country's internal and external security depends upon two things - its traditional religions and its nuclear forces - writes Sophia Kishkovsky from Moscow for Ecumenical News International (ENI).

When Russians celebrated the Julian calendar's New Year on 14 January 2007, they concluded an extended Christmas holiday with a particular significance for religion in their country - reports Sophia Kishkovsky from Moscow for Ecumenical News International.