Russian Orthodox Patriarch Alexiy II was buried yesterday after a long and elaborate funeral ceremony at which he was praised for reviving the nation's Christian faith after decades of communist rule.

State broadcasters cancelled normal programming to broadcast live the half-day ceremony for Patriarch Alexiy, who died on Friday aged 79 after 18 years leading the world's biggest Orthodox church.

Thousands of ordinary Russians lined the streets of Moscow to see the coffin pass as bells tolled. Some mourners wept.

President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, in black suits and black ties, attended the funeral. Both kissed Alexiys' robed body on a catafalque surrounded by white roses in the heart of Moscow's gold-domed Christ the Saviour Cathedral.

"He spoke in the language of eternity, he understood that only love could unite people," the church's interim leader, Metropolitan Kirill, said in a speech delivered beside the coffin, which was draped in a green, red and white shroud.

Metropolitan Kirill, 62, was helped away by aides at one point during the lengthy ceremony. The Church said he was in good health and had not fainted, and he subsequently rejoined the funeral. Orthodox patriarchs and metropolitans (senior bishops) from Russia and abroad stood in the vast cathedral as priests chanted the liturgy, followed by funeral rites.