The normal sung service started late on Saturday, with Mr Kirill delivering well-wishes to Orthodox believers which have been broadcast on Russian TV.
A procession of white-robed clergy circled the huge cathedral, rebuilt in post-Soviet occasions and extensively seen as symbolic of Russia’s rejection of its atheist previous, as they swung smoking incense censers and chanted the liturgy.
Most Western church buildings noticed Easter on March 31, however the Russian Orthodox Church follows a unique calendar.
In his Easter tackle, Mr Kirill wished for “God’s blessing over Russia”, its folks and all nations the place the church has a presence.
In a written message revealed earlier on Saturday on the church’s web site, Mr Kirill famous that “consciousness of God’s love … offers us power to beat probably the most tough psychological states and tough circumstances, elevates us above the bustle of on a regular basis life, helps appropriate earlier errors and destroys despondency”.
The patriarch this yr appeared to steer clear from political pronouncements, not like final April when he lamented “grave occasions happening on our Russian historic land”, referencing Moscow’s navy actions in Ukraine and reinforcing the Kremlin’s narrative that Ukrainian statehood is actually a fiction.
The service, that includes a mixed-voice choir and standing worshippers holding skinny pink candles, was set to increase nicely into Sunday.
Putin was proven among the many worshippers, standing subsequent to Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin as the 2 joined within the conventional Easter greetings. The Russian chief was later seen exchanging festive items with Mr Kirill.
Earlier on Saturday, Orthodox Russians headed to church buildings to have baskets of festive meals, together with hand-painted eggs and conventional Easter truffles, blessed by a priest.
Mr Putin has been desperate to painting himself as defending “conventional values” espoused by the Russian Orthodox Church within the face of what he repeatedly casts because the West’s “degrading” affect.
The nation has more and more taken a conservative flip, with makes an attempt to limit abortion and broad bans in opposition to LGBT activism and gender transitioning which have met with the church’s assist.