Moscow, Russia - President Vladimir Putin gave the Russian Orthodox Church credit for helping to revive "family values" and maintain social order following the collapse of Soviet communism.
"The fruitful actions of the Russian Orthodox Church... in preserving civil peace and harmony in the country and resolving pressing social problems cannot be overlooked on this day," Putin said in a statement to mark Russian Orthodox Easter.
"It is gratifying that religious organizations are paying great attention to important and demanding work, such as strengthening ... 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 during Soviet times many doubled as KGB informants or were otherwise compromised by close collaboration with the authorities.
But the church in Russia has seen a dramatic revival since the 1991 breakup of the Soviet Union. 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 inside the country with the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia, the formal name of the church founded by those believers who fled Russia in the wake of the 1917 Bolshevik revolution.
Ramzan Kadyrov, prime minister of the mainly Muslim republic of Chechnya, had invited hundreds of Russian former residents who had fled fighting in the capital, Grozny, to return home for Easter.
About 900 took up the invitation, arriving by train for a short stay to visit the graves of their relatives.
"My father wanted those who fomerly lived in the republic of Chechnya, regardless of their nationality,.. to return to their historic homeland," Kadyrov said.
His father, Akhmat, was a pro-Russian president of Chechnya. He was assassinated in May 2004.
Most ethnic Russians left Chechnya after the declaration of independence in 1991 and the first war with Moscow in 1994-96. The authorities in Grozny gave an allowance of 3,000 roubles (110 dollars, 90 euros) to the few dozen mostly elderly Russians still living in Grozny to mark the Orthodox Easter festival.