President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday called for help from the Russian Orthodox Church in the fight against terrorism and in countering a "moral deficit in society" exploited by extremists.
"In the fight against terrorism, the state desperately needs authoritative and influential partners," Putin said in an address to the church hierarchy at the Kremlin. "We count on your active participation in this common work."
The bishops were in Moscow where they were holding their synod, the regular meeting of the church's top clergy that occurs only every four years.
A bishop whose dioceses comprises the southern town of Beslan where hundreds died last month in a mass hostage-taking in a primary school agreed on the need for spiritual guidance in efforts to prevent similar acts.
"What we had to survive in those 52 hours together with the Ossetian people makes one thing clear: not having faith is also a route to terrorism and such acts," Bishop Feofan of Stavropol said.
The Beslan crisis and a string of prior attacks including the downing of two passenger jets were claimed by rebels from Chechnya, a Muslim republic in the Caucasus that has sought independence from Russia.
Putin said that "for centuries, the Orthodox community has been a uniting force for the multinational Russian society".
Patriarch Alexy II, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, responded that "in the face of this terrible danger we must be united like never before".
Putin also told the church leaders that he had signed legislation governing the allocation of land to the church for ownership or free use.
"The state is gradually repaying its historical debts to the church," Putin told the bishops.
The new legislation gives the church ownership of sites where its expensive-to-maintain cathedrals, churches and monastaries have been built, but does not return vast tracts of agricultural land formerly owned by the church.