The Russian orthodox church healed on 80 year rift on Thursday when a rival faction set up in the west by monarchists fleeing the Soviet Union restored ties with the mother church in a lavish cathedral ceremony. The leaders of the two orthodox functions signed a reunification document as bells rang out from Moscow’s Cathedral of Christ the savior and priests chanted and crossed themselves. President Putin attended the ceremony another move by Russia to reconnect with its pre Soviet part and lay to rest the ghosts of revolution and state sponsored atheism. “The split in the church was the result of a deep political crisis in Russian society†Putin said after Kissing an orthodox icon in the gold – domed cathedral, rebuilt in the 1990’s after the original was blown up under Stalin’s rule.