Senior clergy from the Russian Orthodox Church backed a moderniser who favours closer ties with the Vatican yesterday in the first round of voting to choose their first new Patriarch since the fall of the Soviet Union.

Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad, one of the most senior Russian clerics to have met the Roman Catholic pontiff, won the most votes in the Church's Council of Bishops and enters the next round of voting as favourite.

But two other nominees were shortlisted for the final vote, which gets under way tomorrow, and religious scholars have said Metropolitan Kirill could face a backlash from traditionalists who may rally around another candidate to block him. The Russian Orthodox Church has been without a patriarch since Alexiy II - who was chosen for the role in the dying days of the Soviet Union and oversaw a dramatic revival of the faith after Communism ended - died last month.

Patriarch Alexiy's critics accused him of allowing the Church to fall under the sway of the Kremlin. Former President Vladimir Putin was regularly shown at the Patriarch's side and the Church held back from publicly criticising the failings of Russia's leaders.

The new Patriarch will lead a Church of about 165 million believers worldwide and determine whether to repair ties with the Vatican that have been strained since a schism in 1054 split Christianity into eastern and western branches.

Metropolitan Kirill, the Church's 62-year-old top diplomat who raised hopes of a rapprochement by meeting Pope Benedict in the Vatican in December 2007, won 97 of the 197 valid votes cast.

Metropolitan Kliment of Kaluga and Borovsk, a 59-year-old head of the Church's economic affairs widely regarded as the traditionalists' favoured candidate, polled 32 votes.