Patriarch Alexy II laid the cornerstone of the new Cathedral of Christ the Savior in central Moscow on Saturday, as the city, the federal government and the Russian Orthodox Church joined hands in high ceremony to launch one of Russia's most controversial construction projects.


The gray wooden fence surrounding the site opened on the morning of Orthodox Christmas to admit foreign dignitaries, selected churchgoers and 1,000 soldiers. Under the enthusiastic gaze of his invited guests, Mayor Yury Luzhkov joined Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin and scores of gold-robed metropolitans in the traditional Procession of the Cross along Kropotkinskaya Naberezhnaya, extending for blocks behind a huge wooden cross.


Contrary to organizers' announcements, President Boris Yeltsin did not attend.


Chernomyrdin and Luzhkov officiated as Patriarch Alexy laid the stone, which had been brought from Bethlehem, Israel, and engraved -- as the original cornerstone was -- with the words "Not for us, not for us, but in your name." A public-address system amplified the sound of the dropping stone, which echoed across the enormous cavity that was once the Moskva swimming pool.


The original Cathedral of Christ the Savior was commissioned by Tsar Alexander I to commemorate casualties of the War of 1812. The world's largest Orthodox cathedral, it stood for 48 years before it was destroyed under the orders of Stalin, in 1931, to make way for a grandiose Palace of Soviets. Construction problems shelved that proposal, and in 1958 the site became an enormous heated swimming pool.


In speeches after the ceremony, interspersed with liturgical singing, Luzhkov and State Duma deputy Mikhail Mityukov hailed the project as a symbol of Russia's spiritual resurrection.


"Let the reconstruction of the main cathedral stand as symbolic proof of hundreds of destroyed churches and millions of lost lives," Luzhkov said. "Let this stand as proof that this great government deals not only in words but in prayers and in deeds -- prayers to God, words to the people, and deeds of building for all of Russia."


The ceremony gave the impression that the project has proceded seamlessly, as Luzhkov and Patriarch Alexy paid lavish homage to the federal government and to one other. But since its inception Luzhkov's brainchild has been beset by construction delays and public skepticism -- mainly about the cathedral's projected $300 million cost, which the mayor has pledged would not come from the city budget but from donations.


Others claim the blueprints are unrealistic. The original church took 44 years to build, and Luzhkov is promising a completed structure by 1997. The much-touted Palace of Soviets was scrapped because of flaws in the site. And some members of the church hierarchy question the mayor's motivation.


"It's truly miraculous that the system has collapsed the way it has done," said Father Christopher Hill, a English priest in the Russian Orthodox Church, who took part in Saturday's ceremony. Still, he said, "Among priests I know, there is not a great deal of enthusiasm. I do find it irritating to see (Luzhkov) cross himself for the television cameras. He is first and foremost a politician."


But the 1,000 churchgoing Russians who received passes to the ceremony appeared overwhelmed by gratitude, whatever doubts they may have had about the cost, timetable or motivation for the project.


"People do say this project is inappropriate," said Viktor Metrafanov, 67, a retired architect. "But when you understand that this will be the main cathedral of Russia, and that Luzhkov is behind it, at that the communists are keeping their mouths shut, then you think differently."