MOSCOW -- Former President Boris Yeltsin was buried here Wednesday with Russian Orthodox rites, putting an end to Soviet practices in death as he did in life. It was the first time in more than a century that Russia bid a religious farewell to a head of state.

Former U.S. Presidents Bush and Clinton were among the dignitaries who gathered for a memorial at Christ the Savior Cathedral, followed by burial at Novodevichy cemetery.

During the procession to the cemetery, Yeltsin's coffin was carried on a gun carriage pulled by an armored vehicle and followed by his family, Russian President Vladimir Putin and dozens of dignitaries. Carnations were strewn on the pavement, while soldiers stood at attention along each side of the road.

At the graveside, Yeltsin's widow, Naina, stroked and kissed his forehead and face, then blessed him with the sign of the cross. The coffin was then closed, and an artillery salute fired as it was lowered into the grave.

"The fate of Boris Nikolayevich reflects the entire dramatic history of the 20th century," Russian Orthodox Patriarch Alexei II said in a statement read at the cathedral service. "At the turn of the 1980s and the early 1990s, he became a witness and a participant in a historic turnaround in the life of Russia. At that time, the will of our people for freedom became manifest. Boris Nikolayevich sensed that will and helped for it to be carried out."

Putin later praised Yeltsin, the man who elevated him to power, as having "sincerely tried to do everything possible to make the lives of millions of Russians better."

The memorial looked like a reunion of some of the world's most prominent figures of the 1990s. Former British Prime Minister John Major and former Polish President Lech Walesa were among those present.

A TV camera providing live coverage lingered on former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, to whom Yeltsin was first an ally and then a rival, as he offered condolences to the widow.

Most current top Russian leaders were present, as were many figures from the turbulent 1990s, when Yeltsin led this nation. Communist Party leaders, however, boycotted the service.

The last time Russia held a religious funeral service for a national leader was when Czar Alexander III died in 1894.

Yeltsin, who died Monday [April 23, St. George's Day, 2007] of heart disease at the age of 76, led Russia from 1991 to 1999. His years in power were marked by economic turmoil that caused millions of Russians to fall into poverty. But he played a key role in bringing a measure of democracy.

Schoolteacher Lidiya Zhukova, 34, who was waiting near the cathedral for the funeral procession to pass, fought back tears as she explained what Yeltsin meant to her.

"The main thing is that he burned the bridges that tied us firmly to our bleak past and opened a whole world of possibilities to us," she said. "This oxygen of freedom -- you get used to it so fast that you quickly forget, or can't even imagine, what it was like to suffocate every day of your life, before Boris stopped it."