Subject: 1996.02.08 BNS

  MEETING  BETWEEN  MOSCOW, CONSTANTINOPLE ORTHODOX LEADERS
     CALLED OFF

               TALLINN, Feb 07, BNS - A meeting between  representatives
     of  the  Moscow  patriarchate  and  the  ecumenical patriarchate of
     Constantinople was  called  off  because  of  the  church  leaders'
     failure  to  come  to  an  agreement  over  the  restoration of the
     canonical subordination of the Estonian Apostolic  Orthodox  Church
     under the Patriarch of Constantinople.
               The meeting was supposed to take place earlier this month
     in Moscow.  On its eve, however, the situation deteriorated, making
     a  compromise  between the two patriarchates impossible and forcing
     the  Constantinople  patriarchate  to  call  off  the  meeting,   a
     spokesman  for  the synod of the Estonian Apostolic Orthodox Church
     told BNS.
               Church canons allow the ecumenical patriarchate to act on
     its  own, without cooperating with the Russian church, in resolving
     the issue of the Estonian church, should the situation demand this,
     the spokesman noted.
               The  Estonian  Apostolic  Orthodox  Church  was under the
     governance of the ecumenical patriarchate in 1923-1945.
               The Moscow-based Orthodox Church active  in  Estonia  and
     the  Patriarchate  of  Moscow  keep  insisting  that  the church be
     registered as the Estonian  Apostolic  Orthodox  Church,  the  name
     already used by the Estonian Orthodox Church seeking restoration of
     its canonical subordination to the Patriarch of Constantinople.