SYNDESMOS, The World Fellowship of Orthodox Youth

Orthodox Press Service

BACKGROUND INFORMATION 29.2.96

The Orthodox Church in Estonia:

Chronology of a divided community

12th century

Missionaries from Rus' bring Orthodox Christianity to the local population.

1590 and 1593

Local councils in Constantinople with the presence of the Patriarchs of Constantinople, Alexandria, Jerusalem and Antioch recognise the recent establishment of the Moscow Patriarchate and define the canonical territory of the Russian Church as "Muscovy, All Russia and the Trans-Northern Lands."

16th century

Dioceses of the Russian Orthodox Church are constituted in the region of Estonia.

1721

Estonia becomes part of the Russian Empire following the Treaty of Nystad.

1918

The defeat of Germany in WWI and the Russian Revolution allow Estonia to proclaim its independence.

1920

Russia recognises the new Estonian state. Russian Orthodox Patriarch Tikhon grants internal autonomy (independence) to the church in Estonia following the new political independence in the country.

1923

Ecumenical Patriarch Meletios IV establishes in a Patriarchal Tome the creation of an Autonomous Estonian Apostolic Church as a diocese of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. There is no agreement with the Moscow Patriarchate due to the internal political situation in the USSR and the temporary imprisonment of Patriarch Tikhon.

1940

Soviet Army forces occupy and annex Estonia. Estonian Archbishop Alexander together with some members of clergy flee to Sweden.

1941

Estonia is occupied by German forces.

1944

Estonia is re-occupied by Soviet forces, and becomes part of the USSR.

1945

Creation of a new diocesan council in Estonia favourable to Moscow. The Orthodox communities in Estonia become part of the Moscow Patriarchate.

1947

"Synod of the Estonian Orthodox Church in Exile" formed in Stockholm, Sweden, under Archbishop Alexander. The body sees itself as the legitimate successor of the Autonomous Estonian Apostolic Church.

1978

The Ecumenical Patriarchate declares the 1923 Patriarchal Tome "inoperative", but maintains jurisdiction over the Estonian parishes outside Estonia.

1991

Estonia secedes from the USSR and becomes an independent state.

1993

Russian Orthodox Patriarch Alexis II issues Tome restoring the 1920 rights of administrative independence for the Orthodox in Estonia.

11 August 1993

Estonian State Department of Religions register the representatives of the "Synod of the Estonian Orthodox Church in Exile" as the sole legal successor of the Autonomous Estonian Apostolic Church, and therefore potentially the sole owner of all church-related immovable property in Estonia. The Russian Orthodox Church starts legal proceedings to defend its legal and canonical position in the country, protesting that the "Synod in Exile" has neither an episcopal structure nor an administrative office in Estonia, although this is required by Estonian law.

1994

A petition signed by the representatives of 54 of the 83 Orthodox parishes in Estonia formally request to join the jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. The 54 parishes represent the minority of the Orthodox believers in the country, and include both Estonian-speaking and Russian-speaking communities.

1995

A series of negotiations between the Ecumenical Patriarchate and the Russian Orthodox Church fail to reach a compromise solution. 3 January 1996

A delegation of the Russian Orthodox Church visits the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Istanbul for bilateral negotiations about the division among the Orthodox in Estonia. No agreement is reached, but the two sides agree to continue negotiations on 2 February in Moscow.

4 January 1996

The Ecumenical Patriarchate sends a pastoral letter "to the Orthodox communities in Estonia" in which the Patriarchate expresses its desire to "reactivate" the Autonomous Estonian Apostolic Church on the basis of the Tome or decision of the Ecumenical Patriarch in 1923. The letter states the hope to unite all the communities in one church, with a distinct diocese for the Russian-speaking parishes.

16 January 1996

A delegation from the Ecumenical Patriarchate, including one Finnish Orthodox bishop and one priest, visits Estonia in an attempt to reach a negotiated solution. They meet with the Moscow Patriarchate representatives and the Estonian state authorities, including Prime Minister Tiit Vaehi and President Lennart Meri.

Statements are made by the delegation stating that the Ecumenical Patriarchate will accept Estonian Orthodox believers under its jurisdiction and expects the Orthodox community in Estonia to break into two parts.

17 January 1996

Metropolitan Kyrill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad, responsible for External Church Relations of the Russian Orthodox Church in a written statement accuses the Ecumenical Patriarchate of uncanonical actions, and summarizes the long and complex history of the Orthodox community in the country. He calls for the legal registration and canonical unity of the Orthodox in the country under the Russian Orthodox Church as a single autonomous church, following which individual parishes may freely choose their jurisdiction, and may change jurisdiction "according to the canonical norms of inter-church relations". Metropolitan Kyrill warns that further unilateral actions would pose a serious threat to inter-Orthodox relations and canonical unity. Further statements condemning the involvement of the Estonian authorities in the dispute are sent by the Russian Orthodox Church to the Estonian, the Finnish and the US governments.

17 January 1996

The Russian Orthodox Church disputes a court ruling giving sole legal right to pre-1940 church property and land to the pro-Constantinople Estonian Apostolic Church. The Russian Orthodox Church is still not recognized as a legal entity in Estonia. Russian Orthodox Archbishop of Estonia Kornelius excommunicates 8 priests and one deacon favourable to union with the Ecumenical Patriarchate "for uncanonical behaviour".

28 January 1996

The Ecumenical Patriarchate sends a message to the Russian Orthodox Church in which it declares that it is not prepared to continue negotiations in Moscow. Meetings in Tallinn and Helsinki are proposed, on condition that the excommunicated clergy are reinstated.

The Russian Orthodox Church replies stating that the meeting should take place as planned in Moscow, and calls for continued negotiations on the Patriarchal level.

22 February 1996

The Ecumenical Patriarchate officially announces the decision to reactivate the Tome of 1923 and consequently to re-establish the Autonomous Estonian Apostolic Church.

The official statement of the Ecumenical Patriarchate states that "the Ecumenical Patriarchate proceeded with this decision following the persistent request of the Estonian Government and the overwhelming majority of the of the Estonian Orthodox parishes, which requested they be placed again under the aegis of the Ecumenical Patriarchate [...] in 1945 the Autonomous Church of Estonia was unilaterally and forcibly abolished by the Patriarchate of Moscow, following the annexation, under the might of weapons, of Estonia to the Soviet Union [...] Having regained political independence as a country, the reinstitution of the Autonomous Church of Estonia [...] constituted a just request of the Estonian Orthodox. To this just request the Mother Church, the Ecumenical Patriarchate, out of a sense of responsibility and by canonical and historical right, was duty-bound to respond with compassion to their request and in their defence."

23 February 1996

An official statement of the Moscow Patriarchate states "this action [of the Ecumenical Patriarchate] represents a gross violation of all basic canonical rules existing in the Orthodox world by invasion into the territory of another Local Orthodox Church."

The Russian Orthodox Church later announces a formal suspension of eucharistic and canonical relations with the Ecumenical Patriarchate and with the Orthodox Church of Finland.

Patriarch Alexis II omits the customary commemoration of the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomeos in the Divine Liturgy celebrated in Moscow for the feast of St. Alexis, the Patriarch's patron saint, signifying the formal breaking of relations with the Ecumenical Patriarchate.

24 February 1996

A delegation of the Ecumenical Patriarchate led by Metropolitan Joachim of Chalcedon concelebrates the Divine Liturgy in a parish in Tallinn with Estonian clergy and in the presence of Archbishop John of Finland. The action marks the reactivation of the Autonomous Estonian Apostolic Church. In an official statement issued by the Chief Secretariat of the Holy and Sacred Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate on 24.2.96, it is also announced that Archbishop John of Karelia and All Finland, primate of the neighbouring Orthodox Church of Finland, has been assigned as provisional head of the church. "Archbishop John will oversee the restructuring of the Metropolitanate ad referendum to the Ecumenical Patriarchate, which will then proceed with the election and installation of the canonical hierarchs of the Metropolitanate" the statement announces.

29 February 1996

The Moscow Patriarchate Department for External Church Relations issues a memorandum summarizing the ecclesiastical situation in Estonia. It confirms the content of the message sent by Patriarch Alexis on behalf of the Holy Synod and the episcopate of the Russian Orthodox Church to Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomeos: "With profound sorrow and anxiety the Russian Orthodox Church has learnt about the anti-canonical action committed by Your All Holiness...in contradiction to the will of the Mother Russian Orthodox Church of which Estonia has been a canonical territory from time immemorial [...] This unprecedented anti-canonical action, as we warned earlier, would destroy the ages-old norm of relationships between Local Orthodox Churches, and deliver a mortal blow against Orthodox unity, for any invasion in the canonical area of another Local Church and the acceptance of suspended clerics into communion creates an obstacle for the eucharistic and canonical communion between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Patriarchate of Constantinople...Making this sorrowful decision, we are convening the Council of our Church to take a final action on this matter".