ESTONIA TODAY
The Orthodox Church in Estonia
Re-establishing Orthodox traditions
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Practitioners of the Orthodox Christian faith have existed for centuries in
Estonia, with members drawn from the Estonian and other ethnic communities.
Before the occupation by the Soviet Union approximately 30 per cent of
Estonia's population were Orthodox believers.
The contemporary position of the Orthodox church in Estonia is complicated
since the various interests - canonical, traditional and commercial - cut
through simplistic attempts to read recent developments with "ethnic
overtones".
At present there are 80 orthodox parishes in Estonia which have 40 Estonian,
30 non-Estonian and 10 mixed congregations. The sizes vary from large
parishes to small parishes located in rural districts. The collapse of the
Soviet Union, and of Soviet control of the church, brought two issues to the
fore: 1) the location of the ecclesiastical centre for orthodox
parishioners, and 2) the restoration of church property under Estonian law.
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A short history
Orthodox Christians have existed in Estonia from the 11th Century. In the
17th Century the Old Believers fled to Estonia from Russia to avoid the
changes in the Russian Orthodox Church which caused a schism in that Church.
During the 19th Century, Estonian peasants were encouraged to convert to the
Orthodox faith with promises of land and socio-economic improvement. The
Orthodox church was also used as an important tool in the Russification
campaigns of the late 19th Century which attempted to break Baltic German
dominance of local life. This increased the number of Orthodox believers in
Estonia.
However, there was no ecclesiastical structure nor any detached diocese for
the Orthodox Church in Estonia until 1919. All ecclesiastical administration
depended on the Archbishop of Riga and Litva (Lithuania).
In the early Twentieth Century, due to the Bolshevik revolution in Russia,
the position of the Orthodox Church in Russia became difficult. Calls for
independence from Moscow increased with the announcement of Estonia's
independence and the state of war between Estonia and the Soviet Russian
Bolshevik forces. These demands became more strident after the Estonian
Bishop Plato was murdered in 1919 in Tartu by Bolshevik forces during the
War of Independence (1918-1920).
On 18-22 March 1919, the General Council of the Estonian Orthodox
Congregations, as it was then known, in which almost all local parishes
participated, met and unanimously decided that:
a) ecclesiastical life in Estonia should be organised and develop
according to the principles reflecting the new socio-political reality
i.e. the existence of an independent church within a sovereign Estonian
state and
b) all efforts should be made in order to elect a new primate of the
Estonian Orthodox Church after the death of Bishop Plato.
By respecting canonical law, the Estonian Orthodox Church* (EOC) placed
itself under the jurisdiction of the Patriarch of Constantinople.
By 1935 one-third of the total Estonian population was Orthodox Christian
under the Patriarch of Constantinople including the President of Estonia,
Konstantin Päts. The independent EOC was able to protect and preserve many
important Orthodox institutions in Estonia from the destruction and
pillaging of church property that occurred in Soviet Russia. These
institutions included the ancient monastery in Petseri (Pechory) and the
nunnery in Pühtitsa (Kuremäe).
The independent activities of the Estonian Orthodox church were halted with
the Soviet occupation of Estonia. The Soviet occupation authorities did not
respect canonical law nor the desires of the parishioners. This resulted in
the forcible subordination of Estonian Orthodox parishioners to the
Patriarch of Moscow. From this time on, the church was no longer an
independent church, but a bishopric of Moscow and subject to its synod.
In response to the well-documented religious repression existing in the
Soviet Union and the Soviet's activities in Estonia, many Estonian Orthodox
Church leaders fled Estonia in 1944 and lived in exile in Sweden, where they
continued to follow the canonical law governing their religious life. With
the restoration of Estonia's independence, the church applied to re-register
itself as the successor church in Estonia with support of parishes in
Estonia.
However, given the developments in the last fifty years under Soviet
occupation, and the value of the property involved, many controversial
issues, both canonical and legal, have been raised.
Current Issues Concerning the Orthodox Church
Canonical Issues
The attitude of parishioners over the Church history and future varies.
There are those who feel that there is continuation in canonical law, since
the decision to belong under the Patriarch of Constantinople was
democratically decided before the Soviet occupation, and therefore this
situation should be restored. There are those who feel that, regardless of
recent history, they are now under the Patriarch of Moscow, and a canonical
decision must be made proceeding from this position.
According to a review by the World Council of Churches (WCC) in early 1994
there were four trends amongst believers on the issue of canonical
subordination:
1) Those who wanted to be under the jurisdiction of Moscow; have an
open attitude and are in favour of a peaceful solution.
2) those who want to be under the jurisdiction of Constantinople and
want to achieve this goal respecting the canonical process; they too
favour a peaceful solution.
3) those who have joined the Estonian Orthodox Church which was
re-registered in August 1993. They want to be under Constantinople, but
believe that registration as the EOC was necessary and could not be
delayed until a canonical decision.
4) those who want to stay with Moscow and have little or no openness
for dialogue and negotiation.
According the WCC, groups 1, 2 and 3 are talking to one another. Groups 1, 2
and 4 are loyal to Bishop Kornelius, the Moscow Patriarch, although not all
wish to remain under Moscow.
However, there is no clear indication of how many people are found in each
trend. Of the 80 parishes, 53 have indicated their preference for
Constantinople and 27 for Moscow. There are many large parishes in the 27
and some small parishes in the 53. In several locations, the parish and the
priest have differing opinions. By early 1994, 21 parishes had registered
with the Estonian Orthodox Church, and desire to be under Constantinople.
According to the WCC's Memorandum (23/2/94), "3. the division is not simply
Estonians versus Russians. There are Estonians who want to stay with Moscow
and Russians who favour Constantinople".
Legal Background
The Estonian state requires all religious organisations operating in Estonia
to register with the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Following the passing of
the Law on Churches and Congregations in May 1993, all churches and
congregations were required to re-register or register their statutes. The
Estonian Orthodox Church (EOC) submitted an application for the
re-registration of its statutes on August 11, 1993.
The EOC re-registered itself with the support of 21 parishes in Estonia as
the Estonian Orthodox Church. The Estonian government, following the Law,
was required to accept the re-registration of the Church.
The re-registration process is very important for the return to rightful
owners of property that was illegally confiscated by Soviet authorities.
Much of the Church's property was illegally confiscated. These church
property holdings extend beyond the basic properties that are currently in
use. Delay in the restoration of church property means that the church is
forced to pay rent for rooms that are yet to be returned due to a lack of
sufficient meeting places.
The concerns over registration appear to be mostly over property.
Importantly, registration does not mean that all property belongs to the
EOC. The Board of Religious Affairs has said that if those who wish to
remain under the Patriarch of Moscow register under a different name from
the existing EOC, then those parishes will have the right to retain all
properties that are they currently using (essentially church buildings and
housing for priests).
New Developments
On November 5, 1993, the Moscow-based church applied to be registered under
the same name as the EOC and also supplied a copy of the registered EOC
statutes. This application was refused since it violated the Law on Churches
and Congregations as the name proposed was the same as the name of an
existing registered organisation.
The Moscow-based church challenged the decision of the Ministry of Internal
Affairs to register the EOC in Estonia. The Tallinn administrative court
ruled against the petition on July 4, 1994. This decision was appealed and
the Administrative panel of Tallinn District Court confirmed the lower
court's decision in October 3, 1994.
Following the court ruling supporting the actions of the Ministry, the
Ministry of Internal Affairs extended the deadline for the registration of
active religious organisations until 15 February 1995 as a special
consideration for the position of the Moscow-based church.
On 8 February 1995, a meeting of the delegations from the Moscow-based
church in Estonia and the Ministry was held. It was promised by the
Moscow-based church delegation that, by 15 February, it would give a date to
the Ministry for a general meeting of the parishes under the Moscow church,
which would consider the issue of registration. However, by July 1995 no
meeting of the parishes to discuss the issue has been set.
Currently, the Moscow-based church in Estonia has refused to submit the
statutes of its operations in Estonia as is required of all religious
organisations in Estonia. As of July 1995, no further action has been
forthcoming from the Moscow based church.
To help resolve the situation a delegation of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in
Constantinople, which included the Metropolitan of Philadelphia Meliton,
Metropolitan of Pergamon Johannes and a priest of the Finnish Orthodox
Church Heikki Huttunen, visited Estonia on February 6, 1995.
The delegation discussed the canonical subordination of the Orthodox church
in Estonia. Metropolitan Johannes said in a press conference that the
problems could be solved in such a manner that the ecumenical co-operation
between the patriarchies of Constantinople and Moscow can continue. He
suggested that Orthodox believers are required to obey the laws of the
country in which they live.
The remaining question is will the Moscow-based church will abide by the
same laws applying to all religious organisations in Estonia? By not
registering itself the Moscow based church has decided to remain without its
legal rights in Estonia, but has instead chosen to propagate unsupported
allegations against Estonia and the EOC in international forums.
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* The Estonian Orthodox Church (EOC) is the registered English name for the
Church. Its registered name in Estonian is Eesti Apostlik-Õigeusu Kirik,
which is unofficially translated into English as The Estonian Apostlistic
Orthodox Church (EAOC).
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