Riga, October 23, 2022
Photo: pareizticiba.lv
A council of the Latvian Orthodox Church was held last week at which it was resolved to amend Church statutes in accordance with recent state demands to separate the Church from the Moscow Patriarchate. According to jurisdiction, the Latvian Church is an autonomous Church within the Russian Orthodox Church.
Accordingly, the Council also wrote an appeal to His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia to give a “canonical decision on the status of the Latvian Orthodox Church.”
The council was held on Thursday at the Church of All Saints in Riga under the chairmanship of His Eminence Metropolitan Alexander of Riga and All Latvia, with the participation of the other hierarchs, abbots and abbesses, representatives from the local seminary, and delegates from all parishes, reports the Latvian Church’s press service.
The council began with a prayer to Christ for the preservation of the Church in these days of “increasing external temptations and trials” and a “heartfelt word” from Met. Alexander for the help of the Lord, His Most Pure Mother, and all the saints “for all Orthodox Christians in our difficult times.”
Reports were then heard by the heads of various Synodal departments.
Most importantly, “According to the amendments to the Law on the Latvian Orthodox Church … the statutes of the Latvian Orthodox Church must be amended by October 31 of this year in accordance with these amendments. In compliance with the Latvian legislation, the Council of the Latvian Orthodox Church voted by an absolute majority to introduce amendments to the statutes of the Orthodox Church of Latvia that meet the requirements of the Law on the Latvian Orthodox Church.”
The given amendments, adopted by the Latvian Parliament on September 8, “establish the complete independence of the Latvian Orthodox Church with all its dioceses, parishes, and institutions from any Church power outside of Latvia (an autocephalous Church).”
Thus, according to the decisions of the Church council held last week, the Latvian Orthodox Church is, in a legal sense, now independent of the Moscow Patriarchate.
Accordingly, the council delegates also signed an appeal to Pat. Kirill to make a canonical decision on the Church’s status.
Latvian Minister of Justice Jānis Bordāns has also appealed to the Patriarch for Church independence, though Russian Church representatives have rejected the idea of the state, rather than the Church, appealing for autocephaly.
In his closing remarks, Met. Alexander reminded everyone present “how much every soul needs, especially in our difficult time, thoughtful, attentive, and constant prayer and mutual Christian love.”
Similarly, at its own council held in late May, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church removed all mention of the Russian Orthodox Church from its statutes. In Lithuania, the diocese has requested greater autonomy, though not independence, from the Russian Church. In Estonia, the state is closely watching the Church and called upon His Eminence Metropolitan Evgeny of Tallinn of All Estonia to distance himself from certain Patriarchal statements, which he did. At the same time, he has clearly stated that the Estonian Church isn’t interested in seeking autocephaly.
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