Tallinn, July 31, 2024
St. Alexander Nevsky Cathedral in Tallinn. Photo: siseministeerium.ee
On July 30, representatives of the Estonian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate, including the Church’s lawyer, the Holy Dormition-Pukhtitsa Convent, and the Ministry of the Interior met to review current activities and discuss possible future scenarios. The following steps and timeline of activities were agreed upon.
Ministry representative Raivo Küüt reiterated that the state expects the Estonian Church to completely separate from the Moscow Patriarchate both canonically and legally, as the state has an obligation to protect the Estonian population from the influences of a hostile regime.”
At the same time, Küüt emphasized that the process is moving ahead cooperatively and that the state has no intention of closing churches or the Pukhtitsa Convent, reports the Estonian Ministry of the Interior (the article is reprinted in full on the site of the Estonian Orthodox Church).
Recall that the Estonian Parliament declared the Moscow Patriarchate an institute supporting Russian military aggression on May 6, thus prompting the Ministry of the Interior’s call for the Church and monastery to separate from the Patriarchate.
“At the meeting, EOC presented its vision of the process of separating from the Moscow Patriarchate in two stages, where first the current statutes would be amended, and in the second stage, consultations with the Estonian Apostolic Orthodox Church [under the Patriarchate of Constantinople—OC] would begin to find ways to unite all Estonian Orthodox believers under a single Church in the future.”
The EOC proposed to first amend its statutes, “unilaterally terminating statutory references to the current statues of the Russian Orthodox Church, while retaining a reference to the 1993 tomos,” by which the ROC granted the EOC self-governing status.
This was the same step taken by the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in May 2022, and the Latvian Orthodox Church in October 2022, though for the latter the change was legal but not canonical, as Latvian hierarchs received Chrism from Moscow a year later—a sign of canonical dependence.
The Church, represented by His Grace Bishop Daniil of Tartu, also announced the Synod’s appeal to His Holiness Patriarch Kirill to remove the stavropegial status [meaning under the episcopal authority of the primate regardless of location—OC] of the St. Alexander Nevsky Cathedral in Tallinn.
The options for separating the Pukhtitsa Convent were also discussed. The Church’s lawyer emphasized that all this should be done while respecting religious freedom, without pressure on the Church or its parishioners, given that this is a situation “that cannot currently be blamed on the Church or Convent operating in Estonia.”
As next steps, it was agreed that EOC would submit specific proposals for amending its statutes to the Ministry of the Interior by the end of August, along with the necessary steps and timeline for implementing the change. The Ministry of the Interior will form its position based on this by the end of September at the latest.
The EOC will also agree on and notify the Ministry of the Interior when its representatives will meet with representatives of Constantinople’s Estonian Apostolic Orthodox Church and begin drafting a roadmap for further steps.
Further activities with the Convent as a separate religious organization will be agreed upon separately.
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