Estonian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate

In the 18th and 19th centuries, Estonia was a part of the Imperial Russian Empire, having been conquered by the emperor Peter the Great. A significant number of Estonian peasants were converted to the Orthodox faith in the (unfulfilled) hope of obtaining land, and numerous Eastern Orthodox churches were built. In 1850 the Diocese of Riga (in Latvia) was established by the Russian Orthodox Church and many Estonian Orthodox believers were included. In the late 19th century, a wave of Russification was introduced, supported by the Russian hierarchy but not by the local Estonian clergy. The Cathedral of St. Alexander Nevsky in Tallinn and the Pühtitsa Convent (Pukhtitsa) in Kuremäe in East Estonia were also built around this time.

In 1917 the first Estonian,

After the Estonian Republic was proclaimed in 1918, the Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church, St.

Just before the Soviet occupation in 1944 and the dissolution of the Estonian synod, the primate of the church, Metropolitan Aleksander, went into exile along with 21 clergymen and about 8,000 Orthodox believers. The Orthodox Church of Estonia in Exile with its synod in Sweden continued its activity according to the canonical statutes, until the restoration of Estonian independence in 1991. Before he died in 1953, Metr. Aleksander established his community as an exarchate under Constantinople. Most of the other bishops and clergy who remained behind were exiled to Siberia. In 1958, a new synod was established in exile, and the church was organized from Sweden.

Estonian independence

Following the breakup of the Soviet Union, divisions within the Orthodox community in Estonia arose between those who wished to remain under Russian authority and those who wished to return to the jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, with the dispute often taking place along ethnic lines, many Russians having immigrated to Estonia during the Soviet occupation. Lengthy negotiations between the two patriarchates failed to produce any agreement.

In 1993, the synod of the Orthodox Church of Estonia in Exile was re-registered as the autonomous Orthodox Church of Estonia, and on February 20, 1996, Ecumenical Patriarch

An agreement was reached in which local congregations could choose which jurisdiction to follow. The Orthodox community in Estonia, which accounts for about 14% of the total population,[2] remains divided, with the majority of faithful (mostly ethnic Russians) remaining under Moscow. A U.S. Department of State report from November 2003, about 20,000 believers (mostly ethnic Estonians) in 60 parishes are part of the autonomous church, with 150,000 faithful in 31 parishes, along with the monastic community of Pühtitsa, paying traditional allegiance to Moscow.^[8]

On 6 November 2000 Archbishop Cornelius became Metropolitan of Tallinn and All Estonia.

On 19 April 2018 Metropolitan Cornelius reposed.

In 2018 Archbishop

In 2022 Church officials condemned

In January 2023 the church held a prayer service “for peace” with the Estonian political party Together.^[11]

On January 18, 2024 Estonia announced that it would not renew Reshetnikov's residence permit, stating "His actions are a security risk to Estonia." The Estonian Police said that he had been repeatedly asked to stop justifying Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and to stop defending the Russian government, but that he "has consistently vindicated and supported the Kremlin regime's bloody aggression against Ukraine." The lack of renewal required Reshetnikov to leave Estonia before the expiration of his residence permit on February 6, 2024. ^[4] Reshetnikov left Estonian on February 6, 2024.^[3] He stated that he would continue working remotely when back in Russia.^[3]

See also

• Religion in Estonia
• Catholic Church in Estonia
• Eastern Orthodoxy in Estonia

References