High-Level Orthodox Church Visit Centers on Property Spat

14/9/2010

A senior representative of the Russian Orthodox Church is visiting Estonia this week in an effort to solve a long-standing dispute over church property.

Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, head of the church’s Department of External Relations, met with Tallinn Mayor Edgar Savisaar on September 13, and has meetings scheduled with the speaker of the Parliament and Estonia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs.

The main purpose of his visit is to support his church’s side in its property conflict with the nation’s other main Orthodox organization, the Estonian Apostolic Orthodox Church, ERR’s Russian-language TV news reported. Resolution of the dispute would be an important step towards reconciliation between the Moscow and Constantinople patriarchates.

The dispute arose after the 1993 re-establishment of the Estonian Apostolic Orthodox Church. The EAOC was set up in 1920 and given autonomy by the Ecumenical Patriarchy of Constantinople in 1923, but was absorbed into the Moscow patriarchate during Soviet occupation. Since the EAOC was re-instated and was able to reclaim Orthodox church property in a court settlement, it has been fighting efforts by the Estonian Orthodox Church under the Moscow Patriarchate to claim back some of the property.

The Russian Orthodox Church claims that the two churches should be on equal terms, but while one side has been given full ownership of church property, members of the other end up praying in rented temples.

The ongoing dispute may adversely effect the prospects of a visit to Estonia by the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Metropolitan Kirill, discussed previously this year.

“It is important to address this issue in anticipation of the visit of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill to Estonia. We are not yet talking about the specific dates of the visit, but we’re talking about the agenda and, in particular, about having these matters addressed constructively,” said Metropolitan Hilarion.

“We don’t want to attach any conditions, we are simply hoping for a constructive resolution of this issue. And I think that all the prerequisites for such a constructive solution exist,” he said.

However, Metropolitan Hilarion will not be meeting with representatives of the Estonian Apostolic Orthodox Church during his visit. He did meet with the head of the Estonian Lutheran Church and commented on the close relationship between the two faiths.

Representatives of the EAOC could not be reached for comment.

After Lutheranism, Orthodoxy is the second most common religion in Estonia. The Estonian Orthodox Church of Moscow Patriarchy has approximately 150,000 members, while the Estonian Apostolic Orthodox Church has roughly 20,000, according to Ministry of Foreign Affairs data.

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