The Estonian Orthodox Church of Moscow Patriarchate (Moskva Patriarhaadi Eesti Őigeusu Kirik) is an exarchate of the Patriarchate of Moscow whose primate is confirmed by the Most Holy Patriarch of Moscow. Its official name in English is the Estonian Orthodox Church of Moscow Patriarchate. This church numbers roughly 150,000 faithful^{[attribution needed]} in 31 congregations and is the largest Orthodox Church in Estonia. County Harju County Mayor Jüri Ratas Area 159. ...

The current primate of the church is His Eminence Cornelius (Yacobs), Metropolitan of Tallinn and All Estonia, elected in 2000. In hierarchical Christian churches, the rank of metropolitan bishop, or simply metropolitan, pertains to the diocesan bishop or archbishop (then more precisely called Metropolitan archbishop) of a metropolis; that is, the chief city of an old Roman province, ecclesiastical province, or regional capital. ... County Harju County Mayor Jüri Ratas Area 159. ...

Under Estonian law, the "Estonian Apostolic Orthodox Church" (Eesti Apostlik-Õigeusu Kirik) is the legal successor to the pre-World War II Estonian Orthodox Church, which in 1940 had had over 210,000 faithful, three bishops, 156 parishes, 131 priests, 19 deacons, two monasteries, and a theological seminary, the majority of the faithful were ethnic Estonians. Its primate is confirmed by the Orthodox Church of Constantinople. The head of this church is Metropolitan Stephanos (Charalambides). This church numbers about 20,000 faithful^{[attribution needed]} in 60 congregations today. The Church of Estonia or Estonian Apostolic Orthodox Church (Eesti Apostlik-Õigeusu Kirik) is an autonomous Orthodox church whose primate is confirmed by the Orthodox Church of Constantinople. ... The Orthodox Church of Constantinople is one of the fifteen autocephalous Eastern Orthodox churches. ...

The reactivation of the autonomous church Estonian Orthodox Church caused the name of the Patriarch of Constantinople to be removed from the diptychs of the Russian Orthodox Church. The Church of Estonia or Estonian Apostolic Orthodox Church (Eesti Apostlik-Õigeusu Kirik) is an autonomous Orthodox church whose primate is confirmed by the Orthodox Church of Constantinople. ...

History

Orthodox missionaries from Novgorod and Pskov were active among the Estonians in the southeast regions of the area, closest to Pskov, in the 10th through 12th centuries. The first mention of an Orthodox congregation in Estonia was in 1030 in what is now Tartu. Around 600 AD on the east side of Toome Hill (Toomemägi) the Estonians established the town Tarbatu. In 1030, the Kievan prince, Yaroslav the Wise, raided Tarbatu and built his own fort called Yuriev, as well as, allegedly, a congregation in a cathedral dedicated to his patron saint, St. George. The congregation may have survived until 1061, when, according to chronicles, Yuriev was burned down and the Orthodox Christians expelled. Velikiy Novgorod (Russian: ) is the foremost historic city of North-Western Russia, situated on the M10(E95) federal highway connecting Moscow and St. ... The Trinity Cathedral (1682-99) is a symbol of Pskovs former might and independence. ... The Trinity Cathedral (1682-99) is a symbol of Pskovs former might and independence. ... County Tartu County Mayor Laine Jänes Area 38. ... Mikhail Gerasimovs reconstruction of Yaroslavs appearance, based on his examination of Yaroslavs skull Yaroslav I the Wise (c. ... For alternate uses, see Saint George (disambiguation) Saint George on horseback rides alongside a wounded dragon being led by a princess, late 19th century engraving. ... Events Normans conquer Messina in Sicily Pope Alexander II elected The building of the Speyer Cathedral in Speyer, Germany, had begun to be built. ...

As a result of the Northern Crusades in the beginning of the 13th century, Northern Estonia was conquered by Denmark and the Southern part of the country by the Teutonic Order and later by the Livonian Brotherhood of the Sword, and thus fell under the control of Western Christianity. However, Russian merchants were later able to set up small Orthodox congregations in several Estonian towns. One such congregation was expelled from the town of Dorpat (Tartu) by the Germans in 1472, who martyred their priest, Isidor, along with a number of Orthodox faithful (the group is commemorated on January 8). The Teutonic knights in Pskov in 1240. ... Teutonic Knights, charging into battle. ... Western Christianity is a form of Christianity that consists of the Latin Rite of the Catholic Church and Protestantism. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... January 8 is the 8th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ...

Little is known about the history of the church in the area until the 17th and 18th centuries, when many Old Believers fled there from Russia to avoid the liturgical reforms introduced by Patriarch Nikon of Moscow. In the context of Russian Orthodox church history, the Old Believers (Russian: ) separated after 1666 - 1667 from the hierarchy of the Russian Orthodox Church as a protest against church reforms introduced by Patriarch Nikon. ... Nikon (Ни́кон), born Nikita Minin (1605-1681), was patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church from 1652 to 1658. ...

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 hope of obtaining land. Numerous 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 (Pukhtitsa) convent in Kuremäe in East Estonia were also built around this time. Peter I Emperor and Autocrat of All Russia Peter I (Pyotr Alekseyvich) (9 June 1672–8 February 1725 [30 May 1672–28 January 1725 O.S.1]) ruled Russia from 7 May (27 April O.S.) 1682 until his death. ... The Russian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate (Russian: ), also known as the Orthodox Christian Church of Russia, is that body of Christians who are united under the Patriarch of Moscow, who in turn is in communion with the other patriarchs and primates of the Eastern Orthodox Church. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...

In 1917 the first Estonian, Platon (Paul Kulbusch), was ordained Bishop of Riga and Vicar of Tallinn. Two years later, the Bolsheviks murdered Platon and his deacon. 81 years later, in 2000, Bp. Platon was proclaimed a saint by the Churches of Constantinople and Russia, commemorated on January 14. Deacon is a role in the Christian Church which is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... January 14 is the 14th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ...

After the Estonian Republic was proclaimed in 1918, the Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church, St. Tikhon, in 1920 recognised the Orthodox Church of Estonia (OCE) as being independent. Archbishop Aleksander Paulus was elected and ordained as the head of the Estonian church. In September 1922 the Council of the Estonian Apostolic Orthodox Church took the decision to address the then infamous Patriarch of Constantinople, Meletius IV (Metaxakis) of Constantinople, with a petition to adopt the Estonian Orthodox Church under the jurisdiction of the Patriarchate of Constantinople and to declare it autocephalous. Later on the Metropolitan of Tallinn and all Estonia Alexander wrote that it was done under an intense pressure of the state. On 7 July 1923 in Constantinople Meletios Metaxakis presented the Tomos on the adoption of Estonian Orthodox Church under the jurisdiction of the Patriarchate of Constantinople as a separate church autonomy "Estonian Orthodox Metropolia". Saint Tikhon of Moscow (January 19, 1865 – 7 April 1925), born Vasily Ivanovich Belavin (Василий Иванович Белавин in Russian), was the Patriarch and all Russias of the Russian Orthodox Church during the early years of the Soviet Union, 1917 through 1925. ...

At the suggestion of the Patriarchate of Constantinople Estonia was divided into three dioceses: in Tallinn, Narva and Pechery. Evsevy (Drozdov) became the head of Narva cathedra, John (Bulin), a graduate of St Petersburg Theological Academy, became bishop of Pechery in 1926. He headed the diocese until 1932 and left it because of the disagreements on the properties of Pskov-Pechery Monastery. Bishop John spent several years in Yugoslavia and came back to Estonia in late 30-s. He backed actively the returning of Estonian Orthodox Church under the jurisdiction of Moscow Patriarchate. On 18 October 1940 bishop John was arrested by NKVD in Pechery, accused of anti-Soviet agitation and propaganda and he was executed on 30 July 1941 in Leningrad.

Before 1941, one fifth of the total Estonian population (who had been mostly Lutheran since the Reformation in the early 1500s when the country was controlled by the Teutonic Order) were Orthodox Christians under the Patriarchy of Constantinople. There were 158 parishes in Estonia and 183 clerics in the Estonian church. There was also a Chair of Orthodoxy in the Faculty of Theology at the University of Tartu. There was a Pskovo-Pechorsky Monastery in Petseri, two convents—in Narva and Kuremäe, a priory in Tallinn and a seminary in Petseri. The ancient monastery in Petseri was preserved from the mass church destructions that occurred in Soviet Russia. The Lutheran movement is a group of denominations of Protestant Christianity by the original definition. ... The Protestant Reformation was a movement which began in the 16th century as a series of attempts to reform the Roman Catholic Church, but ended in division and the establishment of new institutions, most importantly Lutheranism, Reformed churches, and Anabaptists. ... View of Pskovo-Pechorsky Monastery Pskovo-Pechorsky Monastery or The Holy Dormition Pskovo-Pechersky monastery (Russian: Псково-Печерский Свято-Успенский мужской монастырь) is a male monastery, located on the Pechora River in Pechory, Pskov Oblast in Russia some 18 km from the Estonian border. ... Pechory (Russian: Печоры, Estonian: Petseri) is a town located in Pskovsky Oblast, Russia. ... A seminary or theological college is a specialized and often live-in higher education institution for the purpose of instructing students (seminarians) in philosophy, theology, spirituality and the religious life, usually in order to prepare them to become members of the clergy. ...

In 1940, Estonia was occupied by the Soviet Union, whose government undertook a general programme of the dissolution of all ecclesiastical independence within its territory. From 1942 to 1944, however, autonomy under Constantinople was temporarily revived. In 1945, a representative of the Moscow Patriarchate dismissed the members of the OCE synod who had remained in Estonia and established a new organisation, the Diocesan Council. Orthodox believers in occupied Estonia were thus subordinated to being a diocese within the Russian Orthodox Church.

Soon after the war broke out, Metropolitan Alexander declared his break-up with Mother-Church and reunion with the Patriarchate of Constantinople. Bishop of Narva Paul remained loyal to Mother-Church. During the occupation Germans didn't hamper Metropolitan Alexander to lead the life of his parishes and bishop Paul to be in charge of the Russian diocese in Narva and many other parishes loyal to Russian Orthodox Church.

Not long before the liberation of Tallinn Metropolitan Alexander left Estonia, the Synod of Estonian Apostolic Orthodox Church addressed Alexy (Simansky), Metropolitan of Leningrad and Novgorod, with a petition to resume the jurisdiction of the Moscow Patriarchate.

Just before the second 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 deported to Siberia. In 1958, a new synod was established in exile, and the church was organized from Sweden. Families 15, See classification A primate is any member of the biological order Primates, the group that contains all the species commonly related to the lemurs, monkeys, and apes, with the latter category including humans. ... In the Byzantine Empire, an exarch was a proconsul or viceroy who governed a province at some remove from the central authorities, the Emperor and the Patriarch of Constantinople. ...

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 Bartholomew I renewed the tomos granted to the OCE in 1923, restoring its canonical subordination to the Ecumenical Patriarchate. This action brought immediate protest from the Estonian-born Patriarch Alexei II of the Moscow Patriarchate, which regarded his native Estonia as part of his canonical territory and the Patriarch of Moscow temporarily removed the name of the Ecumenical Patriarch from the diptychs. February 20 is the 51st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Patriarch Bartholomew I His All Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew is the 270th successor to the Apostle Andrew and spiritual leader of 300 million Orthodox Christians worldwide. ... The following is a list of Russian Orthodox metropolitans and patriarchs of Moscow along with when they served: Metropolitans Maximus ( 1283- 1305) Peter ( 1308- 1326) Theognostus ( 1328- 1353) Alexius ( 1354- 1378) Cyprian ( 1381- 1382), ( 1390- 1406) Pimen ( 1382- 1384) Dionysius I ( 1384- 1385) Photius ( 1408- 1431) Isidore the Apostate ( 1437... Patriarch Alexius II Alexius II with Vladimir Putin The image above is a candidate for speedy deletion. ...

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, remains divided, with the majority of faithful (mostly ethnic Russians) remaining under Moscow. As of a government report of November 2003, about 20,000 believers (mostly ethnic Estonians) in 60 parishes are part of the autonomous church, with 150,000 faithful^{[attribution needed]} in 31 parishes, along with the monastic community of Pühtitsa, paying traditional allegiance to Moscow.

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

This article treats the manner in which the Eastern Orthodox Churches are organized, rather than the doctrines, traditions, practices, or other aspects of Eastern Orthodoxy. ... The Eastern Orthodox Church is a Christian body that views itself as: the historical continuation of the original Christian community established by Jesus Christ and the Twelve Apostles, having maintained unbroken the link between its clergy and the Apostles by means of Apostolic Succession. ... In hierarchical Christian churches, especially Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox churches, autocephaly is the status of a hierarchical church whose head bishop does not report to any higher-ranking bishop. ... The Pentarchy, a Greek word meaning government of five, designates the Five Great Sees or early Patriarchates, which were the five major centres of the Christian church in the early Middle Ages: Rome (Sts. ... A patriarchate is the office or jurisdiction of a patriarch. ... The Patriarch of Constantinople is the Ecumenical Patriarch, the first among equals in the Eastern Orthodox communion. ... The Orthodox Church of Alexandria (Greek: ) is one of the autocephalous Eastern Orthodox Churches. ... The Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch, also known as Antiochian Orthodox Church claims to be one of the five churches that composed the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church before the Great Schism. ... The Orthodox Church of Jerusalem, properly called the Greek Orthodox Church of Jerusalem, is regarded by Orthodox Christians as the mother church of all of Christendom, because it was in Jerusalem that the Church was established on the day of Pentecost with the descent of the Holy Spirit on the... Flag of the Serbian Orthodox Church The MONTENEGRO Orthodox Church (crnogorski: Crnogorska Православна Црква / Crnogorska Pravoslavna Crkva; СПЦ / SPC) or the Church of Montenegro is one of the autocephalous Orthodox Christian churches, ranking sixth after Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, Jerusalem, and Russia. ... The Czech and Slovak Orthodox Church (Czechoslovak Orthodox Church up to 1993) traces its roots to the Church of the Czech Brethren of the 1920s. ... The Orthodox Church in America (OCA) is an autocephalous Eastern Orthodox Church in North America. ... In hierarchical Christian churches, especially Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox churches, autocephaly is the status of a hierarchical church whose head bishop does not report to any higher-ranking bishop. ... St. ... The Metropolis of Western Europe is an autonomous body in the Eastern Orthodox Church under the patriarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church. ... The Metropolis of Bessarabia is one of the six metropolies of the Romanian Orthodox Church. ... The Orthodox Ohrid Archbishopric (Macedonian: Pravoslavna Ohridska Arhiepiskopija) was formed in 2002 following a failure in negotiations between the Serbian Orthodox Church and the canonically-unconstitutional and unrecognized Macedonian Orthodox Church (MOC). ... The Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia (Russian: , ), also called the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, ROCA, or ROCOR) is a semi-autonomous part of the Russian Orthodox Church. ... The Russian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate (Russian: ), also known as the Orthodox Christian Church of Russia, is that body of Christians who are united under the Patriarch of Moscow, who in turn is in communion with the other patriarchs and primates of the Eastern Orthodox Church. ...

Sources

• Blackwell Dictionary of Eastern Christianity, pp. 183-4
• The Estonian Apostolic Orthodox Church by Ronald Roberson, a Roman Catholic priest and scholar
• This article incorporates text from the OrthodoxWiki ([1]). Please edit and expand it.

External links

• Estonian Orthodox Church of Moscow Patriarhate - History
• Estonian Orthodox Church (EP) - History
• Orthodox Estonia