Estonia’s Ministry of the Interior has given the Estonian Christian Orthodox Church, which is affiliated with the Moscow Patriarchate, six months to comply with new legislation prohibiting religious organizations from maintaining ties with foreign religious leaders or bodies deemed a threat to the country’s national security, according to reports in the Estonian media.
Amendments to the Churches and Congregations Act entered into force on June 27 and require religious organizations to meet the new legal requirements by December 28. Failure to comply could result in proceedings aimed at their compulsory dissolution.
The primary focus of the legislation is the Estonian Christian Orthodox Church, formerly known as the Estonian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate. According to the Ministry of the Interior, the Church must appoint a new Metropolitan, as its current primate, Metropolitan Eugene (Valeri Reshetnikov), was forced to leave Estonia in early 2024 after security authorities determined that his activities posed a threat to national security.
The Church is also required to remove from its statutes all references to its dependence on the Moscow Patriarchate and Patriarch Kirill of Moscow. Under the current arrangement, Patriarch Kirill’s signature is required to approve major Church decisions, including the budget, annual reports, and the election of governing bodies.
Ilmo Au, an adviser to the Ministry of the Interior, acknowledged that severing ties with the Moscow Patriarchate may be difficult but insisted it is possible. He called on the local clergy to decide “whom they serve: the Triune God or the Kremlin and the Patriarch of Moscow.”
Observers believe the Church will likely seek to reduce Moscow’s influence in its governing documents. However, uncertainty remains over whether it can fully distance itself from the 1993 Tomos issued by Patriarch Alexy II, which defines its status within the Moscow Patriarchate. According to experts, the next six months will determine whether the Church can adapt to the new legal framework or whether its dependence on Moscow will make it impossible to continue operating in its current form.
Priit Rohtmets, Associate Professor of Church History at the University of Tartu, said the entire process is likely to lead to new legal disputes during the winter, as courts will be asked to determine whether the Church in Estonia has genuinely severed its ties with the Russian Orthodox Church. In other words, the courts will have to decide whether there are sufficient grounds for the Church’s compulsory dissolution.
Rohtmets noted that a similar issue has already been the subject of court proceedings in Ukraine for more than a year.
“The Ukrainian Orthodox Church also changed its name and introduced amendments to its statutes similar to those now expected of the Estonian Christian Orthodox Church. However, the same Tomos remained in force,” he said.
According to him, Ukraine is currently debating whether ties with Moscow have truly been severed if the same founding ecclesiastical document remains in effect.
“The competent state authority has already brought the matter before the courts to determine whether a link still exists between the Russian Orthodox Church and the local Ukrainian Orthodox Church under Moscow,” he added.
