Document: Declaration of the Communications Service of OVTsSMP with Regard to the Election of New Bishops in Estonia
Moscow - 20080619 - On 12 June 2008, candidates for consecration as bishops of the dioceses of Tartu and Piarnu-Saaremaa were elected at a meeting of representatives of the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the Constantinople patriarchate in Estonia and the upcoming completion of the process of the "restoration of the Estonian Orthodox church" by means of the establishment of its Bishops' Synod was announced.
In connection with this, the Communications Service of the Department of External Church Relations of the Moscow patriarchate is authorized to report the following.
The canonical status of the so-called autonomous Estonian Orthodox church, whose creation was announced by the Constantinople patriarchate in 1996, is not recognized by the Russian Orthodox church and also by other local Orthodox churches.
In particular, the Jubilee Bishops' Council of the Russian Orthodox church in 2000 considered it impossible to recognize the canonical status of autonomy for the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the Constantinople patriarchate existing in Estonia since 1996, inasmuch as "recognition of such a status for it does not correspond in full measure to the historical development and contemporary situation of all of Orthodoxy in Estonia."
For more than twelve years the Moscow patriarchate has devoted its efforts directed to the rectification of the consequences of the unilateral actions of the Constantinople church on the canonical territory of the Russian Orthodox church, which led in 1996 to a temporary interruption of Eucharistic communion between the two patriarchates. At the same time, readiness to seek mutually acceptable resolutions has frequently been manifested on the part of the Russian Orthodox church.
Thus, in the latest negotiations on this question between delegations of the Constantinople and Moscow patriarchates, held on 26 March 2008 in Zurich, the parties recognized the usefulness of continuing the negotiation process until the achievement of "a comprehensive agreement which will include both a resolution of the question of immovable church property in Estonia, in fulfillment of the Zurich agreements of 1996, and a resolution of the question of the canonical status of ecclesiastical jurisdictions of the Constantinople and Moscow patriarchates in this country."
The position of the Russian Orthodox church on the question of rectification of the church situation in Estonia, presented in the above mentioned negotiations, was set forth in a report from the Communications Service of the Department of External Church Relations of the Moscow patriarchate of 16 May 2008.
The decision for the consecration of new bishops obviously is not based on realistic needs of the small flock of the Constantinople ecclesiastical organization, which numbers, according to official data of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Estonia, 25,000 believers. According to the same data, the number of the autonomous Estonian Orthodox church of the Moscow patriarchate is 170,000 believers, who are served by 60 clergymen. It is sufficient to note that in "the diocese of Piarnu-Saaremaa" there are only six clergymen and in "the diocese of Tartu," for whose ministry a monastic priest was selected, who was ordained a cleric in April 2007, of the nine existing clergymen, some are rectors of three parishes and one cleric serves in two dioceses simultaneously.
According to available information, church buildings of the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the Constantinople patriarchate in Estonia are not filled with worshippers even during the rare conducting of the divine liturgy in many of them. The election of new bishops will not likely help to change this situation, which is based on the desire of the overwhelming majority of Orthodox believers in the country to maintain loyalty to the Mother Church--the Moscow patriarchate. Motives for the decision made on 12 June are evident in the attempt to create the external impression of a full-orbed church life and to gain recognition of the status of an autonomous church from local Orthodox churches, as well as to obtain support from international Christian organizations.
The step taken by the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the Constantinople patriarchate, which is not based on pastoral requirements, is directed toward gaining a unilateral advantage, and it only complicates the situation for Orthodoxy in Estonia. The actions taken make yet more difficult the negotiation process between the two patriarchates, directed toward the achievement of a fair resolution of questions of church property and canonical status of the two ecclesiastical jurisdictions. The responsibility for this lies entirely upon the Constantinople side. (tr. by PDS, posted 18 June 2008)
Russian original posted on Portal-credo.ru site, 18 June 2008
Source: http://www.stetson.edu/~psteeves/relnews