No agreement was reached in Ravenna

The delegation of the Moscow Patriarchate left yesterday

Mixed Commission on Orthodox-Catholic Theological Dialogue, which opened in Ravenna.

“Upon arrival in Ravenna, the Orthodox delegates discovered that they included representatives of the so-called Estonian Apostolic Church, created in 1996 by the Patriarchate of Constantinople on the canonical territory of the Moscow Patriarchate,” Bishop Hilarion of Vienna and Austria told Interfax. , who is part of the commission.

He noted that representatives of the EAC were invited by the co-chairman of the commission, Metropolitan John of Pergamon (Patriarchate of Constantinople) “unilaterally, without coordination with other local Orthodox churches.”

“I sincerely regret the current situation. Constantinople positions itself as a guarantor of inter-Orthodox unity, but the steps it is taking, unfortunately, damage this unity,” the bishop emphasized.

Let us recall the history of the issue: after the revolution of 1917, the Republic of Estonia declared independence and in 1920 was recognized by the Soviet government. Due to the fact that the diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church found itself on the territory of another state, as well as the persecution of the Church in Soviet Russia, Bishop Alexander of Tallinn turned to the Ecumenical Patriarchate with a request to accept the Church under its jurisdiction.

On July 7, 1923, Patriarch Meletius IV of Constantinople issued a District Epistle (tomos), accepting the Estonian Orthodox Church (EOC) into its jurisdiction and granting it autonomy.

After 1944, when Soviet power returned to the republic (the USSR annexed Estonia in 1940, but the Germans soon occupied it), the head of the EOC, Metropolitan Alexander, along with 23 priests, emigrated to Sweden.

The church leadership, having settled in Stockholm, remained under the jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. The EOC flock in exile consisted of 10,000 Orthodox Estonians living in many countries of the world.

As for the Estonian Orthodox Church in Estonia itself, in 1944-1945. it was annexed to the Moscow Patriarchate as the Tallinn and Estonian diocese. The manager of the diocese from 1961 to 1990 was Metropolitan Alexy (Ridiger), the current Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus'. At the request of the Russian Orthodox Church in 1978, the Ecumenical Patriarchate declared the Tomos of 1923, which established the autonomous Estonian Church, invalid.

After the collapse of the USSR and the restoration of Estonia's independence in 1991, a dispute broke out in the Orthodox community between those who wanted to remain in the Moscow Patriarchate and supporters of the restoration of the autonomous Estonian Church under the jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. After long negotiations between Constantinople and Moscow, which did not lead to an agreement, in February 1996 Constantinople renewed the Tomos of 1923. In response, the Moscow Patriarchate broke off relations with the Ecumenical Patriarchate, resuming them only three months later, when an agreement was adopted allowing the existence of Estonia has two parallel jurisdictions.

Meanwhile, Bishop Hilarion protested the current decision of Constantinople, saying that the Moscow Patriarchate does not recognize the so-called. The Estonian Apostolic Church as an autonomous canonical structure, and therefore, if its representatives do not leave the meeting, the delegates of the Russian Church will be forced to do so.

As the agency’s interlocutor noted, negotiations took place between him and Bishop John, “however, no understanding was reached.”