Tallinn Pushes Hard to End ‘Estonian Compromise’ on Orthodox Church

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Aug. 2 – Since the collapse of the USSR, many in the post-Soviet states and even more in the West have seen what has been called “the Estonian compromise” as the basis for inter-religious concord and national integration in these countries. But that “compromise” is now coming to an end in the place where it was created.

            This compromise consisted of having two Orthodox churches in one country, the first subordinate to the Moscow Patriarchate and the second to the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Constantinople. But the Moscow church’s support for Putin’s war has made that unsustainable (windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2024/01/moscow-patriarchs-policies-making.html).

            Many in Estonia have urged that the authorities simply ban the Moscow church in that country, a call that the Estonian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate earlier tried to defend against by saying it was canonically linked but not ruled from the Russian capital (windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2024/04/estonian-orthodox-church-of-moscow.html).

            That was insufficient to satisfy the Estonian side, and the Estonian government has now secured an agreement with the EOC MP according to which that church will first eliminate all arrangements suggesting that it is subordinate to Moscow and then begin talks to unite with the Estonian Apostolic Orthodox Church which is subordinate to Constantinople.

            (On this agreement, see novayagazeta.eu/articles/2024/08/03/estonskaia-tserkov-otrekaetsia-ot-moskovskogo-patriarkhata, siseministeerium.ee/uudised/siseministeerium-ja-mpeok-leppisid-kokku-edasistes-sammudes-moskva-patriarhaadi-moju and  et.orthodox.ee/news/siseministeerium-ja-mpeok-leppisid-kokku-edasistes-sammudes-moskva-patriarhaadi-moju-vahendamiseks-ja-kaotamiseks-mpeokile/).

            What this unity will look like is unclear given the unequal size of the two churches. The EOC MP has 39 congregations with an estimated 100,000 congregants, mostly from the Russian speaking part of the Estonian population, while the EAOC has more congregations (60) but far fewer members (31,500).

            Leaders of the EOC MP currently seem prepared to proceed with the first half of the July 30 agreement, but they are not ready to unite with the EAOC and subordinate themselves to Constantinople and say that any unity would take years to achieve. That view is echoed by a Moscow Orthodox portal (rusk.ru/newsdata.php?idar=118657).

            More conflicts about the future of Orthodoxy in Estonia are certainly ahead, but the widespread belief that the “Estonian compromise” might be possible elsewhere is likely to dissipate now that it is obvious that even where it was first put in place, it is no longer acceptable to the government and people involved.