According to Läänemets, the state is taking measures against the terrorist regime in Moscow, and not against Orthodox believers in Estonia.
“The state is obliged to protect the population of Estonia from the influence of the terrorist regime. There is a canonical connection between the Moscow Patriarchate and the Estonian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate – they are parts of one whole and are strictly subordinate. The goal of the state is to sever all relations – canonical and legal – of the local religious communities with Moscow. We talked about this today with the abbess of the monastery,” said Läänemets.
According to the Minister of Internal Affairs, the reception at the monastery was warm and open: the minister explained why the Estonian state considers the position of the Moscow Patriarchate unacceptable, and the abbess spoke about the position of the monastery and its relations with the Moscow Patriarchate.
“The abbess assured me that the statements of Patriarch Kirill do not oblige them to anything, but I believe that both sides understand the complexity of the situation. From the point of view of secular law, the separation of the monastery from the Moscow Patriarchate should not be difficult, but from the point of view of canon law the situation is much more complicated,” Läänemets noted.
According to the minister, the state, in cooperation with the church, will look for both legally and canonically competent solutions that would forever exclude the possibility of associating the nuns of the Pukhtitsa monastery with statements disseminated by the Moscow Patriarchate that justify war and violence. “Until new solutions are found, the monastery will continue its normal activities,” the Minister of Internal Affairs emphasized.
The monastery is directly subordinate to Patriarch Kirill of Moscow; in Estonia it is managed by Abbess Philareta.
On March 27, Patriarch Kirill of the Russian Orthodox Church called for “a holy war, which will also be directed against the Western world, which is under the influence of Satanism.” This means aggressive opposition to European values. Just as, according to the Patriarch of Moscow, Ukraine should be part of the Russian world, so, according to his statement, the entire so-called post-Soviet space, including Estonia, is included in Russia’s sphere of influence.
Thus, the essence of the imperialist appeal comes down to the fact that Estonia is not an independent state and nation, but is part of Russian Orthodoxy and, therefore, also within the Russian sphere of influence. By doing so, the Moscow Patriarchate also sends a message to the Orthodox of the Moscow Patriarchate living in Estonia that Estonia is part of a hostile Western world against which a “holy war” has been declared.
In response to Patriarch Kirill’s statement, the Riigikogu considered a proposal to declare the Moscow Patriarchate an institution supporting Russia’s military-terrorist aggression. The corresponding statement was included in the agenda of the plenary meeting of the Riigikogu, and the final vote will take place on May 2.
If this statement is adopted by the Estonian Parliament, then religious communities directly subordinate to the Moscow Patriarchate in Estonia will face a serious choice.
It will also affect dozens of parishes and churches operating here that are part of the Estonian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate, which is directly subordinate to the Moscow Patriarchate.
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2024-04-23 19:57:14