"Unification with the Estonian Church of the Patriarchate of Constantinople is unacceptable," - hierarch of the EOC MP

The hierarch of the Estonian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate, Bishop Daniel of Tartu, vicar of the Tallinn diocese, has stated that the scenario of unification with the Estonian Apostolic Orthodox Church of Constantinople is unacceptable for the EOC-MP. The hierarch claims that such a scenario does not find a positive response from the clergy and believers of the EOC-MP. The hierarch told about it in a commentary to the portal of the national state TV and radio ERR.

«This option [of uniting with the Estonian Apostolic Orthodox Church] was offered to us somewhat unexpectedly back in May. But we said that we did not see the constructiveness of such a proposal. Neither the leadership nor the parishioners agree with such a transition,» — Bishop Daniel said in an interview.

At the same time, the bishop confirmed the Church’s readiness to remove references to belonging to the Russian Orthodox Church from the Charter.

«Regarding the Charter, we often hear accusations or simply stating the fact: they say that we are directly subordinate to either the patriarch or even the president of a neighboring state. But we have already said that we have no such direct subordination, we have canonical ecclesiastical ties. And since this issue is very acute, the church agrees to change the charter, to remove references to the current charter of the Russian Orthodox Church and return to the 1993 references, which are fundamental to our church structure,» — explained the vicar of the Tallinn diocese Daniel.

Recall, the Estonian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate published a press release on the results of a meeting with representatives of the Estonian Ministry of Internal Affairs, where the steps of the Church to separate from the Russian Orthodox Church were discussed. The EOC MP stated that the separation from the Moscow Patriarchate would take place in two stages.