Estonian Orthodox Church refused to register a new name

The Estonian government refused to register the new name of the Estonian Orthodox Church, which was adopted at the recent Council of the EOC, held on August 20, 2024. At that time, the EOC removed from its name the mention of belonging to the Moscow Patriarchate, following the agreements reached with the Estonian government. Nevertheless, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic considers such steps of the Estonian Church to separate from the Russian Orthodox Church insufficient, and refused to register the new name. ERR.EE reports that.

“The influence of the Moscow Patriarchate on the EOC-MP is not reduced as a result of the name change or the removal of mention of the Moscow Patriarchate, the ROC and the patriarch from the statutes…. The influence of the MF remains the same, both in an administrative and canonical sense. The Ministry of the Interior expects you to revise the statutes again, taking into account the observations made in this letter, and to adopt them in a form that completely excludes affiliation with the Moscow Patriarchate and the Russian Orthodox Church,” — said Tarmo Miilic, Chancellor of the Ministry of the Interior, in a reply to the leadership of the Estonian Orthodox Church.

In addition, the Interior Ministry believes that the new name of the EOC cannot be registered according to the laws of the country, as it does not reflect the reality of the situation and is very similar to the already registered Estonian Apostolic Orthodox Church of the Patriarchate of Constantinople.

“The new name is not sufficiently different from the names of other churches already entered in the register, in this case the Estonian Apostolic Orthodox Church (EOC), and is also misleading regarding the scope of activities, giving the impression that it is a church covering all Orthodox believers in Estonia, which is not true,” — Chancellor Miilic added.

Earlier, the Estonian Ministry of the Interior asked the Estonian Orthodox Church to assess the statements of Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia, which the hierarch made during his sermon on the Feast of the Dormition of the Blessed Virgin Mary. At that time, the Patriarch called the capitals of the former Soviet Union republics “important spiritual centers of the united Holy Russia”.