“The secular state has no authority to say what is canonically correct” - hierarch of the Estonian Orthodox Church

The hierarch of the Estonian Orthodox Church, Bishop Daniel of Tartu, Vicar of the Tallinn Diocese, commented on the new demands put forward to the Church by the Estonian Ministry of the Interior. The bishop is convinced that the state has no rights and authority to interfere in matters of canonical and ecclesiastical nature. He told the ERR.EE publication in a comment.

“Many of these issues are related to historical understanding. So we will probably also draft such a detailed answer as we all understand it. But if we talk about ecclesiastical canonics, there are also different understandings between churches. Here there should not be such prescriptions from the secular state, which is canonically correct. The secular state does not have such powers”, – emphasized Bishop Daniel.

Recall, earlier it became known that the Estonian government refused the Estonian Orthodox Church in the registration of the new name, 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.