Estonian Ministry of the Interior Religious Affairs Advisor: The Moscow Patriarchate Represents a National Security Threat

The Estonian Ministry of the Interior’s advisor on religious affairs, Ringo Ringvee, stated that the Estonian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate (EOC MP) represents a threat to national security. He explained the Ministry’s interest in this jurisdiction as «a reaction to the messages of the Russian Orthodox Church» and the behavior of its leadership. He discussed this in an interview with the Estonian publication Postimees.

According to Ringvee, negotiations between the Ministry of the Interior and EOC MP were contentious: «We often reached decisions, but after meetings, it became clear that what we had agreed upon was not actually the case.» He also spoke about the Church’s influence on believers when a parishioner, after criticizing the leadership of the ROC and Russia, was advised by a priest «not to criticize the authorities.»

The advisor noted that the head of EOC MP, Metropolitan Eugeniy (Reshetnikov), «avoided answering the question of who started the war,» which became «the church’s general line and a source of problems.» He also emphasized: «Ukraine is in a state of war. If we speak about the Moscow Patriarchate as a whole, the picture in all the countries where it is present is very similar, which increases the level of threat. If the EOC MP had more resolutely spoken out against it after the start of the war, we would not be in this point of relations now.» Ringvee believes that «claims like ‘they are forcing us to change our faith’ are manipulation. No one forces anyone to believe or not to believe.»

Regarding the future of EOC MP, he suggested that if its activities were forcibly suspended, rental agreements for church property would be revised, and the property could be transferred to the state or a non-commercial organization. The issue of residency permits for clergy and nuns who hold only Russian citizenship is being considered separately.

Earlier, it was reported that representatives of the Estonian intelligentsia published an open letter defending the Estonian Christian Orthodox Church. The letter was signed by university lecturers, doctors, artists, and even representatives of other Christian denominations. The authors of the letter point out the inadmissibility of discrimination and selective treatment of the country’s citizens, especially on religious grounds.