Orthodox church finally registered

Keston News Service

Estonia's Interior Ministry has finally registered the Moscow Patriarchate's branch of the Russian Orthodox Church, ending a legal wrangle that has blighted relations between the Tallinn and Moscow governments since 1993.

In that year the Estonian government registered a rival Orthodox Church under the jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople.

A delegation headed by Metropolitan Kornily of Tallinn and All Estonia visited the Interior Ministry to collect the registration certificates from Interior Minister Ain Seppik, said Ilmo Au, head of the ministry's department for religious affairs.

"It is good that we have now been able to register our church with a statute that is in accord with our conscience," Father Toomas Hirvoja, secretary to the church synod, told Keston News Service from Tallinn on 18 April.

"I think they are happy with the situation now," Au declared of the Moscow Orthodox.

Until this week's decision to grant registration to the Moscow church, these were the only two entities of the Moscow church which had legal status, one being the landmark Alexander Nevsky Cathedral in Tallinn, which was registered in 1999.

The other was the Puhtitsa convent in eastern Estonia, which was registered as a patriarchal convent in 1997.

All the church's other parishes and institutions were functioning in legal limbo.

Hirvoja attributed the registration to the change of government in January, which saw a coalition of the Center and the Reform parties come to power.

The previous government had given strong backing to the Estonian Apostolic Orthodox Church headed by Metropolitan Stefanos under the jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople.

Speaking to journalists in Moscow on 18 April, the Estonian-born Russian Orthodox Patriarch Aleksi welcomed the registration, describing it as the "first step" on the path to resolving the church's problems in Estonia, particularly that of property.

Both Hirvoja and Au reported that the newly-registered church now has three registered parishes, two in Tallinn and one in the town of Maardu close to the capital, out of a total in Estonia of just over thirty Moscow Patriarchate parishes.

"These were the ones whose applications we have already been able to file," Hirvoja declared.

"The rest will follow as soon as we can manage it."

In addition to the Metropolitan, the Moscow church has 35 priests, the majority of them Estonian citizens, as well as more than 10 deacons.

The main issue holding up registration for the past decade has been the question of who owns Orthodox property held by the Moscow Patriarchate until 1923.

From 1923 until the Soviet occupation of Estonia in 1940 the property was held by the church under the Ecumenical Patriar-chate, but the Soviet government then gave it to the Moscow Patriarchate.

These property issues are not mentioned in the newly-registered statute, and registration of the statute does not entail state recognition of any continuity with the prewar Estonian Orthodox Church, said Au.

Au confirmed that now that the church has registration, it will be able to carry out functions previously denied to it and will also be eligible to receive government funding for maintaining buildings and carrying out social projects.

But the property issue remains unresolved, says Hirvoja. "It is bad that the property of our parishes claimed by the Constantinople church has still not been resolved."

The Constantinople church has agreed to hand the churches it does not need, which are currently being used by the Moscow church, to the Estonian government. The government is then expected to assign them to the Moscow church's use on a permanent basis although no agreements have yet been signed.

"The Moscow church will be able to continue to use them, while the state actually owns them," said Au.

Au put the number of such churches at about 25, though Hirvoja said there were 15 to 17.

Au added that the Moscow church will now be able to take full legal ownership of four or five churches it has rebuilt or built since World War II.

Hirvoja said the newly-granted registration would simplify permission to build new churches as individual parishes would now have legal status.

The Constantinople church has 59 registered parishes and owns all 59 parish churches it currently uses.

While Hirvoja said his church faced no other serious obstructions to its work, he noted that paperwork to invite priests from Russia could still be difficult. "There can be problems getting residence permits. But this doesn't depend on registration - it is the same for anyone."

Hirvoja welcomed the new law on religion which was finally adopted at the end of February after being vetoed last September by then President Lennart Meri and in January by new President Arnold Ruutel.

Hirvoja particularly welcomed the transfer of registration from the Interior Ministry to a court, which takes effect when the law enters into force on 1 July.

"It is important that registration of religious organizations be handled by a judicial rather than an executive authority," he declared. "This will make the process more neutral."