Lawmakers renew bid to curb Estonian Orthodox links with Moscow

Estonia’s interior ministry has insisted that the legislation would not involve the closure of churches but ‘ensure the realisation of freedom of religion by preventing hostile influences’.

Estonian legislators confirmed their resolve to detach the Orthodox Church in Estonia from its mother church, the Moscow Patriarchate.

After Estonia’s President Alar Karis refused to promulgate the original version of a bill passed in April – which demanded that the Estonian Christian Orthodox Church (EKOK) permanently break its ties with Moscow – the Riigikogu, Estonia’s parliament, adopted an updated version last week retaining this requirement.  

The Riigikogu amended the bill by removing vague language about foreign influence and extended the transitional period for organisations to act on its requirements from two to six months.  The EKOK fears of the possible closure of its operations if the law comes to effect.  

In a statement, the EKOK said the amended legislation was still in breach of the constitution and amounted to state interference in the “internal life of religious organisations, forcing them to make decisions that may contradict conscience and canon law”.

Estonia’s interior ministry has insisted that the legislation would not involve a government-imposed closure of churches but would “ensure the realisation of freedom of religion by preventing hostile influences”.

“There were no church buildings or convent closures between 1993 and 2002, when the Tallinn Diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church … operated in Estonia without legal personality,” the ministry said on its official website.

The law would also apply to the Pühtitsa Convent, which is directly under the Russian Orthodox Church and is located in the northeast of the country, which officials see as a launchpad for projecting Vladimir Putin’s imperial ambitions.

“The convent should be seen not simply as a religious institution, but also as a symbol of the Russki Mir ideology on Estonian soil – an ideology promoted by the Russian state and the Moscow Patriarchate that blends religion, nationalism, and imperial nostalgia,” an interior ministry representative told The Daily Telegraph.

Estonian officials are wary of any links with Moscow, particularly since the Russian Orthodox Church has been a significant supporter of Putin’s war in Ukraine.

Shortly before the Riigikogu’s adoption of the new amendments, a legal representative for the EKOK and the Pühtitsa Convent told The Tablet the changes were “cosmetic” because the demand to break ties with Moscow remained in the text.

“The original justification for rushing the law was an urgent national security threat, which supposedly required a two-month compliance window. Now they’re proposing six months. Does the world suddenly have [fewer] wars?”

The law, the representative said, “was never about real national security, but about fulfilling a political demand”.

Ban on Moscow ties threatens ‘rights of believers’, says Estonian Church

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