Estonian Orthodox Church removes reference to Moscow Patriarchate from its charter
Kyiv • UNN
The Council of the Estonian Orthodox Church adopted a new version of the charter, removing the reference to the Moscow Patriarchate. The church changed its name to the “Estonian Orthodox Church” and established its independence in church affairs.
At the second session of the Council of the Estonian Orthodox Church (EOC MP), a new version of the charter was adopted, which removed the reference to the Moscow Patriarchate. This is reported by ERR, according to UNN.
The main task of the session was to approve ways to achieve greater administrative independence of the EPC, taking into account the agreements reached in the negotiations with the Estonian state,
Details
The council adopted a new version of the church's charter, which establishes independence in church-administrative, church-economic, church-educational, and church-civil affairs.
Also, with reference to the 1993 Tomos issued by Patriarch Alexy II, the name of the church was changed. Now it is the Estonian Orthodox Church (EOC),
It is noted that the Council approved the activities of the Synod in the negotiation process with the state and expressed confidence that the Orthodox in Estonia will be able to find "ways and means to heal the schism on the basis of canonicity, mutual respect and equality.
The Council decided to continue its activities to fully participate in solving the crisis problems, instructing the Synod of the GOC to determine the next session at a set time.
The Metropolitan of Tallinn and All Estonia participated in the Council's meeting remotely.
Addendum
The publication notes that at the end of July, representatives of the MP MP and the Estonian Ministry of Internal Affairs agreed on further steps to reduce and eliminate the influence of the Moscow Patriarchate on the church. The GOC MP presented its vision of the process of separation from Moscow in two stages. The first stage was to change the charter, and the second stage was to start consultations with the Estonian Apostolic Orthodox Church (EAO) to find opportunities to unite all Orthodox in Estonia under a single church in the future.
Recall
The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine passed bill No. 8371 banning the activities of religious organizations affiliated with the Russian Federation. The law will enter into force in 30 days, but UOC-MP communities will have 9 months to break ties with the Russian Orthodox Church.