Orthodox Unity Threatened by Struggle for Jurisdiction over Estonian Church
Episcopal News Service. March 27, 1996 [96-1428]
(ENS) When Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia celebrated the divine liturgy on February 23, for the first time in over a millennium he omitted prayers for the Ecumenical Patriarch -- a vivid demonstration of a bitter conflict that threatens the unity of the world's estimated 250 million Orthodox.
At the center of the dispute is jurisdiction over the Orthodox Church in Estonia, a former republic of the Soviet Union. "Evidently, there are political, not ecclesiastical reasons, at the core of the conflict," said Metropolitan Kirill, chairman of the Department of External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate.
The conflict reached a climax on February 20 when the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Istanbul, regarded by Orthodox as "first among equals" among the world's 16 independent churches, established jurisdiction over the Estonian Orthodox Church. The Russian Orthodox Church argued that the action coincided with attempts by the Estonian government to cut all links with Russia.
Caught in the middle are Estonians of Russian descent, many of whom wish to keep church and cultural links with Moscow and the church, and those of Estonian descent who want to cut those links. Patriarch Alexy himself was born and raised in Estonia and served as its bishop for 25 years.
Russian missionaries and colonists brought Orthodox Christianity to Estonia in the 13th century and, since it became part of the Russian Empire in 1721, the church was administered by Russian bishops. When Estonia became independent in 1920, the church was granted autonomy by the Russian patriarch, but remained under his jurisdiction.
During the Communist era when contacts between the churches were forbidden, the church was placed under jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. When Estonia became part of the Soviet Union in 1940, the Estonians became a diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church.
The diocese resumed its autonomous state in 1992 but the Estonian government wanted the church to cut ties with Moscow. So the government registered an emigre Orthodox group that had fled to Sweden and it refused to register the Russian Diocese. Instead it urged Orthodox clergy and parishes to switch loyalty to the Ecumenical Patriarchate. Moscow considers the Estonian Apostolic Church uncanonical and has suspended all clergy who support it. When dialogue between Moscow and the Ecumenical Patriarchate failed to resolve the conflict, Alexy broke communion.
"The existing canonical church has been thus outlawed and its churches and all the church property are threatened to be alienated," said a February 29 press release from Moscow. It emphasized its claim of canonical jurisdiction over all the former states of the Soviet Union except Georgia. A message from Alexy to Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomeos I warned that his action "would destroy the ages-old norms of relationships between local Orthodox churches and deliver a mortal blow against all-Orthodox unity."
"If the Moscow Patriarchate sticks to this position, it would constitute the most serious division of the Christian church since the split between Rome and Constantinople in the 11th century," said Prof. Dimitry Pospielovsky of Canada.
Since both patriarchates are active in the World Council of Churches, the conflict could have profound effects on the future of the WCC and the ecumenical movement as a whole. It is already worrying many ecumenical partners, including the Episcopal Church.
Prof. J. Robert Wright of the General Theological Seminary in New York called it "unprecedented and ecumenically unsettling." As a long-time participant and observer of dialogue with the Orthodox, he pointed out that the Orthodox have repeatedly claimed that they were the "one true Church of Christ, which as his Body is not and cannot be divided."
"It would now seem that they can no longer honestly make that claim," Wright said. While the Episcopal Church "still has warm and friendly relations with both patriarchates," he added, "perhaps now more than ever, they both need our support -- as well as our Anglican experience of living in a broken world."
Wright, who has been personally honored by both patriarchs, said they were "proven and time-tested leaders in the ecumenical movement and I have every confidence that they will find a way to heal this division."
Bishop Mark Dyer of Virginia Theological Seminary agreed that "there is every reason to believe that the patriarchs will reach reconciliation and work out their mutual concerns." As co-chair of the international dialogue with the Orthodox, he said that he "couldn't imagine that the controversy would lead to schism." He finds that "a theological impossibility" because of what he called "the strong undercurrent of unity among the Orthodox that can't be broken."
We face a lot of work to avoid schism," Metropolitan Kirill said at a March 4 press conference. "We are convinced that today Orthodoxy needs unity as never before in the context of reforms in Eastern Europe and integration of the European Community."
The Rev. George Tsetsis, representative of the Ecumenical Patriarchate to the WCC in Geneva, rejected Moscow's claim to jurisdiction over the Estonians based on their missionary work. He argued that it was common in the Orthodox world that "ecclesiastical developments follow new political realities," pointing out that the Russian church itself became a patriarchate in 1593 at the request of the Russian Tsar.
Tsetsis bristled at the suggestion that the Ecumenical Patriarchate was involved in a power play, that "Constantinople is generals without an army," based on the small number of Orthodox Christians in Turkey. He said that a church is "not measured on the basis of the numbers of her believers, but rather on the basis of her martyrs, saints and confessors... only on the basis of the quality of her witness and diakonia." He quickly added that both sides seem eager to solve the problem. "Let us hope that peace and justice will prevail -- but justice is not necessarily on the side of the powerful," he added.
The Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church discussed the "tragic developments" March 21 and underscored the need for "bilateral negotiations." It appointed Kirill and Metropolitan Juvenaly, joined by Archbishop Kornilius of Tallinn and All Estonia, to pursue the dialogue.