Baltic States – CIS, Culture, Estonia, Legislation, Russia

Andrus Ansip and Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia. Tallinn, 14.06.2013. Photo: valitsus.ee

Prime Minister Andrus Ansip said at the meeting that he considered Kirill’s arrival in Estonia and his laying of a wreath – on what for Estonians is day of mourning and remembering 1941 deportations – to be a sign of reconciliation.

“The fact that Patriarch Kirill lays a wreath at the foot of the statue of Linda and the monument to those killed in World War II attests to his goal being reaching reconciliation. He understands the sufferings of the Estonian people,” said Ansip.

The prime minister said the number of Orthodox people in Estonia was noteworthy and he expressed his conviction that Kirill’s visit was very important for Estonia’s Orthodox community as well as to the state itself.

Ansip said Estonia considered it important that there exist “good, pragmatic relations” between neighbours. Ansip also said positive changes could be seen in Estonian-Russian relations and thanked Patriarch Kirill for contributing to these relations. In the conversation, the leaders referred to the close personal contacts between Russians and Estonians, the growing interest of Russian tourists in Estonia and progress in economic and political relations.

The prime minister and patriarch also talked of the role of the church in history and the meaning of Pühtitsa convent and Petseri monastery to the preservation of Orthodox congregations during the Soviet era. As both cloisters were once in Estonian territory, it proved possible to spare them persecution and destruction.

At the meeting they also discussed preservation of church property and the necessity of restoration. Ansip explained that as of 2013, over 9 million euros had been allocated to restoration of church property in Estonia. The restoration assistance was distributed among churches of various faiths. Six of them are under the authority of the Estonian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate.

As of 2013, 35 congregations in Estonia belong to the Estonian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate, with approximately 170,000 members.

The Patriarch of Moscow and all Russian Orthodox Church Kirill visited Estonia on May 14-16 and had meetings with Estonian prime minister Andrus Ansip, foreign minister Urmas Paet, Riigikogu speaker Ene Ergma and mayor of Tallinn Edgar Savisaar. He had meetings in the Kuremäe nunnery and several churches in Narva, consecrated the new Lasnamäe Orthodox Church in Tallinn and had a meeting with Estonia Evangelic Lutheran Church archbishop Andres Põder.