Tensions in the Baltic states

By Peter Anderson

Cathedral of the Moscow Patriarchate in Tallinn, Estonia

Orthodoxy in the Baltic states of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia cannot be considered without reference to their large neighbor, Russia. The area occupied by the three modern states gradually became part of the Russian Empire during the 1700s. Russian control continued until the three nations obtained their independence at the end of World War I. Shortly after World War II, the three nations became republics in the Soviet Union. With the fall of the Soviet Union, the three nations again resumed their independence. Accordingly, more than two of the last three centuries have found the Baltic states under Russian control.

When the Baltic states became part of the Soviet Union, the number of ethnic Russians in the three Soviet republics increased substantially. Currently, the percentage of ethnic Russians in Estonia is 24%, in Latvia 24%, and in Lithuania 5%. A majority of the ethnic Russians in the three Baltic states are Orthodox, affiliated with the Moscow Patriarchate. The percentage of Orthodox in Estonia is 16%, in Latvia 13%, and Lithuania 4%.

Aside from the Moscow Patriarchate, the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople also has a presence in Estonia. The tensions in Estonia between the two Patriarchates reached the point that the Moscow Patriarchate in 1996 severed communion with the Ecumenical Patriarchate worldwide. A settlement was reached three months later.

Under the settlement, individual parishes chose the Patriarchate under which they would serve. At the present time, the Orthodox church under the Moscow Patriarchate, consisting primarily of ethnic Russians, is larger than the church under the Ecumenical Patriarchate.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022 has caused the governments of the three Baltic states to doubt the loyalty of their respective Orthodox churches which are under the Moscow Patriarchate. In May 2022, the Lithuanian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate), faced with these doubts, petitioned the Church in Moscow to grant it greater independence. The Holy Synod in Moscow replied that such greater independence can only be granted by a Local Council – the last Local Council was held in 2009, and none is expected in the foreseeable future.

In the spring of 2022, five priests of the Lithuanian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate) announced their intention to transfer to the Ecumenical Patriarchate because of Russian sympathies within their Church. They were promptly defrocked by the Moscow church. They appealed to the Ecumenical Patriarchate, which in February 2023 reinstated them and assumed them under its jurisdiction. Accordingly, there are now two Orthodox churches in Lithuania – one under the Moscow Patriarchate and a much smaller one under the Ecumenical Patriarchate.

In Latvia, the Latvian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate) petitioned Moscow to grant it “autonomous” status. As with the church in Lithuania, the Latvian Church was informed by the Holy Synod in Moscow that only a Local Council could grant it such status. In September 2022, the Latvian parliament took the extraordinary step of legislating that the Latvian Church is now completely independent of Moscow. The Latvian Church has not actively contested this legislation, but under Orthodox canonical law, the legislation has no force or effect.

Lastly, in Estonia, the Estonian government has refused to renew the resident permit of Metropolitan Evgeny, who heads the Estonian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate) and who is a Russian citizen. The Metropolitan was required to leave Estonia in February 2024.

What will happen in the future to the Orthodox churches in these three Baltic states remains very unclear. However, because of the number of ethnic Russians in these states, it is very likely that the Moscow Patriarchate will continue to have some presence there in the future.