PATRIARCHAL
AND SYNODICAL ACT CONCERNING THE REACTIVATION OF THE PATRIARCHAL
AND SYNODICAL TOMOS OF 1923 REGARDING THE ORTHODOX
METROPOLITANATE OF ESTONIA
+
BARTOLOMEW BY THE MERCY OF GOD ARCHBISHOP OF CONSTANTINOPLE,
THE NEW ROME AND ECUMENICAL PATRIARCH
«It
is customary to change the boundaries of the Churches
as political entities and administrations change»,
declared Photios the Great, wise among the Patriarchs.
Because the Orthodox Christians residing in Estonia
and constituting an honorable segment of the Estonian
Nation have sought spiritual protection and the settlement
of their ecclesiastical affairs by the Most Holy Church
of Constantinople, the historical Mother Church of all
the Orthodox people in Eastern and Central Europe, She,
as a tender Mother, accepting the free and unanimous
request of her children, acknowledged and blessed the
autonomy of the Orthodox Church in Estonia under the
spiritual supervision of the Ecumenical Patriarchate
through the Patriarchal and Synodical Tomos issued by
our ever-memorable predecessor, Ecumenical Patriarch
Meletios IV, in July, 1923.
However, twenty years later, the violent destruction
of the freedom and the independence of the Estonian
State occured, at which time the ecclesiastical autonomy
of the Orthodox Christians in Estonia was also violently
destroyed. Since their lawful Metropolitan Alexander
together with many clerics and thousands of lay people
fled to Sweden in March 1944, the autonomous Church
of Estonia was made subject to the Church of Russia,
following the contracted political change of the time,
though not according to canonical order.
The Most Holy Apostolic Patriarchal and Ecumenical Throne,
being the guardian of canonical exactness, refusing
to accept the events caused by uncanonical force and
tyranny, has long continued to regard the autonomy of
the Estonian Orthodox Church as being in effect and
represented canonically by those Orthodox Estonians
who fled to live in exile outside the then Soviet Union.
In this spirit, the Mother Church of Constantinople
in 1978, prompted by ecclesiastical economy, responding
with brotherly love to the request of the Church of
Russia, due to the circumstances of the times, proclaimed
the Tomos of 1923 inoperative through a Patriarchal
and Synodical Act. This means that the Tomos could not
be enforced within Estonia which at that time comprised
part of the Soviet Union ; the Tomos, however, was not
regarded as being void, invalid or revoked.
But already, by 1991, Estonia, having become a free
and independent state, demands, in accordance to the
practice for all Orthodox nations, that the former autonomous
status of the Orthodox Church in Estonia be restored
through the reactivation of the Patriarchal and Synodical
Tomos of 1923, which calls for returning to the fatherland,
where she had been abolished, the exiled Autonomous
Estonian Apostolic Orthodox Church, as it was officially
called from 1935 onwards.
Accordingly, the Most Holy Mother Church of Constantinople
--empowered by the strength of the Divine and Sacred
Canons, numbers 9 and 17 of the holy 4th Ecumenical
Synod in Chalcedon which state : «If any bishop
or clergyman has a dispute with the Metropolitan of
the same province, let him apply either to the Exarch
of the diocese, or to the throne of the imperial capital
Constantinople, and let it be tried before him»
(Canon 9) and «If anyone has been unjustly treated
by his own Metropolitan, let him complain to the Exarch
of the diocese, or let him have his case tried before
the throne of Constantinople, according as he may choose»
(Canon 17) ; in addition, the 34th Canon of the Holy
Apostles which exhorts the Churches of different nations,
and especially those in free and independent States,
should be formed into autonomous or autocephalous Churches
under their particular Archbishop and bishops -- has
accepted the rightful request of the Orthodox Christians
in Estonia and of the honorable government of Estonia,
which sought the full restoration in Estonia of the
Estonian Apostolic Orthodox Church as it was before
1940, as an autonomous Church under the jurisdiction
of the Ecumenical Patriarchate.
Therefore, our Modesty, together with the Most Reverend
and Right Honorable Metropolitans, our dearly beloved
brothers in the Holy Spirit and concelebrants in Christ
-- having deliberated synodically, trustworthily taking
care of the governance and the administration of all
ecclesiastical matters and having foresight of what
is proper, as has been the canonical custom from time
immemorial that the Most Holy Ecumenical Throne has
the right to adapt and to provide for the constitution
and foundation of the Churches, appropriately addressing
the needs of the times and the good estate of the entire
assembly always striving for the harmonious and advantageous
portrayal and governance of the local and the universal
-- declare anew that the Patriarchal and Synodical Tomos
of 1923 regarding the Orthodox Metropolitanate of Estonia
is reactivated in all its articles. We also recognize
as the lawful successors of the Estonian Apostolic Orthodox
Church those who accepted the Tomos and unceasingly
preserved her canonical continuation.
At the same time, we state that, having in mind the
concerns of His Beatitude our brother Patriarch Alexy
of Moscow and all Russia regarding the immigrant Orthodox
faithful in Estonia of Russian descent who were established
there during the period when Estonia constituted a part
of what was then the Soviet Union, we declare our firm
desire that their unhindered ecclesiastical life be
ensured, consisting of an integral unit of the Estonian
Autonomous Church, organized under their own Russian-speaking
bishop, in the hope that their canonical and legal situation
may be settled in a spirit of love and peace, and in
the understanding of the brotherly unity of all Orthodox
peoples.
Wherefore, we issue our present Patriarchal and Synodical
Act as declaration and assurance and as permanent representation
of the matters considered and decided upon ecclesiastically
regarding the reactivation of the Patriarchal and Synodical
Tomos 1923, drawn up and signed in this Sacred Codex
of our Most Holy Great Church of Christ, and a same
and exact copy released and sent to the designated Locum
Tenens of the Orthodox Autonomous Apostolic Church of
Estonia, the Most Reverend Archbishop John of Karelia
and all Finland, our beloved brother in the Lord, to
be placed in the archives of the Autonomous Church of
Estonia.
In the year of our Salvation, 1996, February 20 Epinemesis
IV
+ Bartholomew of Constantinople and attests to this
:
loachim of Chalcedon co-attests
leronymos of Rodopolis co-attests
Symeon of Pringhiponneson co-attests
Evangelos of Perga co-attests
Kallinikos of Lystra co-attests
Konstantinos of Derkon co-attests
Athanassios of Heliopolis and Theira co-attest
Germanos of Tranoupolis co-attest
Meliton of Philadelphia co-attest
