IN A move towards autonomy from Moscow, the Estonian Orthodox Church Moscow Patriarchate (EOC-MP) is to change its statute to remove any references to the Russian Orthodox Church.

On the same day as the decision, Tuesday of last week, the Ukrainian Parliament voted on a law that could lead to the prohibition of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP) in Ukraine.

To prevent a Ukrainian scenario, the EOC-MP leadership has been in discussions with Estonian state authorities for several months about terminating its relationship with the Russian Orthodox Church. The leadership says that its updated statute better reflects the Church’s independence “in the management of administrative, economic, educational and civil affairs”.

The plan is to eliminate all mention of the Russian Orthodox Church in the official documents. A next step involves negotiations about potential unification with the smaller Estonian Apostolic Orthodox Church, which functions under the Ecumenical Patriarchate.

Whether these adjustments will be enough for the authorities in Tallinn, who are adamant about a complete break in relations, is still unknown. A critic has said that it is impossible to change the canonical relationship with Moscow.

Apart from the changes made in reference to the Russian Orthodox Church, the Church also changed its name, dropping the Moscow Patriarchate reference. It will now be known as the Estonian Orthodox Church (in Estonian: Eesti Õigeusu Kirik).

This decision has raised concerns in the Estonian Apostolic Orthodox Church. A representative told ERR News that the EOC-MP cannot use the name “Estonian Orthodox Church” as it belongs to the Estonian Apostolic Orthodox Church. According to Metropolitan Stephanos, that name is being used in other languages, including English, French, and Greek.

The Metropolitan also revealed that the EOC-MP has received an invitation to join the Estonian Apostolic Orthodox Church as a Russian vicariate within it. So far, the EOC-MP has not responded, he said.