Tallinn, March 17, 2025
Photo: sputnik8.com
The Estonian Supreme Court has dismissed the appeals filed by the Estonian Orthodox Church and the Holy Dormition-Pükhtitsa Monastery concerning the Parliament’s branding decision to brand the Church as an “organization supporting the military aggression of the Russian Federation.”
The Riigikogu, Estonian Parliament, declared the Moscow Patriarchate an accomplice in aggression 
Estonian Parliament declares Russian Church accomplice in state aggression, Estonian hierarch respondsThe Riigikogu adopted a statement on Monday, May 6, which formally identifies the Moscow Patriarchate as a supporter of Russian aggression against Ukraine.
“>in May, indiscriminately applying this decision to the Estonian Church, an autonomous body within the Moscow Patriarcahte, and Pükhtitsa Monastery, which is stavropegial, directly under the omophorion of Patriarch Kirill, despite the fact that the Estonian Church has repeatedly expressed its objection to the war in Ukraine.
The Church and monastery appealed to the courts Estonian Church files complaint against Parliament: “We don’t support military aggression”The Church and monastery’s complaints specifically call for them to be removed from the list of supporters of military aggression.
“>in September “to eliminate the unlawful consequences caused by the statement and exclude the Church and monastery from the list of supporters of military aggression.” Most recently they appealed to the Supreme Court against the relevant rulings from the Tallinn Administrative Court and Tallinn District Court, but the Court left their appeals without consideration, the Estonian Church reports.
The Parliament has shown a lack of understanding or indifference to the nuances of ecclesiology. According to the applicants, the Riigikogu clearly overstepped by adopting such a statement and ignored the fact that the Russian Orthodox Church is a multi-million and multinational community, whose canonical structure includes independent churches and monasteries, including the EOC and Pükhtitsa Monastery.
“We remind you that both the Church and the Monastery in their previous public statements expressed a clear position against the war in Ukraine. Both organizations refrained from interfering in secular life and politics, did not spread any hostile propaganda, and did not serve as a tool for spreading such propaganda,” the Church’s lawyers said.
They also explain that the Parliament made its decision without hearing representatives of the Church or monastery, and thus the applicants’ right to be heard was violated.
The EOC and the monastery have also filed complaints of the same content with the European Court of Human Rights.
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