Estonian schism scenario applied in Ukraine, – Primate of the EOC MP

The oldest Bishop of the Russian Orthodox Church, 93-year-old Metropolitan of Tallinn and All Estonia Kornily (Jacobs) in his exclusive interview with RIA Novosti compares the current pessure on the UOC from the authorities with the implementation of the schism scenario in Estonia at the beginning of the 1990-s.

"I am worried about the riots that are taking place in Ukraine," said the head of the EOC. “Russians and Ukrainians are people of the same Slavic blood. What is happening on the Ukrainian land today is similar to the scenario by which the Estonian Orthodox Church split. In 1993, when Tomos of Patriarch Alexy II was announced at the Pyhtitsa Cathedral about the restoration of the autonomy of the EOC and it was stated that the EOC was the successor of the Orthodox heritage in Estonia, the Estonian authorities decided to support a small group of activists, rather than a conciliar opinion of believers, and registered the Estonian Apostolic Orthodox Church (EAOC).

So the church schism was provoked. The EAOC was declared by the authorities as a successor of the Orthodox Church, which operated in the country until 1940, and became the jurisdiction of Constantinople.

"The Church of Christ is incompatible with politics," said Metropolitan Kornily. “The question of jurisdiction is a matter of the attitude towards the Mother Church. For me, it is very simple: how can you stay in some other jurisdiction if the roots of Orthodoxy are in the Russian Orthodox Church?"