ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH: Conflict in Orthodoxy

▪ 1997

      The most serious threat of schism in centuries occurred in Eastern Orthodoxy in February 1996 when Bartholomew I, ecumenical patriarch of Constantinople, decreed that the Estonian Orthodox Apostolic Church was autonomous under his authority rather than under the authority of the Russian Orthodox Church. Aleksey II, patriarch of Russia, responded by formally "suspending communion" between the Russian church and Constantinople. The conflict arose in the wake of two years of failed negotiations regarding the patriarchate to which the Estonian church was subject. The church was under the Moscow patriarchate until 1923, when Soviet interests in Estonia threatened it and a special diocese was created by Constantinople to offer spiritual protection to its members. In 1945, soon after Estonia was annexed by the Soviet Union again, all Orthodox communities in Estonia were reconstituted as a diocese under the Moscow Patriarchate. In 1947 Estonian Orthodox Christians in exile in Stockholm successfully sought the official protection of Constantinople.

      At stake in Estonia was jurisdiction over 54 clerics and 60,000 members of the Orthodox Church. Some estimated that as much as 5% of Estonian land was Orthodox Church property. Most of the prominent Orthodox leaders throughout the world publicly took sides in the conflict. The Estonian government and the Orthodox Church in Finland supported Bartholomew. Dissident and controversial leaders in Ukraine and Russia, such as the disputed head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, supported him as well.

      Aleksey's position appeared to be in the best interests of the Russian government and the Russian church. He was supported by leaders of the Orthodox churches in Antioch, Jerusalem, Serbia, Bulgaria, and Poland. Nevertheless, his aggressive defense of ethnic Russians and historic Russian interests in surrounding countries caused concern that a traditionalist, nationalist Slavic orthodoxy might become dominant.

      In May the ecumenical patriarchate announced that in order to maintain Orthodox unity, each Estonian Orthodox parish would be allowed to choose to which ecclesiastical head it would relate. The Moscow patriarchate responded by restoring full communion with the ecumenical patriarchate. This solution, however, was likely to repeat the pattern of conflict in Orthodoxy in the U.S., where individual congregations had battled over preferred patriarchates, creating many congregations with ties to various overseas bodies.

      Globally, the potential schism marked an increasing uneasiness over the role of Constantinople in guiding Eastern Orthodoxy's 250 million members worldwide. Though Bartholomew was considered "first among equals" among Orthodox patriarchs, there was growing concern over Constantinople's intervention in Estonia, Ukraine, and Japan, as well as the patriarch's training under the Pontifical Oriental Institute in Rome and his strong opposition to SCOBA, the pan-Orthodox synod of bishops in North America. Also at stake were the emerging dialogues with the Roman Catholic, Oriental Orthodox, and other Christian bodies. (TODD M. JOHNSON)

* * *