The Estonian Orthodox Christian Church (EOCC) has appealed to the US government, asking it to intervene against a plan by the Estonian government to ban it.
The Estonian President is currently reviewing laws that brands EOCC and the Puhtitsa Convent as existential threats to the country on the grounds that they’re puppets of the Russian government, something the church denies.
EOCC has sent a report back to the US Commission on Religious Freedom (USCRIF). According to the report, the Estonian government has plans to “dismantle and eradicate the Church … and forcibly disperse over 180,000 orthodox Christians in its flock”.
Such motion would bring an end to a centuries-old church and leave many Christians and not using a spiritual home, they said.
Estonia’s government has already said it’s considering deporting clergy members of the EOCC. EOCC is seemingly being targeted since it operates under the jurisdiction of the Russian Orthodox Church, which has been supportive of Russia’s escalation of its conflict with Ukraine.
The EOCC has defended itself, noting its “self-governing status in Estonia, its adherence to Estonian laws and denunciations of Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine, and the Convent’s separation from the secular world, which maintains its apolitical nature”.
The Church even went thus far as to alter its name and statute, in a move designed to emphasize its differences with the Russian Church on the difficulty of the war.
The EOCC has asked the US government to designate Estonia a “Country of Particular Concern” and have it placed on a Special Watch List. Such actions could disqualify Estonia from receiving international loans, arms sales and other types of international assistance.
According to the Church, it has enough evidence in its submission to USCRIF to “exhibit that based on USCIRF’s established standards and precedents, Estonia’s egregious violations of spiritual freedom warrant its designation as a Country of Particular Concern”.
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