Welcoming statement by Urmas Viilma,
President of the Estonian Council of Churches,
Archbishop of the Estonian Evangelical Lutheran Church,
at the ecumenical service on the occasion of the visit of the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, Tallinn Cathedral, 19 September 2023
Your All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew,
It is my pleasure to greet you, on behalf of all member churches of the Estonian Council of Churches here, in this historic cathedral that has once again opened its doors to welcome You. The last time it occurred was ten years ago. Many of us have had the opportunity to experience your warm hospitality in Phanar and we on our part try to respond with similar love and attentiveness.
I would like to congratulate Your All-Holiness as the supreme shepherd of the mother church on the 100th anniversary of the autonomy of the Orthodox Church of Estonia. Together with Metropolitan Stephanos of Tallinn and All Estonia I rejoice in this beautiful and meaningful jubilee, and I very much hope that all other leaders of the member churches of the Estonian Council of Churches join me in my congratulations.
This day will certainly become a part of history, as will Your entire visit. One reason among others is that Your visit to Estonia and Tallinn, this year’s European Green Capital, takes place in the middle of the Season of Creation celebrated by the World Council of Churches. In 1989, Your predecessor, Ecumenical Patriarch Demetrios I, proclaimed 1 September, the first day of the Orthodox church year, as a day of prayer for creation. You in turn have, through Your sermons, presentations, speeches and interviews, become a true ‘Green Patriarch’[1], a title given in friendship and recognition. Your invitations to pray for creation, to attend to co-creatures that God has placed under human care as our neighbours, have inspired people and churches throughout the world.
Having been energised by Your example, the Estonian Council of Churches celebrated 2020 as a year of environmentalism under the heading “We Love Creation”. We have tried to increase our focus on the care for creation and our concern for global warming among Estonian churches and Christians, including by keeping them in our intercessions.
In the statement of 2020, as leaders of Estonian churches we jointly affirmed the need for repentance and our responsibility for creation, while looking to the future and putting our hope in Christ. In the statement, we declare:
Indeed, as God’s stewards we have been heedless of creation and have been unable to see or hear the Creator himself speaking through His creation. Even in the Book of Job of the Old Testament it has been said: But ask the animals, and they will teach you, or the birds in the sky, and they will tell you; or speak to the earth and it will teach you, or let the fish in the sea inform you. Which of all these does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this? In this hand is the life of every creature and the breath of all mankind. Job 12:7-10
God is love that surpasses human senses. Alas, the totality of God’s love is such that it does not hinder anyone from acting according to their own will. Even if that will has been corrupted by sin. We would like God to intervene when creation, both flora and fauna, is killed as a result of human sinfulness; or when the fruits of evil appear as tens of thousands of war victims in Ukraine and everywhere else where human beings try to conquer others. Christ’s way of intervention was to sacrifice himself. It is the nature of love to sacrifice oneself and never others. In order to end violence and war, to stop the destruction of creation we, too, need to sacrifice our former patterns of thinking and living, to restrict ourselves and to repent. The Creator gave human beings the task of working the creation and taking care of it (Gen 2:15). Consequently, loving creation as our neighbour also means a duty to intervene and prevent evil that is done to the neighbour, to the entire creation.
Your All-Holiness, You have condemned the war of conquest in Ukraine, as did the leaders of the member churches of the Estonian Council of Churches in a joint declaration in the spring of 2021. We all affirm that this war is a sin, without any concessions. A sin cannot be justified nor blessed. The bloody scars of this atrocious sin of war are hurting thousands of families who have lost their loved ones, as well as millions of Ukrainian war refugees who have been scattered all over Europe and many of whom have found physical shelter and a spiritual home in our churches in Estonia.
Unfortunately, we have not spoken enough about Russia’s sin of war against Ukrainian living and natural environment. The suffering of creation that increases with each day of the war has reached unprecedented proportions. Thousands of square kilometres of destroyed and spoiled fields and forests, polluted rivers, cities destroyed through shelling and villages that have become uninhabitable, not to mention the risk of radiation from nuclear power stations. Many generations will need to work hard to erase this sin and compensate the damage. But do we have that much time left?
I thank You, Your All-Holiness, for dedicating Your attention to all of that. I also thank You for coming to strengthen and reassure the members of Your Orthodox church, as well as all other Christians in Estonia, in these difficult and pivotal times that we are all witnessing. I am confident in saying that in addition to the title of ‘Green Patriarch’, you also deserve the title of ‘Patriarch of Peace and Reconciliation’.
May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with You in your service as Christ’s humble and faithful servant and as the supreme shepherd who takes care of his flock with love.
[1] Quotes by His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew about environmental justice and peace
[2] Statement “We Love Creation/Nature” by the Estonian Council of Churches, 16 June 2020