Honoured Archbishop Cottrell, bishops, participants and guests of the Synod, dear sisters and brothers!
It is my custom to greet visitors from other European churches with the words “Welcome to the future!” The situation you can see in Estonia is, in my opinion, a prediction, a prophecy of the future for churches in a post-Christian Europe.
According to the Constitution, Estonia has no state church and no state religion. No church has an overwhelming majority among the population. According to the census of 2021, less than a third (29%) of the population in Estonia identify as religious. Supporters of Christian churches constitute only 26% of the society. The majority of the population, 71%, has no religious affiliation. However, in a sense, the largest church among Estonians, the Estonian Evangelical Lutheran Church, has retained its status as a people’s church. We are the only church with a countrywide network of congregations and a legacy of 500 years of continual operation following the Reformation. The Estonian government has also entrusted the Lutheran church with church celebrations on public and national holidays.
Following the trends in other European churches, I would venture to argue that, soon, the situation with church membership and religiosity in Europe will reach the same point that we are experiencing in Estonia for some time now. Our present today will be the future for others tomorrow. We are almost like a revelation of the future of Europe! However, people’s weaker connections with the institutional church do not necessarily mean that they lack a strong emotional and spiritual bond with the church of their roots. Furthermore, there is no decrease in people’s longing for the eternal, stemming from their natural religiosity. It seems that the opposite is true – decreasing membership of churches does not automatically mean an increase in the number of atheists or strengthening of some other belief systems or traditions. People desire to be free and live in a free relationship with God without the involvement of the church.
Increasing ecumenical relations
Over the past 35 years, ten Christian denominations in Estonia – Lutherans, Catholics, two Orthodox churches (one under the authority of the Patriarch of Moscow and the other under the Patriarch of Constantinople), Methodists, Baptists, Adventists, Pentecostals, the Armenian Church, and the Charismatic Episcopal Church – have combined their efforts in the service of society through the Estonian Council of Churches. The resignation of even one church from this ecumenical coalition would create the risk of dissipation of the unified voice of Christians in society.
In a secular society, Christian churches have an opportunity to serve as role models, above all, through strong relations in and amongst themselves. A beautiful example of this mutual love, signed in 2014, is a cooperation agreement between the Institute of Theology of the Estonian Evangelical Lutheran Church and the St. Platon Seminary of the Orthodox Church of Estonia. For more than a decade, this cooperation has facilitated the pooling of resources to offer better training for the clergy of both churches.
Still a people’s church?!
The Estonian Evangelical Lutheran Church still perceives itself as a church for all the people. However, for a long time now, our status as a people’s church is not based on the number of church members or baptisms, but the number of people who need the message and touch of the gospel, with the Lutheran church being in the best position to serve them. Obviously, we face challenges in our service of the people.
There are some in the church who believe that maintaining a status quo should be the primary mission of the church in a secular society. They suggest this at every turn, particularly in relation to the complex moral and ethical issues that tend to polarise people within the church as well. They believe that we should critically oppose, or assume defensive positions in relation to everything that comes “from the world”. However, cementing such beliefs is the opposite of what Jesus said to his disciples as he sent them out (see Luke 10). If we want to effect change, we need to go into the world; we have to get our feet muddy, our hands dirty and be prepared for the resulting discomfort. For many, this would be a lot more inconvenient than spending their days or nights on social media.
I recall the Meeting of Primates and Presiding Bishops of the Porvoo Communion in Tampere, Finland, where Stephen Cottrell, Archbishop of York, shared with other bishops how, in his pastoral visits, he talks to his clergy members about the length of their sleep. It is important for clergy to pay more attention to having a good rest. According to Archbishop Stephen, he advised some clergy members to sleep longer than others. The reason was that the longer a person sleeps the less time they have for doing something stupid or outright harmful. I have used this good advice on some of my own clergy members as well. Hopefully, this has resulted in a few of the night hours being put to a better use.
Strategy of theological dialogue
Working amidst challenges where attempts to resolve complex existential and moral issues with political force, in a rush, have already created divisions in society, we are convinced in the church that we need theological discussion on the very same polarising issues. We need to create a safe zone, both in terms of time and space, in order to examine our faith, share our beliefs and interpretations, ask questions and seek answers, and find confidence in our Christian and Lutheran confessional identity. This is why we have prepared and approved a “Strategy of Theological Dialogue for 2024-2029”.
The strategy envisages development of good theological dialogue practice and formulates the topics to be tackled. In this year, the focus will be on the authority and interpretation of the Bible and issues of Lutheran identity. The respective working groups of theologians and experts have been assembled and have begun their work. In the coming years, we will address the themes of conservation of nature (creation), sustainability of the living environment, the beginning and sanctity of life, gender and sexuality, the meaning and sanctity of marriage, the end of life, death and eternal life. By the end of the decade, we will, hopefully, have been able to work through the role of the gospel and the mission of the church in today’s Estonia, as well as the Eucharist and Eucharistic communion. We strive to manifest an open and civilised debate culture between different parties and opinions within the church, thereby providing a model for the entire society.
Russia’s war in Ukraine
In recent years, we cannot overlook Russia’s war in Ukraine. The annexation of Crimea by Russian armed forces in the spring of 2014 has been called the start of a new or the second cold war. The aggressor of Ukraine is also our direct neighbour. In the past, this neighbour has repeatedly colonised and occupied Estonia which, according to the Kremlin’s ideas, is located in the sphere of influence of the “Russian world”.
Anxiety and political tensions in society are compounded by the fact that nearly a quarter of Estonian population is made up of Russians, with many of them being members of the Estonian branch of the Russian Orthodox Church, which is led by Patriarch Kiril who has openly supported the war. Only 3% of the Orthodox are Estonians, and most of them belong to the Orthodox Church of Estonia, which is in the canonical jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople.
As a church, we need to see people’s unease and fear as an adequate response to the current events. We need to stay calm and make decisions in this time of crisis with as little emotional turmoil as possible.
In preparation for a possible war, we have tasked clergy members and lay congregation leaders with development of local crisis plans that would include guidance on:
These are only some examples of the content of the crisis plans. The key question is if and how the church is prepared to serve the people in anticipation, during and after a war? At the end of the war, the church will have to serve the people both in victory and defeat, even if we do not speak about the latter.
In March 2022, a month after the start of the full-scale war, Russia had occupied 27% of the Ukrainian territory. It was 163,000 km2. This is slightly larger than the territory of England, 130,000 km2. At the moment, around 18% or 110 000 km2 of the Ukrainian territory is under Russian occupation. This is the equivalent of the combined territory of Denmark (43,000 km2) and Belgium (30,500 km2) or Estonia (45,200 km2) and Latvia (64,500 km2).
Just peace or just war?
With a new kind of rhetoric coming from the other side of the Atlantic, it is appropriate to look back on history. The Yalta Conference was held in February 1945, with the allied victors of World War II meeting to celebrate the arrival of peace and the defeat of Hitler. The major powers negotiated peace above the heads of small nations. This meeting was followed by another 50 years of Soviet occupation in the Baltic states. Was the peace negotiated in Yalta a just peace? What kind of peace do we want for Ukraine?
Future reaching out to the present – eschatological hope
We are shaped by where we come from, our past. However, as churches operating on the boundary between war and peace, we need to proclaim to ourselves and to the people we serve that Christians are not shaped by the past but by the future. The future reaches out to the present! Tomorrow is today! Our salvation does not hinge on the past. Our destiny is determined by our future in Christ, which is reaching out into our present day. The eternal life offered by Christ is an eschatological gift to the world in an era of hopelessness. The content of our proclamation is eschatological hope that we have already been granted eternal life and have been delivered, through faith, to the risen Christ. This eschatological hope helps us overcome fear and becomes the light in the darkness.