Urmas Viilma, Archbishop of the EELC
Your Honourable Eminences and Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, dear Sisters and Brothers!
Christmas turmoil
For Western Christians, the first Advent marks the beginning of a new church year. As we look back, we are saddened to note that, in the past year, there were places in the world with no prospects of Christmas peace. As long as there are human beings suffering, the rest cannot enjoy ultimate serenity or happiness. Instead of Christmas peace, there is a lack of peace – Christmas turmoil.
For the Ukrainian people, this is the third Christmas in wartime. The people have been violently robbed of Christmas peace. Instead of sending a message of peace and blessing to the Ukrainian branch of the Slavonic language tree, the Kremlin, with the approval of priests, is sending missiles and drones that deprive people of not only Christmas peace and joy but also their lives, on a daily basis.
Furthermore, there is no peace in the region where the Christ child was born and later proclaimed his message of peace, travelling from village to village. Surrounded by a high wall, Bethlehem is now particularly yearning for the song of angels – ‘Glory to God in the highest heaven, and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased!’ (Luke 2:14) – to become true in the town where Jesus was born. Jerusalem that once saw Jesus entering its gates, riding on a donkey, is still waiting for the coming of the King of Peace. The Jews pray at the Western Wall, while orphaned children cry in Gaza. Tears and a thirst for vengeance prevail instead of peace.
Hope for the future
The past church year was of historical importance for the Estonian Lutheran church for several reasons. After an 8-year pause, we were again able to gather for a Church Day and Spiritual Song Festival to sing and exult for joy that spreads over the land. The festival with a choir of several thousand singers and an audience of a similar size in the festival grounds of Viljandi, the summer capital of folk culture, was an unforgettable experience for all participants, providing people in the midst of war trepidations with some peace and joy, at least for a while. With the support of the Ministry of the Interior and helpfulness and professionalism of the Estonian Public Broadcasting team, the long-awaited and well-prepared festival with its heartfelt and uplifting repertoire could be seen by the TV audience in a live broadcast.
The generational transition of leadership of the Estonian Lutheran church was also completed in the past year. Former bishops Tiit Salumäe and Joel Luhamets transferred the leadership responsibility in their respective fields to their successors, bishops Ove Sander, Anti Toplaan, and Marko Tiitus. In addition, the church government was supplemented with its youngest-ever member. At only 26 years of age at the time of being elected as an assessor, Mattias Haamer, together with the other members of the church government, will have to tackle the puzzle of delivering the message of the church to the younger generation.
On the eve of the St. Walpurgis Day, the General Synod of the EELC made history by restoring the pre-Reformation administrative division of the church in Estonia and Livonia. From now on, the Estonian Lutheran church is territorially divided into four dioceses: the Archdiocese of Tallinn, the Diocese of Northern Estonia, the Diocese of Islands and Western Estonia, and the Diocese of Southern Estonia. I hope that more direct contacts between bishops and the clergy and members of congregations will help bring more unity to the straggling church.
In the past year, Eesti Kirik, the only weekly Christian newspaper in Estonia, celebrated its centenary with a digital leap and is now available as a digital newspaper, in addition to the paper version. Only time will tell whether this step created the preconditions for sustained and consistent publication of the newspaper for another 100 years. Experience and faith tell us that if something is blessed by God, it will persist. I believe that this is also the case with the newspaper Eesti Kirik.
Trust and defensive resolve
Polarisation is increasing in the world and the balance is fragile when it comes to ensuring peace. If someone achieves a dominant position over others in any confrontation, this can undermine democracy. Nobody can predict the developments in the world after inauguration of the next President of the United States. In the country with the world’s largest economy and military power, the power dynamics will be reversed compared to the administration of recent years. Such a shift can bring about new stability, but it can also extinguish any hope of achieving that. Historical evidence indicates that when someone achieves a clear majority in election, they tend to forget everything they promised before and during the campaign, and the ends start to justify the means. Unfortunately, things are not much different closer to home.
Today, when economic recession has lasted almost as long as the recent coalition governments led by the Reform Party, the words of Kaja Kallas in her party’s program for the 2023 election have a hollow ring to them: “We understand that at a time of crisis after crisis, people need to be able to count on their state and feel that nobody will be left alone in a difficult situation.” [1] I feel that these words have now come true in a somewhat paradoxical manner. People are united in a difficult situation, but the government has been left alone.
This is confirmed by the results of the latest survey of the Government Office, indicating that the number of people mistrusting those who govern them rose over 50% right after the 2023 election and establishment of the coalition. Since then, mistrust has been on a consistent upward curve.[2] This seems to be the only long-term plan of this coalition, in addition to the marathon of tax increases. People do count on their state, and they love Estonia but, paraphrasing a popular pun, I do not know anyone who would know someone who trusts and is happy with the decisions of the current government. Barely a third of the survey respondents trusted the parliament and the government at the end of the 3rd quarter. (The parliament was fully trusted by 2% and somewhat trusted by 25% of the respondents. The government was fully trusted by 4% and somewhat trusted by 27%. The parliament was mistrusted or somewhat mistrusted by 68%, and 64% of the respondents expressed their mistrust for the government.)
When I consider the impact of this mistrust on people’s defensive resolve, I feel confident only because of the high level of trust in the Defence Forces: 73%, and trust in the police was even as high as 82%. The President of the Republic, Alar Karis, had also gained the trust of 65% of the people.
The Government Office did not investigate people’s trust in the church. It is not the church’s task to be liked by everyone but to fulfil the mission given by Christ and, in doing so, serve all the people, including those who do not like or trust the church. In this, our mission is similar to those who are governing the state.
The EELC as a conservative liberal church
In the mainstream media, we can find opinions about an increasing conservativism of the church. The niche media, conversely, accuses the church of becoming too liberal. It is customary in Estonia to juxtapose conservativism and liberalism but in reality they are not necessarily opposite worldviews. Most conservatives in Estonia are actually liberals, because in their defence of Estonian national identity, language and culture they are equally steadfast in defending freedom of speech, suffrage, freedom of business, thought and religion, and everything else that represents liberal democratic arrangements and freedom of the individual. The opposite of conservativism, a worldview that honours traditions and relies on timeless values and prudence, is not liberalism but rather progressivism that advocates continuous innovation, endless development, ubiquitous growth and social reforms needed to achieve that, while undermining timeless values and damaging cultural roots.
As we think about the role of the church in Western society that can sometimes become almost aggressive in its quest for progressive development, it is important for the church to be a conservative liberal church. It means, on the one hand, being conservatively prudent and steady in its doctrine, values and traditions, while simultaneously preserving and always reinterpreting its confessional identity. On the other hand, the church should understand its position as part of modern liberal society where it is important to be open for dialogue and prepared to ask questions about its role and mission in an increasingly secular environment and to offer reformulated answers that stay true to the Biblical doctrine while interpreting the Scriptures.
If the church stops reformulating its answers in response to the questions of new generations, and stops translating the Scriptures into a language that people can understand, it means that the church abandons the Christ-given conservative liberal mission to always teach everyone, which requires readiness for dialogue while obeying what Jesus has commanded (see Matt. 28:20). If the church does not participate in modern theological discussion and does not develop its theology, relying only on previously formulated dogmas without any attempts to reformulate them for the present day, then a healthy conservativism turns into regression – a return to a place where instead of a neighbour to be talked with or served, there are only dead letters and stiff rules.
Strategy of theological dialogue
As in society at large, polarisation over controversial issues has become more frequent in recent years in the church as well. We need a common exit from this polarisation in society. This is where the Estonian Lutheran church is committed to decisive action and intends to discuss even difficult topics in a communal spirit, with pastoral care, and in a prophetic voice. For this, we need an increased focus on theological dialogue on issues that have created additional stress in society. Believing that theological discussion cannot threaten the religious identity and faith of any church members, and that it can provide an opportunity to share one’s beliefs and to reflect on one’s personal faith, we have prepared and approved the “Strategy of theological dialogue for 2024-2029”[3].
The strategy, which we will implement in the coming years, envisages development of good theological dialogue practice and formulates the topics to be worked on. Thus, we hope to start tackling the questions of Biblical authority and interpretation, as well as Lutheran identity, in the next year. These will be followed by the topics 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 issues of the gospel and the mission of the church in present-day Estonia, as well as eucharist and eucharistic communion. We strive to advance an open and civilised debate culture between different parties and opinions within the church, thereby providing a model for the entire society.
Challenges to the freedom of religion
In the coming year of 2025, Christians will, after a long time, once again be able to celebrate the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ at the same time all over the world, because the dates of the Easter coincide in the Western and Eastern churches. This will be an opportunity to emphasise the willingness for cooperation and communion, and to express our love for neighbours. This is particularly important in Estonia where the divide between beliefs and canonical interpretations does not only run between patriarchs who are located far from each other but is also increasing between Orthodox Christians, as well as between speakers of different languages and different ethnic groups. The need to stand for and preserve freedom has raised the issue of the actual situation of the freedom of religion in Estonia where there is no state church and where the government is required to protect the autonomy of the church and not interfere in religious and church affairs.
Russia’s war in Ukraine has brought increasing attention to the freedom of religion, probably more than ever since the restoration of Estonia’s independence. There are a number of questions that need to be answered. Does the Estonian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate, a part of the Russian Orthodox Church that has been registered in Estonia, and the legal and canonical relations of some of its specific constituents with Patriarch Kirill, who is supporting and has given his blessing to the war, represent a security threat to Estonian independent statehood and people or not? Would the annulment of legal subordination be sufficient for alleviation of the security risks or not? Does the insistence on annulment of canonical subordination by a minister of the government constitute an interference in the church’s autonomy and thereby a violation against the freedom of religion or not? What would the creation of such a precedent in relation to one church mean for other churches and religious people, or for individual and collective confession of one’s faith, in a longer term?
If Estonia has no state church and no official religion or belief system, there should be no room for a situation where atheism is covertly becoming the state religion that is officially and openly promoted and preferred over and above other religious and philosophical beliefs. I believe that signs of such tendencies can be seen in the organisation of education in Estonia.
The petition proposed a year ago by the Lutheran church, to include non-confessional religious studies as a mandatory subject in all stages of school and to organise a respective referendum was so successful that the Cultural Affairs Committee of the Riigikogu discussed the issue in a public session in last October. During the discussion, that I attended as representative of the Lutheran church together with Bishop Marko Tiitus, I asked the question: Why does such a knowledge-based, pluralistic, open and democratic society like the Republic of Estonia offer religious studies only to a limited, almost privileged part of the new generation instead of making it available to all school students? Why is it that only some students have the opportunity for critical acquisition and appraisal of knowledge, skills and attitudes that support their moral development, shape their responsible ethical life skills and beliefs, and serve as the basis of mutual understanding, respect, openness and readiness for dialogue and cooperation? Is this not important for the rest of the students? Would a better religious literacy in all our future generations not improve the management of some of the problems that plague our society – polarisation, mental health crisis, conflicts of culture and beliefs, etc.?
Confessed faith
Freedom of religion entails the inalienable right to live according to and confess one’s faith. In this light, it is highly significant that the Estonian Council of Churches has declared “Confessed faith” as the theme for the next year. In 2025, it will be 1700 years from the formulation of the Nicene Creed. This creed unites all Christians in the world and is an important cornerstone of the foundations of Christian culture. It is all the more relevant, then, amidst the challenges of a secular society, that all churches in Estonia join in the public confessions of our faith. Our success in this will depend on the degree of openness to ecumenical cooperation.
We cannot know the future but, like the present, the future is in God’s safe and blessing hands, which is why we can step towards it with confidence, placing our hopes in God.
I wish everyone a peaceful and beautiful Advent season, happy Christmas anticipation, and a blessed new year of the Lord!
[1] Program of the Reform Party for the 2023 election of the Riigikogu: https://reform.ee/riigikogu-valimised-2023/valimisprogramm
[2] https://www.riigikantselei.ee/sites/default/files/documents/2024-10/2024%2009%20AA%2020%20seire%20raport.pdf
[3] Document “Strategy of theological dialogue for 2024-2029“: EELC_theological-discussion-strategy_2024-2029.pdf
