Registration of the Cathedral of St. Alexander Nevsky in Tallinn

REGISTRATION OF THE CATHEDRAL OF ST. ALEXANDER NEVSKY IN TALLINN

On March 16 the Parish of St. Alexander Nevsky in Tallinn was registered with the state. The parish has been granted the right of legal identity and has come under the special patronage of Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia as reflected in its civil designation of the “Stauropegial Parish of St. Alexander Nevsky in Tallinn”. This legal status provides for combining the church parish work with function as the Representation of the Moscow Patriarchate in Estonia. The task of the representation is to maintain contacts with Orthodox and other Christian confessions in Estonia and cooperation with state and public structures of the Republic of Estonia in regulating church problem in Estonia and improving relations between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Estonian state.

At the same time, the Cathedral of St. Alexander Nevsky in Tallinn remains the see of the Most Reverend Archbishop Cornilius of Tallinn and All Estonia, Primate of the Estonian Apostolic Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate). This Church is a canonical part of the Autocephalous Russian Orthodox Church in the territory of Estonia and enjoys the right of autonomy (self-government) in ecclesio-administrative, ecclesio-economical, ecclesio-educational and ecclesio-civil affairs on the basis of the decision made by St. Patriarch Tikhon of Moscow and All Russia (June 28, 1920) and reconfirmed by the Thomos of His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia (April 27, 1993).

The Parish of St. Alexander Nevsky, conscious of being the historical successor of the parish which was granted in 1935 the legal status of a parish of “the Estonian Apostolic Orthodox Church”, decided to come under the jurisdiction of His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia at its meeting on March 14, 1999.