Editorial: Estonia searching for archbishop

Photo: SCANPIX

Thus sayeth Estonian Constitution: «Everyone has freedom of conscience, religion and thought. Everyone may freely belong to churches and religious societies. There is no state church. Everyone has the freedom to exercise his or her religion, both alone and in community with others, in public or in private, unless this is detrimental to public order, health or morals.»

Thereby, election of any church leader is a matter of civil society, not of the state. Same goes for a Lutheran EELK archbishop. Doubtless, the church council decision carries great weight for EELK itself. But what will be the weight of it, and the weight of the future archbishop, to the society?   

On the one hand, for Estonia the Lutheran Church’s influence is far from what it was a century ago, and even from what it is for some Northern neighbours. Clearly, the membership is melting and role in society in decline. On the other hand, even today this is a largest civil society organisation.

An issue being, will EELK with the new archbishop at helm go along with the liberalisation and openness of society, investing into it – or opting to remain a stronghold for social conservatism. As pointed out in a Postimees opinion article by theologian Alar Laats, in our neighbouring states’ Lutheran churches both are represented – the liberal options in Finland, the social conservatism in Latvia. Says Mr Laats: «For the younger and more educated generation, this image of EELK is rather unpleasant – a small church with a Moscow-like world view and Uganda-like politics. Even is a caricature of the facts, is still serves to a degree to describe the clerical reality.»

On the one hand, the church searching for a way may be boiled down to this: who do they want to please, which groups to the want to involve and which to reject. On the other hand, it does have an impact tour spiritual space: do they preach tolerance and urge this in the congregations, or are they inclined to rebuke the rest? Will they widen the value gaps already here or about to appear, of will they build bridges between people and their views? Will they hear the other opinion or thunder the others aren’t right?  

Very importantly, also, how will the archbishop handle the church assets. Obviously, the church buildings and works of arts carry a broader cultural meaning and so the Estonian taxpayer has, over the decades, supported the renovations. Where do we go from here – that is the question for a new EELK Archbishop.