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[[Image:Tallinn.jpg|right|350px|thumb|Churches in Tallinn, capital of Estonia]]
{{church|
name=Estonian Apostolic Orthodox Church|
founder=—|
independence=1917|
website=[http://www.eoc.ee/ Church of Estonia]
}}
The '''Church of Estonia''' or '''Estonian Apostolic Orthodox Church''' ('''Eesti Apostlik-Õigeusu Kirik''') is an [[autonomy|autonomous]] Orthodox church whose [[primate]] is confirmed by the [[Church of Constantinople]].
The current primate of the church is His Eminence [[Stephanos (Charalambides) of Tallinn|Stephanos]], [[Metropolitan]] of Tallinn and all Estonia (elected 1999).
== History ==
Orthodox missionaries were active among the Estonians in the southeast regions of the area, closest to Pskov, in the 10th through 12th centuries. The first mention of an Orthodox congregation in Estonia was in 1030 in Tartu. Ca Around 600 AD On on the east side of Toome Hill (Toomemägi) the Estonians erected a fortress - named Tarbatu. In 1030 The the Kievan prince, Jaroslav the Wise, raids raided Tarbatu and builds built his own fort in this place as well as the congregation in a cathedral dedicated to St. [[George the Trophy-bearer]]. Orthodox Christians were later expelled from the city by the Germans in 1472, who martyred their [[priest]], Isidor, along with a number of Orthodox faithful (the group is commemorated on [[January 8]]).
Little is known about the history of the church in the area until the 17th and 18th centuries, when many [[Old Believers]] fled there from Russia to avoid the liturgical reforms introduced by Patriarch [[Nikon of Moscow]].
