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[[Image:AlexeyII.jpg|right|thumb|125px|Patr. [[Alexei II (Ridiger) of Moscow|Alexei II of Moscow]]]]
→External links: Fixed broken link to CNEWA website.
[[Image:Tallinn.jpg|right|350px|thumb|Churches in Tallinn, capital of Estonia]]
{{church|
name=Estonian Apostolic The Orthodox Churchof Estonia|
founder=—|
independence=1917|
language=Estonian|
music=[[Byzantine chant|Byzantine]] and [[Estonian chant|Estonian]]|
calendar=[[Gregorian Revised Julian Calendar|Gregorian]]|population=2028,000[http://www.cnewa.org/ecc-bodypg.aspx?eccpageID=33]|
website=[http://www.eoc.ee/ Church of Estonia]
}}
The '''Church of Estonia''' or '''Estonian Apostolic Orthodox Churchof Estonia''' ('''Eesti Apostlik-Õigeusu Kirik''') is an [[autonomy|autonomous]] Orthodox church whose [[primate]] is confirmed by the [[Church of Constantinople]]. Its official name in English is the '''Estonian Orthodox Churchof Estonia'''.
The current primate of the church is His Eminence [[Stephanos (Charalambides) of Tallinn|Stephanos]], [[Metropolitan]] of Tallinn and all Estonia (elected 1999).
This autonomous church should not be confused with the [[Church of Estonia (Moscow Patriarchate)|church of the same similar name]] which is an [[exarchate]] of the [[Moscow Patriarchate]].
== History ==
Just before the second Soviet occupation in 1944 and the dissolution of the Estonian synod, the [[primate]] of the church, Metropolitan Aleksander, went into exile along with 21 clergymen and about 8,000 Orthodox believers. The Orthodox Church of Estonia in Exile with its synod in Sweden continued its activity according to the canonical statutes, until the restoration of Estonian independence in 1991. Before he died in 1953, Metr. Aleksandr established his community as an [[exarchate]] under Constantinople. Most of the other bishops and clergy who remained behind were deported to Siberia. In 1958, a new synod was established in exile, and the church organized from Sweden.
[[Image:Ecum. Patriarch Bartholomew.jpg|thumb|125px|left|Patr. [[Bartholomew I (Archontonis) of Constantinople|Bartholomew I of Constantinople]]]]
Following the breakup of the Soviet Union, divisions within the Orthodox community in Estonia arose between those who wished to remain under Russian authority and those who wished to return to the jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, with the dispute often taking place along ethnic lines, many Russians having immigrated to Estonia during the Soviet occupation. Lengthy negotiations between the two patriarchates failed to produce any agreement.
In 1999, the church gained a resident hierarch (it had been under the Archbishop of [[Church of Finland|Finland]] as ''[[locum tenens]]''), Metropolitan [[Stephanos (Charalambides) of Tallinn|Stephanos (Charalambides)]], who had formerly been an [[auxiliary bishop]] under the Ecumenical Patriarchate's Metropolitan of France.
In 2013, in response to a joint invitation by the Autonomous Church of Estonia and the President of the Republic of Estonia, His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew traveled to Tallinn, Estonia, on September 4, 2013, in order to preside over celebrations for the 90th anniversary since the declaration of the Estonian Church as Autonomous by the Mother Church of Constantinople.
==Estonian Orthodoxy today==
The Orthodox Church of Estonia today consists of 73 parishes, served by 3 bishops, 33 priests and 9 deacons, and a convent.
{{churches}}
==External links==
*[http://www.eoc.ee/ Estonian Orthodox Church of Estonia - Official Site]
*[http://www.orthodoxa.org/ Orthodox Estonia]
*[http://www.cnewa.org/ecc-bodypg-usdefault.aspx?eccpageIDID=33&IndexViewpagetypeID=toc 9&sitecode=HQ&pageno=1 "The Estonian Apostolic Orthodox Church"] in ''The Eastern Christian Churches: A Brief Survey'' (2008) by Ronald Roberson, on the CNEWA website.*[http://www.patriarchate.org/news/releases/his-all-holiness-in-estonia/ His All-Holiness in Estonia]
[[Category:Jurisdictions|Estonia]]