Rola czynnika religijnego w stosunkach międzynarodowych. Przypadek jurysdykcji prawosławnych w Estonii

Abstract

THE ROLE OF THE RELIGIOUS FACTOR IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS: THE CASE OF ORTHODOX JURISDICTIONS IN ESTONIA

The research objective of this article was to analyse the role of the religious factor in international relations using the example of the Orthodox jurisdictions in Estonia: The Estonian Apostolic Orthodox Church under the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople and the Estonian Orthodox Church. The article examines the hypothesis that, despite the high rate of secularisation of Estonian society and with a relatively low level of religious identification (29% of the total number of people over 15 years of age), the situation of the Orthodox Church in Estonia has improved. The situation of the Orthodox Church remains one of the important factors shaping international relations at many levels - both the relations between the Russian Federation and Estonia, and the relations between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Orthodox Churches in Estonia or, finally, the Russian Orthodox Church and the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Constantinople. The results of the research presented in the article are based on a critical analysis of documents and literature on the subject. The problems of the article concern the most important aspects of the functioning of the two Orthodox jurisdictions in Estonia, as well as the resulting consequences in the field of international relations: 1) the establishment of the autonomous church in Estonia and its division into Constantinopolitan and Moscow jurisdictions and the role of the Moscow Patriarchate and the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople; 2) the situation of the Orthodox Church in Estonia after 1991 and the consequences of the annexation of Estonia by the USSR for the solutions adopted; 3) changes in the Orthodox Church in Estonia conditioned by the war in Ukraine.