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Russian patriarch to go to Estonia on patriarchal visit

Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Kirill will lead the religious services in Tallinn and Narva

MOSCOW, June 13 (Itar-Tass) - Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Kirill will visit Estonia for the first time in the capacity of the supreme hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church on June 14-16, the Synodal information department of the Russian Orthodox Church told Itar-Tass on Thursday.

The Russian patriarch will lead the religious services in Tallinn and Narva and will lay flowers to the Monument to the Warriors-Liberators of Tallinn “Bronze Soldier” and the Estonian Memorial of Sorrow - the Statue of Linda and will talk to the war veterans and young people.

Meanwhile, high on the agenda of the patriarchal trip is a visit to the Puhtitsa Convent that is famous with its spiritual traditions and the sanctification of the recently built church of the Icon of the Mother of God “Quick to Hearken” in Tallinn, which late Patriarch Alexis II, who was a native of this city, laid down ten years ago.

During his visit the patriarch will meet with the Estonian prime minister, the speaker of parliament and foreign minister, the Tallinn mayor and the archbishop of the Estonian Evangelical Lutheran Church.

The Estonian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate was granted the right of self-government in 1920. Now this church consists of 32 dioceses and two eparchies in Tallinn and Narva. The supreme hierarch of the Estonian Orthodox Church is Metropolitan of Tallinn and All Estonia Cornelius.

In the capacity of the metropolitan of Smolensk and Kaliningrad, the chairman of the department of external church relations of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill was participating actively in the revival of the church life in Estonia, particularly the counteraction to splits.