> err asked former secret police chief arnold sinisalu to clarify what the danger posed to the estonian state by the orthodox church could be. > "perhaps this danger is not so immediate and tangible now, but i think that the actions taken by the ministry of the interior to deal with this issue are absolutely correct and necessary. it's well-known that the during the soviet era, the church was very closely affiliated with the kgb. many priests lived double lives as intelligence officers. so this intertwining with the russian state apparatus, is the background that forces the state to deal with this matter," replied sinisalu. > "if you read the news of kureme monastery being categorically opposed to severing ties with moscow, denies their involvement with the war, and claims that they wish to focus on religious matters instead of political ones, that makes sense for them. but the issue lies with legal side, that the estonian has no control over who leads them. we can't rule out the moscow patriarchate replacing filareta with someone more obedient and involved with politics, who could start riling up the russian-speaking population. so i think taking preventative measures is completely justified, given what we know about russian special services and their historical modus operandi." said sinisalu. > on wednesday, the kureme monastery sent an address to the members of the parliament and the members of the council of churches, in which it says that the state should not require the monastery to violate the church act and asks to maintain the status quo of the phtitsa or kureme monastery. filareta, the abbot of the monastery, writes there that the state pushes the monastery out of the legal space with the desire to turn the inhabitants of the monastery into second-class people.
Estonia