LATVIJAS PAREIZTICĪGĀS BAZNĪCAS KANONISKĀ STATUSA PROBLĒMAS (1919–1927)
PROBLEMS OF THE CANONICAL STATUS OF THE LATVIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH (1919–1927)

Summary/Abstract: The article is dedicated to the Latvian Orthodox Church’s (LOC) history. It analyzes the problems of autocephaly of the LOC from the establishment of the LOC in 1920 until 1927, when metropolitan bishop Sergii Stragorodskii issued a declaration on the reconciliation of the Moscow Patriarchate with the communist regime of the USSR, thus ending the disagreement on the status of the LOC. The article critically evaluates the historiography dedicated to the interwar history of the LOC, analyzing the problems of autocephaly of the LOC in the context of Church history, canons and practice. Extensive literature has been devoted to the canonical assessment of the LOC autocephaly issue. However, it does not adequately evaluate the fact that during the First World War, the Orthodox Church of the Russian Empire had eliminated its presence on the territory of Latvia, and the Moscow Patriarchate, restored in 1917, was unable to change this situation for several years. When evaluating the canonical validity of the LOC autocephaly, these actual circumstances must be considered. The article analyzes the peculiarities of the exact status of the LOC, as well as the relationship between the LOC and the Republic of Latvia. While the analysis has been carried out using historical source research methods, the present research is interdisciplinary in nature, as it covers the fields of history and theology.

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