Õigeusu vaimulikkonna ettevalmistamisest Eesti Vabariigis 1918-1940
On Preparation of the Orthodox Clergy in the Republic of Estonia from 1918 to 1940

Summary/Abstract: One of the less studied aspects in the history of the autonomous Estonian Apostolic Orthodox Church (EAOC) has been the preparation and education of its clergy. Estonian Orthodox clergymen were at first educated in seminaries outside the present-day Estonia. Only the political and administrative changes of 1918 created a need to prepare them in Estonia. The creation of the new clerical education system became even more important after the EAOC was granted autonomy in May 1920. The model adopted for their preparation was somewhat unconventional as it was based on providing all clergy with higher theological education at the University of Tartu where a chair of Orthodox dogmatics was established in autumn 1919. It was integrated into the Faculty of Theology and granted full rights to award academic degrees in 1925. However, the number of students at the chair remained minuscule, with only 5 graduating before its closure in 1940. The main reason for the scarcity of students was the high cost of studies, particularly hard to bear for young men from the lower classes from where most candidates came. As an alternative the Church introduced short-term courses for priest candidates in autumn 1932. The following autumn a full two-year seminary was opened at the Petseri Monastery in South-Eastern Estonia, increasing access to theological education for less well-to-do believers. 28 full-time students graduated from the seminary between 1935 and 1940 with a right to ordination and 21 others graduated with a right to serve in parishes as sacristans and readers. In autumn 1937 the Russian clergy in Estonia organised its own three-year courses to provide clerical education in Russian. As a result of all this, by the end of 1930s the EAOC had created a multi-level and multi-faceted educational system that was able to meet the requirements of the Church by providing enough replacements for retiring priests to maintain all of its 158 congregations. Unfortunately this system was short-lived as all institutions of theological education were closed by the Soviet authorities in August 1940, interrupting the Orthodox clerical education in Estonia for more than 60 years.

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