Memory of socialism and the Russian Orthodox believers in Estonia

ABSTRACT

This article focuses on the mnemonic practices of Russian Orthodox believers in Estonia. Raising a general theoretical problem of confessional memory, the article proceeds to discuss of the representation of the past in autobiographical interviews with the older generation of Russians in Estonia, born between 1910 and 1930. The mnemonic practices of the ethnic minorities are shown to differ from the public narratives (both Russian and Estonian), thereby showing heterogeneity in the memories of the Soviet past. Thus, the article concludes that the ethnic Russians in Estonia are not a coherent mnemonic community.

KEYWORDS:

• Religion
• Orthodoxy
• Estonia
• Russian Orthodox Church
• religious memory
• aubiography
• migrants
• Soviet Union
• diaspora
• emigration
• secularization

Acknowledgments

The work on the article was made possible due to the grant of Eesti Teadusagentuur: [Grant Number PUT 428].

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. These calculations do not take into account the number of ethnic Estonian Orthodox (18,517 in 2000 and 20,585 in 2011).

2. The respective attempts to collect Russian-language life stories via public appeals were made by the Estonian Cultural History Archives in 1989 and in 2006–2007.

3. Metropolitan Kornilii of the Estonian Orthodox Church of Moscow patriarchate.

4. Olga Chavchavadze, born in 1934 in Paris, had returned to the USSR in 1947 following the call of Bishop Nikolai (Jarushevich), who convinced many émigrés that there was no persecution of religion in the USSR. As soon as they moved to Russia, Olga’s stepfather was arrested and disappeared. She and her mother, like many other returnees, were deported to Central Asia. Only in 1956 was Olga able to leave the settlement. She eventually moved to Estonia in 1963 where she worked as a church cantor until the early 2000s. Today, she is a nun in France.

5. According to the Orthodox canon law, if a priest does not marry before ordination, he should remain celibate.

6. It was suggested that Osipov repented before his death, but those who knew him doubt that this was true.

7. Bishops had to present a copy of their sermons to the commissioners whilst ordinary priests did not have to.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Eesti Teadusagentuur: [Grant Number PUT 428].

Notes on contributors

Irina Paert

Irina Paert is a Senior Researcher in the Department of Theology at the University of Tartu. She is author of Old Believers, Religious Dissent and Gender in Russia 1760-1850 (2003), and Spiritual Elders: Charisma and Tradition in Russian Orthodoxy (2010).