Journal of Eastern Christian Studies 58(1-2), 85-104. doi: 10.2143/JECS.58.1.2017737 © 2006 by Journal of Eastern Christian Studies. All rights reserved. CURRENT DEVELOPMENTS THE BALTIC AREA Since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 the Baltic region underwent important changes, some for the better FRANS HOPPENBROUWERS* and some for the worse. Sometimes eye- catching but more often less pretentious How faired Orthodoxy on the shores of architecture altered the skylines of 1 the Baltic Sea? To be sure, this is an Tallinn, Riga and Vilnius considerably. interesting subject of inquiry. First, tak- Though renovation and new construc- ing all different branches of Orthodoxy tion witness to a more healthy invest- together, it might indeed be true that ment climate, the economy is still far it is the largest Christian confession in from reaching its 1989 level. Due to the Estonia and Latvia. Second, the pres- integration of the Baltic region into ence of the Estonian and Latvian European and Transatlantic organisa- Autonomous Orthodox Churches, and tions the foreign press focussed intensely the eparchy of Vilnius and Lithuania, on the position of the large ethnic Russ- which profess allegiance to the Moscow ian minorities in Estonia and Latvia. In Patriarchate, was closely connected to the wake of this media coverage, the Russian tsarist expansionism. For that Estonian capital Tallinn was crowned reason, Churches and eparchy lay ‘prostitution centre of Europe’ and Narva embedded in a predominant, in the on the Russian/Estonian border the ‘ugli- recent past sometimes overtly hostile, est city of Europe’. Trafficking of women non-Russian cultural setting. Third, the linkage with the spiritual centre * F.J.M. (Frans) Hoppenbrouwers stud- Moscow remained strong over the last ied French and theology and specialised 15 years, but proved to be problem- in Church History at the University of atic. Because of the distance between Tilburg. He was a researcher on the pro- the Baltic societies on the one hand ject ‘Dutch Culture in a European Con- and the not so well integrated Russian text’ that was sponsored by the Nether- minority on the other, and because of lands Organisation for Scientific Research historic experience, everything Russian (NOW). Since 1995 he works for the or Soviet is being looked upon Dutch relief organisation Communi- unfavourably. Fourth, in their desire to cantes in Nijmegen which funds projects leave this past behind, indigenous as in the field of pastoral care and educa- well as ethnic Russian Orthodox broke tion for the Roman Catholic and the Greek Catholic Churches in Central and away from the Moscow Patriarchate in Eastern Europe. the 1990s. The Priestless Old Believers’ 1 This review of the Baltic region deals leadership in Latvia on the contrary primarily with the period 2002-2005. For established contacts with the Patriar- the years 1998-2001 see F. Hoppen- chate, thus creating discord among the brouwers, ‘Baltische landen’, CO, 53 faithful as well. (2001), pp. 242-255. 86 FRANS HOPPENBROUWERS and very high suicide rates, for example, ulation, in Latvia 28 percent and in have been disconcerting phenomena of Lithuania 6 percent. The fear of foreign the transformation. The uneven distri- domination therefore remained strong bution of newly acquired wealth led to after 1990 and added to existing wor- greater differences among citizens, thus ries. But lacking a Tolstoy, a Malevich fuelling discontent. Gradually it dawned or a Shostakovich, a sense of cultural on the Balts that the change from an inferiority may play a role, too. ideological, totalitarian and stagnant The Russian minorities and their Eston- social order to a dynamic society of free ian, Latvian and Lithuanian neighbours individuals carries with it hazards as well often live in more or less separated as promises. worlds. The music they listen to, the The year 2004 was an eventful one. On television and radio channels they 2 April, the flags of Estonia, Latvia and choose, the news they read, and, in Esto- Lithuania were hoisted at the head- nia, the national party they vote for, quarters of the North Atlantic Treaty everything is different, form as well as Organisation (NATO) in Brussels. And, content. Therefore, the Balts ask them- during a solemn ceremony in Dublin selves: Could these former ‘occupants’, on 1 May, the Baltic countries joined who immigrated to the region in Soviet the European Union (EU) as well. The times, be some kind of fifth columnists? ‘New Europe’ is politically very much Opinion polls among non-citizens, for oriented towards the West, and, unlike instance, have repeatedly shown that the ‘Old Europe’, at least the Baltic gov- their support for NATO and EU fails to ernments have been keen supporters of reach the 50 percent mark. History still the interventions in Afghanistan and affects the emotional climate. While Iraq. Russian historiography, state officials and Patriarch Alexey II all alike depict Culture and Politics the Red Army soldiers as liberators to Because of its marginalisation in the which the Balts should pay respect, the tsarist and Soviet past and ever-increas- Baltic peoples themselves hold a differ- ing Europeanization, national identity ent opinion. They view them as the still is a major concern throughout post- spearhead of a genocidal regime that communist Central and Eastern Europe. indiscriminately deported and murdered This is especially the case with small ‘class enemies’, destroyed national cul- countries like Estonia, Latvia and ture and persecuted religion. Further- Lithuania, where very low fertility rates more, the old bear may have lost its induce fear of cultural and even physi- teeth, but it can still lash out mighty cal extinction.2 Since 1990, the Baltic claws. Since the tiny Baltic countries nations have been struggling for eco- nomic sovereignty from their Russian 2 L. Halman, R. Luijkx and M. van Zun- neighbour which itself is trying to keep dert, Atlas of European Values (Leiden, some grip on the region. In Estonia, 2005), p. 20. National pride in Lithuania ethnic Russian citizens and non-citizens is lowest in Europe, a bit more intense in make up about 25 percent of the pop- Estonia and quite outspoken in Latvia. THE BALTIC AREA 87 economically depend a great deal on A schism within Estonian Orthodoxy, their neighbour, the former superpower which remained without a solution for is able to keep a grip on the region. Rus- a long time, became a serious topic in sia now wields non-lethal weapons, but foreign relations. The Estonian govern- in the eye of many it remains an oppres- ment sided with the breakaway Church, sive and expansive force. while Russian President Boris Yeltsin Domestic and international politics very and his successor, Vladimir Putin, came much revolves around minority-rights to the support of the Moscow loyalists. issues. In both Latvia and Estonia, Russ- The Patriarch’s visit to Estonia was post- ian schools have had to introduce the poned over and over again during a ten- national tongue as part of the curricu- year period. He returned to visit his lum, and as a teaching language next to native country only after a formal set- Russian. Civil servants in Estonia must tlement in 2003. Within the Latvian fulfil specific language requirements and Orthodox Church tensions arose non-citizens need to pass a citizenship between ethnic Russian and Latvian cler- exam. The language skills required are gymen in the 1990s. In the eparchy of low among ethnic Russians, but then Vilnius and Lithuania a recent experi- again state policies lack financial and ment with a Lithuanian-language liturgy institutional support. ‘Mother Russia’ replacing Old Church Slavonic turned voiced severe criticism, and at times the out to be a bridge too far for the rather Organization for Security and Co-oper- conservative, mostly ethnic Russian ation in Europe (OSCE) joined in. flock. World War II remains open to varying and controversial interpretations. The Health and Demography plaque of an Estonian SS soldier with The vital health and demographical sta- iconic Stahlhelm, Iron Cross and Mauser tistics quite exactly mirror the social, machinegun pointing east, which was economic, political and even emotional unvealed in Pärnu in 2002, not sur- situation. Thus, they provide some tan- prisingly provided the Russian govern- gible information concerning the inten- ment with an opportunity to insist once sity with which the Baltic population more on the tainted past of their ‘near experienced 15 years of post-commu- abroad’ neighbours.3 Still, the monu- nist transformation: these were trying ment clearly depicts the predicament in times. Great hopes and expectations pre- which the Baltics found themselves: ceded the 1990s, but they gave way to being eaten by wolves or by bears is all the same. The Soviet occupation in 1940 3 The Estonian and Latvian Waffen-SS and subsequent ‘liberation’ by Nazi Ger- divisions participated in the military cam- many in 1941 led many Balts to assume paigns on the Eastern front and had no a pro-German stance. involvement with the extermination of The nationality question also reflects on Eastern European Jews. However, indi- the appreciation of Orthodoxy and the vidual members, who previously acted as religious and national self-identification police auxiliaries, may have or actually of the Orthodox in the Baltic region. did. 88 FRANS HOPPENBROUWERS disappointment about the changes there- AIDS took on epidemic proportions. after. It has been only from the second Between 2003 and 2004, the number of half of the 1990s that Estonians, registered HIV-infections grew tenfold Latvians and Lithuanians have begun in Estonia to 4,600 and tripled in Latvia, to feel that they have a better hold on reaching a peak at 3,033. Lithuania saw life.