The Seim of Latvia on an emergency adopted the law on the independence of the Latvian Orthodox Church (LPC) from the Russian Orthodox Church. Thus, parliamentarians supported the proposal of President of Latvia, Egil Levits, to separate the local Orthodox Church from the Moscow Patriarchate.
The adopted law establishes a completely independent and independent status of the Latvian Orthodox Church with all its dioceses, parishes and institutions. Although legal changes do not concern canonical issues, the Russian Orthodox Church hastened to condemn the adoption of the law in Latvia, noting that the Law on the Orthodox Church, which is mentioned in the statement of the President of Latvia, was adopted by the Latvian Sejm in 1926, it was about self -government and self -determination rights, in which the status of the status Autocephalus was not implied.
“The decision of the Latvian parliament on the independence of the LPC is due to the fact that the Russian Orthodox Church, led by Patriarch Kirill, is currently a direct instrument of Putin’s authority and is inseparable from the policy of the Russian state, – this is the deputy of the Sejm Latvia Maria Golubeva commented on the Haqqin.az correspondent, status, noting that the Russian Orthodox Church fully supports the Kremlin’s policy, including aggression in Ukraine. “Therefore, we do not consider it possible to continue the situation when the Orthodox Church in our state somehow obeys the Moscow Patriarchate. As far as I know, the leadership of the LPCs shares the position Deputies of the Sejm “.
Golubeva added that all the property of the LPC is the property of the local Orthodox Church and there are no legal grounds for appealing this decision by the Russian Orthodox Church.
According to the deputy of the Sejm, most people in Latvia, who speak Russian at home, negatively relate to Russian aggression in Ukraine. Active support for the Russian Orthodox Church, unleashed by the Kremlin, can lead to the principle of “domino”, when the Orthodox institutions in other countries are subordinate to the Moscow Patriarchate, one after another about their independence.
Recall that earlier two Orthodox churches of Ukraine and the Orthodox Church of Estonia were separated from the Russian Orthodox Church.