The Structure of Baltic Orthodox Churches, 1850-1941

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To help guide the users of this site, the organisational flowcharts below offer a simplified snapshot of the hierarchy of organisations and individuals in the imperial diocese of Riga, the interwar Estonian Apostolic Orthodox Church, and the interwar Latvian Orthodox Church.

Clicking on the magnifying glass in the lower banner zooms in and out and allows for scrolling: clicking on the two arrows in the right-hand corner will give a full-screen version of the flowchart.

Colour coding: green - central church authorities; blue - diocesan authorities; purple - deanery; red - parish.

Explanatory notes are provided after each flowchart.

Explanatory notes

1) Parish guardianships were established in 1864: parish school boards were established in 1872.

2) As of 1888, the deaneries of Riga diocese were: Riga city, Riga district, Ķesterciems, Cēsis, Valmiera, Võru, 1st Tartu district, 2nd Tartu district, Viljandi, Pärnu, Saaremaa, Kergu, Haapsalu, Estland, Jelgava, and Salaspils. The Estland deanery was later subdivided into the Tallinn city, Tallinn district, Rakvere, and Paide deaneries.

3) Parish councils started to exist from 1905 in some parishes, usually subsuming the roles of parish guardianships.

Explanatory notes

1) The dioceses of Tallinn (Estonian) and Narva (Russian) were created in 1924.

2) Between 1919 and 1922, the EAOC’s Russian parishes were managed by the Ecclesiastical Council of Russian Parishes in Estonia. Between September 1922 and September 1924, the Russian parishes were managed by Metropolitan Aleksander and the Synod.

3) The EAOC’s deaneries were: Harju, Läänemaa, Pechory, Pärnu, Saaremaa-Muhu, Tartu, Viljandi, Virumaa, and Võru. Narva diocese had no deaneries due to the small number of parishes it contained (25-30), although there were occasional suggestions to create such deaneries.