Tartu, Estonia, December 20, 2024
Photo: eoc.ee A hierarch of the Patriarchate of Constantinople’s Estonian Apostolic Orthodox Church (EAOC) reposed in the Lord earlier this week.
On Tuesday, December 17, after a long and difficult illness, Bishop Elijah of Tartu departed to the Lord, the EAOC reports.
He served the Church as a hierarch for just shy of 16 years.
His funeral was served today at the Cathedral of the Dormition of the Mother of God in Tartu. After the funeral service, Bp. Elijah was buried next to the altar wall in the garden of the Church of Holy Zacharias and Elizabeth in Räpina.
May his memory be eternal!
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Bp. Elijah was born on May 11, 1977, in Tartu.
He graduated from Tartu Miina Härma Gymnasium in 1995 and completed his bachelor’s studies in theology at the University of Tartu. He graduated cum laude in 2000, and completed his master’s studies in 2003. He then continued his education at the universities of Perugia, St. Petersburg, Voronezh, and Riga.
The future Bishop Elijah was ordained as a deacon on July 28, 2006, as a hieromonk on April 15, 2007, and was elevated to archimandrite on October 9, 2008, by Metropolitan Stephanos of Tallinn and All Estonia.
He served the St. Alexei parish of Karksi-Nuia first as a deacon and then as a priest. From autumn 2007 to winter 2009, he also served as a priest at the Ascension of the Lord Church in Arussaare and the Dormition of the Mother of God Church in Tuhalaane.
On June 12, 2008, the EAOC plenary elected Fr. Elijah as Bishop of Tartu, and he was consecrated on January 10, 2009, by Metropolitan Stephanos.
According to the EAOC constitution, until the election of a new bishop, the locum tenens of the Bishop of Tartu will be the senior bishop by consecration, Metropolitan Stephanos of Tallinn and All Estonia.
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