By the decision of the Council of the Estonian Church, from among the candidates nominated by the Synod of the EOC and approved by the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia and the Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church, the head of the local church was elected the rector of Moscow theological schools, Archbishop Eugene of Vereya, who will be elevated to the rank of Metropolitan of Tallinn. There will also be a special church rite of 'insistence' in the Tallinn Cathedral - a solemn divine service in connection with the inauguration of the new Primate. As RIA Novosti notes, when he was the rector of the Moscow Theological Academy and Seminary, Archbishop Eugene visited Estonia many times and is well known to the local clergy, as well as the local lay faithful. The former head of the EOC, Metropolitan Cornelius of Tallinn, passed away on April 19 at the ninety-fourth year of his life. Archbishop Eugene of Vereya and Bishop Lazar of Narva and Prichudskiy were identified by the Synod of the EOC as candidates for the post of primate of the local church, and then the first of them was elected by secret ballot by a majority of votes. After the elevation to the rank of Metropolitan of Tallinn, under the omophorion of the new primate, there will be two dioceses, Narva and Tallinn, whose parishes number about 170 thousand parishioners.
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