The Obinitsa Church of Transfiguration of Our Lord is a church belonging to the

Estonian Apostolic Orthodox Church The Estonian Apostolic Orthodox Church ( et, Eesti Apostlik-Õigeusu Kirik; EOC) is an Orthodox church in Estonia under the direct jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople. Under Estonian law it is the legal successor to the pre ...

Obinitsa Obinitsa (also known as Obiniste, Abinitsa, Kirikmäe) is a village in Setomaa Parish, Võru County, southeastern Estonia. It has a population of 187 (as of 1 January 2009). The Meremäe-Obinitsa Primary School was closed in 2009, after that the ...

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...

History

The building of the former Obinitsa School-Church was constructed in 1897 and was inaugurated in 1904. The school-church, unique in the Baltics, was a wooden two-storied building with a

bell tower A bell tower is a tower that contains one or more bells, or that is designed to hold bells even if it has none. Such a tower commonly serves as part of a Christian church, and will contain church bells, but there are also many secular bell tower ...

. In 1950, the church was closed and the building given to the school. This action was based in

Soviet anti-religious legislation The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country This is a list of countries with territory that straddles more than one continent, known as transcontinental states or int ...

that separated church and state and forced the handover of religious properties to the state. This activity was based on a written regulation from the former chairman of the

Estonian SSR The Estonian SSR,, russian: Эстонская ССР officially the Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic,, russian: Эстонская Советская Социалистическая Республика was an ethnically based adminis ...

Council of Ministers, Arnold Veimer, to the chairman of the Meremäe rural municipality Executive Committee.Jüri Naarits. ''Meie kodu on Vastseliina'', Käsikiri. The congregation of the closed church was given one hectare of land and two old abandoned buildings for a new church. The new Obinitsa church is next to the cemetery by the road leading from Obinitsa to Piusa. In 1950, local priest Vilemon Talomees, supported by the local community, began building a new church. At first, he worked alone; then congregation members joined him. The

Võru County Võru County ( et, Võru maakond or ''Võrumaa''; vro, Võro maakund) is a county in southern Estonia. It is bordered by Valga County and Põlva County and is the only Estonian county bordering two countries - Latvia (Alūksne Municipality and ...

deanery did not support the building, as they were busy building Meeksi Church. On January 9, 1952, interior decorating began. Valga Church gave the Obinitsa congregation the assets from Tõrva Church (church bell, icons, chandelier, candle sticks, altar, and service clothes for the priest). Large donations of building materials came from local farmers. Material support was provided by the Bishopric of Estonia. The church, still surrounded by scaffolding, was inaugurated on June 15, 1952, by Bishop Roman of Tallinn in honour of

Transfiguration of Our Lord In the New Testament, the Transfiguration of Jesus is an event where Jesus is transfigured and becomes radiant in glory upon a mountain. The Synoptic Gospels (, , ) describe it, and the Second Epistle of Peter also refers to it (). In these a ...

. On October 27, 1953, Bishop Roman gave Vilemon Talomees a letter of thanks for his selflessness and self-sacrifice in applying all his skills, will, and workforce into building a handsome new church and presbytery, with outbuildings for the Obinitsa congregation. The Holy Patriarch, who awarded him the right to wear a badge of distinction, appreciated his work.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Obinitsa Church of Transfiguration of Our Lord Eastern Orthodox churches in Estonia Setomaa Parish Buildings and structures in Võru County Churches completed in 1952 1952 establishments in Estonia