The first event by Estonishing Life series takes a closer look at different religious communities and their activities in Estonia.
Despite Estonia being ranked as one of the least religious countries in the world, there are many active congregations and associations that people can join and practice their faith. The evening will give an overview of different religious groups and their activities, as well as challenges of practicing religion in Estonia.
The event begins with an introduction to religion in Estonia by Ringo Ringvee, who is an advisor to the Religious Affairs Department at the Estonian Ministry of the Interior, and an historian of religion. His academic interest has been on the relations between state and religions, especially in post-Soviet Estonia. Besides, Ringo is also a poet and a DJ.
The evening continues with a panel discussion involving representatives of different religious groups: Christians, Muslims, Jews and Buddhists.
Speakers
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Aleksander Sarapik
priest
Aleksander Sarapik is a high priest and the development director of the Estonian Orthodox Church. He received his masters degree in theology from the Hellenic College Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology in Boston and was consecrated as a high priest in 2008.
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Ilja Smorgun
Member of NGO Estonian Jewish Education Centre, Associate Professor
Ilja Smorgun is managing the NGO Estonian Jewish Education Centre. He holds a PhD in information society technologies. He has been previously working as the usability specialist at the Estonian Information System’s Authority (Riigi Infosüsteemi Amet), where he was designing new digital services for the Estonian State Portal, eesti.ee. Currently, he is the associate professor of interaction design at Tallinn University.
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Irina Pärt
Senior Researcher of Theology
Irina Pärt works as a senior researcher at the faculty of theology at the University of Tartu and has published extensively on the history of Old Believers and the Russian Orthodox Church. She is the author of two books on the subject that have been published in English: “Charisma and Tradition in Russian Orthodoxy” and “Old Believers, Religious Dissent and Gender in Russia, 1760-1850”.
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Luc Saffre
Member of Lutheran Church
Luc Saffre will shed light on his experiences at the Estonian Lutheran church. Luc was born and grew up in Belgium (Eupen), and at the age of 32 married an Estonian woman and moved to Estonia almost 20 years ago. They have two daughters and live in Vana-Vigala, a small village between Tallinn and Pärnu. Luc grew up in a Catholic family, but here in Estonia he is more actively engaged in the Lutheran church. In his daily life, Luc works as senior software developer in a small Estonian company owned by himself and his wife.
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Priit Rifk
Buddhist
Priit Rifk is a member of Drikung Kagyu Ratna Shri Center, which is a Tibetian Buddhism centre in Tallinn. His interest in Buddhism began more than 15 years ago and there were not too many Buddhist centres publicly known in Estonia back then. He did find Drikung Kagyu, and was really happy to have a chance to learn Buddhism from the ancient lineage and from those teachers who have deep knowledge of not only the philosophical aspect, but also the practical point of view. Priit considers himself a young practitioner who still has a lot to learn.
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Ringo Ringvee
Historian of Religion
Ringo is a historian of religion. His academic interest has been on the relations between state and religions, especially in post-Soviet Estonia. Besides, Ringo is also a poet and a DJ!
