MOSCOW - President Vladimir Putin met Wednesday with the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, and both hailed recent progress in settling a dispute between two Orthodox branches in Estonia.
"As far as I know, certain positive developments have occurred there," Putin said of the feud in Estonia during a meeting with Patriarch Alexy II, part of which was shown on Russian television.
In April, Russian Orthodox followers in the Baltic nation agreed to register under a new name, ending one of their quarrels with Estonian Orthodox believers affiliated with the Turkey-based Patriarchate of Constantinople.
The Moscow-affiliated church agreed to call itself the "Estonian Orthodox Church of the Patriarchate of Moscow," leaving the other church with the name they had both previously claimed — "Estonian Apostolic Orthodox Church."
But the two church branches have not yet sorted out their rival claims to church property, including valuable land and churches, nationalized after the Red Army invaded Estonia in 1940.
"They promise that the property issue will be resolved in September," Alexy II told Putin. He added that if the property dispute is settled, he would be able to visit Estonia in the fall.
There are up to 50,000 ethnic Estonian Orthodox believers and an estimated 100,000 ethnic Russian Orthodox followers among Estonia's 1.4 million people .
Putin and Alexy II also discussed preparations for the 2003 jubilee of the canonization of St. Seraphim of Sarov, one Russia's most venerated saints.