Estonian Orthodox Church of the exaltation of the Holy Cross in Kronstadt: history and present

Religious and historical-ethnographic studies by national authors are now increasingly focusing on the life of Orthodox Estonians in north-west Russia. However, the sources of such works in most cases consists of materials only in Russian language, which significantly limits and narrows the scope of these studies. This article, based on pre-revolutionary materials from the periodical publications in Estonian language and new archival sources identified by the author (which was not previously introduced into scientific circulation), tells about the history of the Estonian Orthodox Church of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross in the city of Kronstadt. The history of this church, which previously functioned (until 1902) as an Anglican church and later became the center of life for the Orthodox Estonians of this seaside city, goes back more than 200 years. December 2022 marked the 120th anniversary of the consecration of the Church of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. At that time, in 1902, three people, now glorified by the Russian Orthodox Church as saints, met there at the same time. The Orthodox church life in this area of Kronstadt, which was in tatters since 1931, found a new lease of life in 2017, when the parish of the St. Petersburg diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church was founded here, which became part of the Kronstadt deanery district. The paper also tells about the current revival of the temple.