Pastoral Visit to Friends in the Baltic States
Pastoral Visit to Friends in Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia 8-13 November 2025
From the 9th to 13th November I travelled in the Baltic States with Jane from Finland YM and Natasha from Moscow MM. We spent 2 days in each country: Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. It was a whistlestop tour but very worthwhile.
Our team met in Vilnius in Lithuania and spent an evening connecting with each other and making final plans for our visit. Most days we were going to be travelling somewhere so we needed to make sure we had all the timings right. Our first full day in the Baltics was spent together with Ervinas, an international member from Vilnius. We were a multilingual team and this day was a Russian speaking day. Natasha, and I to some extent, made sure that Jane – who doesn’t speak Russian – was included as much as possible. Whilst talking with Ervinas and learning about his journey into Quakerism and as an isolated Quaker we walked around the old town popping into several churches, which Ervinas was keen to show us. The churches were all open and had full congregations as our visit coincided with remembrance Sunday.
After lunch we went to an organisation called Nash Dom (Our House) which is run by Belarusian human rights activist Olga Karach. After showing us around their home which provides space for lots of different groups to meet in, we heard from around 6 people who were being supported by Nash Dom. They were mostly people who had either crossed the border from Belarus to Lithuania illegally or overstayed visas, and who were seeking asylum from the regime or military service in Belarus. You can read more about the organisations’s work here: https://ndbelarus.com/
The next morning we were on the move again, catching the bus to Riga, the capital of Latvia. Although the Baltic States are often lumped into one, they each have their own characteristics and different language (although Lithuanian and Latvian are similar, Estonian is a completely different language) and culture.
There are four Quaker members in Latvia, two international members and two members of Central European Yearly Meeting (CEYM). When CEYM was formed all the international members living in their region were offered the chance to transfer to the new YM; some did and some chose to stay as international members. However anyone wanting membership in a country with a CEYM member now has to join the yearly meeting as international membership is no longer an option for them.
That afternoon we met Ilja and had a lovely catch up with him. Like many Quakers in this part of the world he also attends another church, in his case the Catholic church. In the evening we met Agita, a Riga based member of CEYM. The next day, Agita joined our group and we all travelled by bus to Liepaja, a city on the Baltic Sea coast about 3.5 hours west of Riga. We met two Friends there, Inese and Rita, and spent the afternoon with Rita walking around the town and along the beach and finally holding a short period of worship in a park.
We often found it difficult to hold worship during the visit because we often could not find a suitable space. Our group of three visitors sometimes worshipped together in one of our hotel rooms, and we were able to have brief moments of stillness when talking with Friends, in a cafe or restaurant. We have invited everyone we met to join us for online worship and worship sharing in December, as one way of making up for this.
We returned to Riga that evening seeing lots of candles along the way and in Riga itself; Lāčplēsis Day which remembers all who fought for the independence of Latvia.
The next morning we were back on a bus, this time heading towards Tallinn in Estonia. In Tallinn there is one international member, Roland, who we met along with his family that evening. The next morning we were shown around the Estonian parliament as Roland is very active in one of the political parties there. After that we visited the Russian orthodox cathedral and soon after that a Ukrainian Greek Catholic church, which was established many years ago. The Ukrainian church has grown significantly since Russia began its war with Ukraine and in the early days of the war provided a lot of support for Ukrainian refugees.
Russia feels close when you’re in the Baltics, as I travelled into Lithuania, the border of the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad is only a few miles away. By the time we got to Tallinn, the Russian border is close and St Petersburg is only a few hours away by road. It’s sad to think that it’s not possible for me to visit the small Quaker communities in Russia at the moment, thanks to Putin’s war. Everywhere we saw a flag of one of the Baltic States flying there was always a Ukrainian flag adjacent. We saw a large display of anti-war/anti-Russian banners and flags outside the Russian embassy in Tallinn which has been there since the war began in 2022; consequently there is a permanent police presence in this part of Tallinn’s old town.
On our final evening in the Baltics we attended a meeting for worship in Tallinn with 14 people present, including two 16 year olds. It was a wonderful way to end the visit. After the meeting we held some worship sharing about living in difficult times and then had tea and chat.
It was a privilege to travel amongst Friends in these 3 countries and I hope to return again one day.
Michael Eccles EMES Executive Secretary, December 2025
