Twenty-five years ago, on February 23, 1996, a rift between the Moscow Patriarchate and the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople came to a head with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew’s recognition of the Orthodox Church of Estonia as independent of Moscow, under the direct jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. The battle for recognition for the Orthodox Church of Estonia came to a close after almost four years of unsuccessful negotiations with Moscow.