On the day preceding the Republic of Estonia’s Independence Day on 24 February 2024, a historic and joyous visit took place at the Embassy of the Order of Malta in Tallinn.

The Archbishop of the Estonian Evangelical Lutheran Church (EELK), Urmas Viilmaa, presented the flag of Maarjamaa to the Order of Malta to Manfred L. Ritter Mautner von Markhof, Ambassador of the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of St. John of Jerusalem, Rhodes, and Malta. On the blue background of the flag, the Virgin Mary carrying the baby Jesus in her arms is depicted using golden thread.

This depiction in the flag of the land of Mary and its symbolic nature is based on her words, for when referring to the wedding at Cana, she said to the servers: “Do whatever he tells you!” John 2:5. This gesture is also depicted on the blue flag of St. Mary’s where Mary points to Jesus with her hand.

“This sentence by Mary is ideal for ecumenical cooperation because all the main churches operating in Estonia, both Catholic and Orthodox, together with Lutherans and other post-Reformation churches, can unanimously agree with this statement – we turn our eyes to Mary, who in turn points to Jesus, according to whose words we must live. In this way, Mary unites us all, not dividing us, unlike in other periods in history”, commented EELK Archbishop Urmas Viilmaa next to the flag of Maarjamaa.

“Maarjamaa is a common home for us all, where we can take Mary as an example, and turn our eyes to Jesus, according to whose words and teachings we live and act together as members of Christ’s Church”.

Here, we should also remember the history of the church in Maarjamaa, which in the narrowest sense begins in 1215 because it was in the summer of that year that a large number of people were baptised in the southern regions of Estonia. This was followed by another major event: the Fourth Lateran Council, one of the most important in the history of the church, which was convened in Rome. For the first time, an Episcopus Estonum (Estonian Bishop) was among the 1,400 participants; he was Theoderich, a Cistercian consecrated as Estonian Bishop in 1210 by Albert, the Bishop of Riga. He introduced Livonia, this new land dedicated to the Virgin Mary. Although there are few materials about this time, thanks to the chronicle of Henry of Latvia (Henricus de Lettis), the creator of the image of Maarjamaa (Heinric chronicon Livoniae or Origines Livoniae), some details about these events are known. However, one of the national romantic legends, known to this day, is that Pope Innocent III: “consecrated Estonia to the Virgin Mary” and gave Estonia the name Maarjamaa (Terra Mariae or Terra Mariana).

Philippe Jean-Charles Jourdan, Bishop of the Roman Catholic Church in Estonia, explains that historians comment that this type of consecration was a common spiritual tradition in the Catholic Church. He emphasises, however, that the dedication of a whole country or an entire region to the Virgin Mary was relatively uncommon, and it can be said that the dedication of Old Livonia was one of the earliest state dedications when looking at large Catholic countries such as France, England, and Spain. The only source that tells us about this strongly associates the Pope of Rome with this development, which is also unusual and imparts a special meaning to the consecration, Bishop Jourdan points out: “It is especially important here that he compared Livonia to the Holy Land; it shows that this consecration, in a historical sense, has been a very meaningful event, recognising Mary’s special role in the Redemption story”.

“A loving and suffering maternal figure, and a protector of the poor, who combines both tragedy and greatness, is how Mary is close to the spirit of Estonians”, reflects historian and religious researcher Toomas Abiline. As such, the Virgin Mary carrying the baby Jesus is depicted on the flag of Maarjamaa presented to the Order of Malta as a sign of her unifying power of ecumenical cooperation.