Religious Conversion Movement
A mass religious conversion movement swept through the counties of southern Estonia in the mid-19th century.
Although serfdom was abolished in the Governorate of Livonia in 1819, relations between the peasantry and the manorial estates were still insufficiently regulated. The peasants’ economic situation was further worsened by the crop failure of 1840.
In 1841, rumours spread that free land was available in southern Russia. That same summer, the first peasants began applying to the provincial government in Riga for permission to emigrate. The Governor-General refused to grant permission and even had the applicants punished. The Orthodox Bishop of Riga, however, began offering assistance on condition that they converted to Orthodoxy. Peasant unrest broke out in the autumn, the largest incident being the Pühajärve War in September, when peasants seeking permission to emigrate resisted the authorities.
The crop failures of 1844 and 1845, together with pressure from landowners, reinforced rumours that by joining the Orthodox Church peasants could free themselves from obligations imposed by the manorial estates and receive land from the Emperor. By 1848, conversions to Orthodoxy had begun to decline as it became clear that these hopes would not be fulfilled.
The religious conversion movement had a direct impact on demands for land and on the emigration movement. The right to acquire land was established by the Peasant Law of 1849, which laid the foundations for peasants to purchase their farms as freehold property.
Establishment of Orthodox Congregations
In the autumn of 1845, the number of converts was highest in Sangaste parish, and the first congregation founded during the religious conversion movement was established in Sangaste on 5 October 1845. A total of seven congregations were established in the territory of present-day Valga County in the mid-1840s. Altogether, more than 40 new congregations were established in southern Estonia during the religious conversion movement.
In the Helme–Tõrva area, the conversion movement among the rural population took place somewhat later, and the first congregation there was established in 1880.
In the town of Valga, Orthodox congregations emerged during the construction of the railway junction, mainly because of the growing number of Russian railway workers.
