The Religious Conversion Movement
The mass religious conversion movement swept through the southern Estonian counties in the mid-19th century. The first converts came from the Sangaste area in Valga County (then part of Tartu County).
The continued deterioration of the legal and economic situation of peasants after the 1819 peasant law, as well as the crop failure of 1840, forced them to apply to the provincial government for permission to emigrate. In 1841, rumors spread that free land could be obtained in southern Russia. The first representatives of the peasants began arriving in Riga in June–July 1841. The then Governor-General of Livonia, C.M. von der Pahlen, ordered them to be beaten and sent back home as criminals. Disappointed by the state officials, they began to seek help from the then Orthodox Vicar Bishop of Riga, Irinarh (Popov), who received them.
Among the first visitors to Riga on July 2 and 7, 1841, were men from Koikküla and Kaagjärve. On September 20, men from Karula arrived in Riga. In Puka, three men were flogged, among them the schoolmaster and the parish constable, who were dismissed from office. In September, the Pühajärve War took place – the largest peasant uprising against the authorities by those seeking to emigrate, which was also suppressed.
Repeated crop failures (1844 and 1845) and the resulting famine, as well as pressure from landlords, intensified the rumors that by joining the Orthodox Church, one could be freed from corvée labor and receive land from the Tsar. In June 1845, peasants in Võru and Tartu counties massively expressed their desire to convert to Russian Orthodoxy. In 1845, according to some data, 7,854 Estonians converted from Lutheranism to Orthodoxy, and between 1845–48, 47,324 Estonians converted. The average percentage of converts was higher in Saaremaa and Pärnumaa. By 1848, the conversion to Orthodoxy subsided, as it did not fulfill the desired hopes.
The religious conversion movement had a direct impact on land applications and the emigration movement. Applying for land became legal with the 1849 peasant law, which laid the foundation for the purchase of farms,
while the official recognition of the emigration movement by the government took place only in the early 1880s.
Formation of Congregations
In the autumn of 1845, the largest number of converts was in the Sangaste parish of southern Estonia. By the end of the year, 721 people had converted from Lutheranism to Orthodoxy. Therefore, on October 5, 1845, the first congregation of the conversion movement era was established in Mäeküla, Sangaste.
On December 17, 1847, the large Sangaste (Ilmjärve) congregation was divided into two: Laatre and Ilmjärve congregations.
In present-day Valga County, a total of 7 congregations were established in the mid-1840s: Valga St. Nicholas the Miracle Worker congregation, Kastolatsi congregation, Karula congregation, Priipalu congregation, Laanemetsa congregation, Laatre congregation, Ilmjärve congregation. Three of these were opened in Sangaste parish. In total, more than 40 new congregations were established in southern Estonia during the conversion movement.
The Helme-Tõrva congregation was opened on March 20, 1880. In its founding year, the congregation had 1,108 members. The congregation's area included several parishes: Koorküla, Leebiku, Pikasilla, Holdre, Jõgeveste, and Helme. In 1903, the congregation had 1,266 members.
On February 7, 1896, a new Issidor congregation was established in Valga, mainly due to the growth in the number of Russian railway workers. In 1897, the number of Orthodox believers in Valga was over 4,000 souls. In 1913, the Nicholas Church burned down. In 1923, the Nicholas and Issidor congregations were merged.
