Einar Soone (born 26 September 1947) is an Estonian prelate who served as suffragan bishop to the Archbishop of Tallinn and the first Bishop of the Diocese of the Northern Region in

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and t ...

Biography

Soone commenced studies in 1970 at the

Institute of Theology of the Estonian Evangelical Lutheran Church The Institute of Theology of the Estonian Evangelical Lutheran Church ( et, Eesti Evangeelse Luterliku Kiriku Usuteaduse Instituut, or et, EELK Usuteaduse Instituut) is a private university in Tallinn, Estonia, established in 1946. It is situat ...

. He was ordained priest on 3 October 1973 by Archbishop Alfred Tooming and was appointed pastor of the congregations in

Lüganuse Lüganuse is a small borough () in Ida-Viru County, northern Estonia. It is the administrative centre of Lüganuse Parish. As of 2011 Census, the settlement's population was 439, of which the Estonians Estonians or Estonian people ( et, ee ...

and

Kiviõli Kiviõli (russian: Кивиыли) is an industrial town in Ida-Viru County, Estonia. The settlement was founded in 1922 and became a town in 1946. The main industry is oil shale mining, which gives the town its name (literally "stone oil"). ...

. On 29 May 1980, after graduating from the Institute of Theology, he was awarded his warrant as a priest. From 1985 till 2012 he also served as Pastor of

Charles' Church, Tallinn Charles's Church () is a Lutheran church in Tallinn, Estonia, built 1862–1870 to plans by Otto Pius Hippius. It is Tallinn's grandest 19th-century church. Tõnismägi hill has been the location of a chapel probably since the 14th century. In ...

. In 1992, the Church Council elected him a bishop of the EELC. Archbishop Kuno Pajula consecrated him bishop on 12 December 1992 in St. Mary's Cathedral, Tallinn. For several years (1989-2017), Soone was the representative of

Estonian Evangelical Lutheran Church The Estonian Evangelical Lutheran Church (EELC; Estonian: ''Eesti Evangeelne Luterlik Kirik'', abbreviated EELK) is a Lutheran church in Estonia. EELC is member of the Lutheran World Federation and belongs to the Community of Protestant Church ...

in the Council of Churches. On 22 January 1993 he was elected President of the Estonian Council of Churches, and he held this position for 20 years. He also represented the

in assemblies and conferences of international ecumenical organisations. Soone retired on 27 September 2017. Bishop Soone's work has been highly recognised by the Church and many state and social institutions. On the 84th anniversary of the Republic of Estonia, the President of the Republic awarded Soone with the 2nd Class

Order of the Estonian Red Cross The Order of the Estonian Red Cross ( et, Eesti Punase Risti teenetemärk; french: Ordre de la Croix-Rouge Estonienne) was instituted in 1920 by the Estonian Red Cross Society. The Order of the Estonian Red Cross is bestowed in order to give rec ...

."PIISKOP EMEERITUS EINAR SOONE"
'' EELC''. Retrieved on 03 June 2019.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Soone, Einar 1947 births Estonian Lutheran clergy Estonian Lutheran bishops 20th-century Lutheran bishops 21st-century Lutheran bishops People from Rapla Living people