Jaan Kiivit Senior (27 February 1906 – 3 August 1971) was an

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

prelate A prelate () is a high-ranking member of the Minister (Christianity), Christian clergy who is an Ordinary (church officer), ordinary or who ranks in precedence with ordinaries. The word derives from the Latin , the past participle of , which me ...

who was the

Archbishop In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdi ...

Tallinn Tallinn is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Estonia, most populous city of Estonia. Situated on a Tallinn Bay, bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, it has a population of (as of 2025) and ...

and the first

primate Primates is an order (biology), order of mammals, which is further divided into the Strepsirrhini, strepsirrhines, which include lemurs, galagos, and Lorisidae, lorisids; and the Haplorhini, haplorhines, which include Tarsiiformes, tarsiers a ...

of the

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

from 1949 and 1967, after the break away from the exiled Estonian Evangelium's Lutheran Church.

Biography

Kiivit was born in

Tuhalaane Tuhalaane is a village in Mulgi Parish in Viljandi County in southern Estonia. (retrieved 28 July 2021) It borders the villages of Hirmuküla, Morna, Muri, and Suuga as well as Viljandi Parish. Notable people *Ants Piip (1884–1942), politic ...

Viljandi County Viljandi County ( or ''Viljandimaa''; ) is one of 15 counties of Estonia. It is located in southern Estonia bordering Pärnu, Järva, Jõgeva, Tartu and Valga counties as well as Latvia. History Viljandimaa, under the German name of ''Krei ...

on 27 February 1906 in the

Governorate of Livonia The Governorate of Livonia, also known as the Livonia Governorate, was a province (''guberniya'') and one of the Baltic governorates of the Russian Empire, Baltic Governorate-General until 1876. Governorate of Livonia bordered Governorate of E ...

. His father Jaan Kiivit and his mother Leena Allik were millers. From autumn 1925 to December 1932 he studied at the Faculty of Theology of the

University of Tartu The University of Tartu (UT; ; ) is a public research university located in the city of Tartu, Estonia. It is the national university of Estonia. It is also the largest and oldest university in the country.

. He was ordained priest on 16 July 1933 by Archbishop Jakob Kukk. In April 1933 he became a vicar in

Jõhvi Jõhvi ( ; ; ) is a town in northeastern Estonia, and the administrative seat of Ida-Viru County and Jõhvi Parish. The town is located about 50 km west of the Estonia–Russia international border. History Jõhvi was first mentioned as ...

and in July 1933 he became a pastor in

Emmaste Emmaste () is a village in Hiiumaa Parish, Hiiu County in northwestern Estonia Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west ...

, on the island of

Hiiumaa Hiiumaa ( , ) is the second largest island in Estonia and is part of the West Estonian archipelago, in the Baltic Sea. It has an area of 989 km2 and is 22 km from the Estonian mainland. Its largest town is Kärdla. It is located within ...

. In 1940 he was elected Dean of the Viru deanery and became acting dean. On 15 January 1941 he became was confirmed as Dean, a title which he could not have before due to his young age. On 6 June 1948, he became pastor of

St. John's Church, Tallinn St. John's Church () is a large Lutheran parish church in Tallinn, Estonia. It is dedicated to John the Evangelist, Saint John the Evangelist, a disciple of Jesus Christ and author of the fourth Christian Gospel. Construction began in 1862, and th ...

and Dean of Tallinn. In that period he also acted as a substitute for the Archbishop, who had moved into exile in Sweden in 1944.

Archbishop

On 2 February 1949, he was appointed Bishop of Tallinn and Primate of the Estonian Church. On 20 April 1949 he was elected and confirmed by the Constituent Assembly as Deputy Bishop. On 23 October 1949, the Church Council of the EELC chose Kiivit as the first Archbishop of EELC, a post to hold for life. As archbishop, he was closely involved with ecumenism. In 1958 he participated in the first meetings of the

Christian Peace Conference The Christian Peace Conference () was an international organization based in Prague and founded in 1958 by Josef Hromádka, a pastor who had spent the war years in the United States, moving back to Czechoslovakia when the war ended and Heinrich V ...

in Prague. He was later elected to the board of the CVC. In 1959 he participated in the festivities of the 550th anniversary of the

University of Leipzig Leipzig University (), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 December 1409 by Frederick I, Electo ...

(renamed Karl-Marx University during the communist rule) in the

German Democratic Republic East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on ...

and obtained an honorary doctorate. On 31 August 1967 Kiivit resigned from the post of archbishop due to poor health, but also because of increasing distance from the state authorities. He died on 3 August 1971. His son Jaan Kiivit Jr. succeeded as Archbishop some years later.

Agent for the KGB

KGB archives opened after the collapse of the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

showed that Kiivit an

NKVD The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (, ), abbreviated as NKVD (; ), was the interior ministry and secret police of the Soviet Union from 1934 to 1946. The agency was formed to succeed the Joint State Political Directorate (OGPU) se ...

KGB The Committee for State Security (, ), abbreviated as KGB (, ; ) was the main security agency of the Soviet Union from 1954 to 1991. It was the direct successor of preceding Soviet secret police agencies including the Cheka, Joint State Polit ...

agent who was first recruited in 1948. His code name was Jüri I.Puidet, R
"17 kevadist hetke. Peapiiskop Jaan Kiivit sen 1906–1971"
, ''

''. Retrieved on 25 May 2019.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kiivit Sr., Jaan 1906 births 1971 deaths Lutheran archbishops of Tallinn University of Tartu alumni People from Mulgi Parish 20th-century Lutheran archbishops Burials at Rahumäe Cemetery