Voldemar Ilja
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Voldemar Ilja | |
|---|---|
 Ilja at the Institute of Theology of the Estonian Evangelical Lutheran Church in November 2010 | |
| Born | 13 November 1922 Tsiistre, Misso Parish, Estonia |
| Died | 16 December 2010 (aged 88) Tallinn, Estonia |
| Resting place | Hiiu-Rahu Cemetery, Tallinn |
| Citizenship | Estonian |
| Occupations | Lutheran clergyman, theologian, church historian |
| Awards | Order of the White Star, 3rd Class EELK Cross of Merit, II Class |
Voldemar Ilja (13 November 1922 – 16 December 2010) was an Estonian Lutheran clergyman, theologian and church historian. He served congregations in Petseri, Võnnu and Nõmme, taught church history at the Institute of Theology of the Estonian Evangelical Lutheran Church, and was best known for his six-volume history of the Moravian Church in Estonia and Livonia.[1][2][3]
Ilja was born in Tsiistre in Misso Parish (present-day Rõuge Parish), the youngest child in a family of eight.[1] After primary school he entered an industrial secondary school near Petseri to study ceramics, but his studies were interrupted during the German occupation of Estonia during World War II.[1] In 1943, he evaded mobilisation into the German army and went into hiding in the forests. He was arrested in 1953 as a Forest Brother, held in Estonian prisons, and sent to logging work in Arkhangelsk Oblast, from which he was released in 1954.[1][4][5]
He began theological studies at the Institute of Theology of the Estonian Evangelical Lutheran Church (EELK) in Tallinn in 1955, was ordained on 5 September 1956, and completed his studies in 1962.[1][5] He served the Petseri congregation from 1956 to 1967, the Võnnu congregation from 1967 to 1978, and Nõmme Rahu congregation in Tallinn from 1978 until his retirement in 1999.[1][4][5] He also taught church history at the Institute of Theology, where he later served as dean and acting rector.[1][2]
Ilja died in Tallinn on 16 December 2010 and was buried at Hiiu-Rahu Cemetery.[4][6]
Scholarship
Ilja's main field of research was the history of the Moravian movement in Estonia and Livonia.[1][3] In 1967 he defended a master's thesis at the Institute of Theology on reform-preparatory movements in fourteenth-century Bohemia.[5] In 1995 he received a doctorate from the University of Helsinki with a dissertation on the Moravian movement in North Estonia between 1730 and 1743.[7][1]
He published a six-volume history of the Moravian Church in North and South Estonia between 1995 and 2010.[1][2] Later scholarship has described him as one of the most important researchers of Estonian Moravian history.[3][8] His work has also been cited in later international scholarship on religion and society in the Baltic provinces.[9]