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== History ==
Orthodox missionaries were active among the Estonians in the southeast regions of the area, closest to Pskov, in the 10th through 12th centuries. The first mention of an Orthodox [[congregation ]] in Estonia was in 1030 in Tartu. Around 600 AD on the east side of Toome Hill (Toomemägi) the Estonians erected a fortress named Tarbatu. In 1030 the Kievan prince, Jaroslav the Wise, raided Tarbatu and built his own fort in this place as well as the congregation in a cathedral dedicated to St. [[George the Trophy-bearer]]. Orthodox Christians were later expelled from the city by the Germans in 1472, who martyred their [[priest]], Isidor, along with a number of Orthodox faithful (the group is commemorated on [[January 8]]).
Little is known about the history of the church in the area until the 17th and 18th centuries, when many [[Old Believers]] fled there from Russia to avoid the liturgical reforms introduced by Patriarch [[Nikon of Moscow]].
