Jaan Kiivit Jr.

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Jaan Kiivit Jr. (19 February 1940 – 31 August 2005) was the Archbishop of Tallinn and the Primate of the Estonian Evangelical Lutheran Church from 1994 to 2005.

Born in Rakvere, Estonia, he was the son of Jaan Kiivit Sr., a priest who later became archbishop. After finishing secondary school, he studied at the Theological Institute of the Estonian Evangelical Lutheran Church. He became a curate in 1964 and a parish priest the next year, and was ordained on 2 February 1966 by his father.

Kiivit served as the pastor of the Holy Ghost Church from 1966 to 1994. He held several church leadership roles, including deputy member of the Consistory (1980), assessor (1986), and member of the Consistory Board (1990). In 1994 he was elected archbishop of Tallinn and the Estonian Evangelical Lutheran Church.

Alongside his parish duties, he taught practical theology at the Theological Institute in Tallinn (1978–1994), served as institute curator (1989–1991), and was rector (1991–1992). He helped reopen the University of Tartu’s Faculty of Theology (1990–1991), coordinated relations with the North Elbian Church (1989–1994), and chaired the Foreign Relations Council of the church from 1992. He represented the Estonian church at international conferences, participated in Lutheran World Federation assemblies, and became the first Estonian to join the LWF Council. He also contributed to the Leuenberg Concordia Executive Committee (1994) and served as a co-chair of a joint Estonia–EELC government commission since 1995.

Kiivit received honorary doctorates from Helsinki University (1997) and Suomi College in the USA (1998), and in 2001 he was awarded the Estonian 2nd class Order of the White Star. He translated theological works and published study materials for the Theological Institute.

He was married for 43 years to Sirje Kiivit (1941–2014), and they had three daughters. Jaan Kiivit Jr. died on 31 August 2005 while visiting St. Petersburg, Russia.