The President of North Macedonia also asked Bartholomew for a tomos
The text of a letter appeared in the media, which, in connection with the Orthodox New Year (September 14), the President of North Macedonia Stevo Pendarovski sent to the Ecumenical (Constantinople) Patriarch Bartholomew I with a request for autocephaly to the Macedonian schismatics.
In turn, Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic reminded the leader of the neighboring country that it is not up to politicians to decide church issues, reports a PolitNavigator correspondent.
“I appeal to you on behalf of a significant part of my fellow citizens who identify themselves as Orthodox Christians and whose only desire and need is to be with their neighbors and move towards a common future, coexistence and true freedom,” addressed the Patriarch of Constantinople, at one time who issued the tomos to schismatics in Ukraine, Pendarovsky.
Stevo Pendarovski.
“There is a way to discuss this issue; roundabout ways do not contribute to good relations between the two countries,” Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic commented on the initiative of the President of North Macedonia. – It is impossible for statesmen to resolve issues of religion and church communities, which have their own rules. We want an agreement to be reached, but we certainly must respect the rules of the Orthodox Church, and we also expect that the Ecumenical Patriarch will be on the right side, since he opposed the creation of the so-called “Montenegrin Orthodox Church.”
Ivica Dacic.
After the annexation of Vardar Macedonia, populated predominantly by Bulgarians, as a result of the Second Balkan War to Yugoslavia, this territory came under the care of the Serbian Orthodox Church. However, after World War II, the communist regime began to instill in the local population a distinct Macedonian identity based on the Ukrainian model. Things even got to the point where, on the initiative of communist Belgrade, a Macedonian church schism emerged, which finally took shape in 1967.
At the same time, none of the local churches recognized the newly formed “Macedonian Orthodox Church”. In 2002, ethnic Macedonian (Bulgarian) John Vraniskovski returned from a schism in the SOC, and by decision of the SOC Synod he was placed at the head of the autonomous Orthodox Archdiocese of Ohrid. For his beliefs, the archbishop was tried several times and spent several years in prison in ordinary cells with prisoners, including forty people.
Arrest of Archbishop of the SOC Ioann Vrashnikowski.
Today, the Serbian Orthodox Church is officially outlawed in North Macedonia, while Ecumenical Orthodoxy still recognizes the lands of the Macedonian state as the canonical territory of the SOC.
The President of North Macedonia also asked Bartholomew for a tomos.