 Macedonian Orthodox Church – Archdiocese of Ohrid | |
|---|---|
| Македонска православна црква – Охридска архиепископија | |
 Coat of arms of the MOC, with theChurch of St. Sophia, Ohrid, the historical seat of theArchbishopric of Ohrid, depicted on it | |
| Abbreviation | AO, MOC, MOC-AO |
| Type | Autocephaly |
| Classification | Christian |
| Orientation | Eastern Orthodox |
| Scripture | |
| Theology | Eastern Orthodox theology |
| Primate | Stefan, Archbishop of Ohrid and Macedonia |
| Region | North Macedonia |
| Language | |
| Territory | North Macedonia |
| Possessions | |
| Independence |
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| Recognition |
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| Separated from | Serbian Orthodox Church (SOC) |
| Official website | mpc.org.mk/ |
TheMacedonian Orthodox Church – Archdiocese of Ohrid (MOC-AO;Macedonian:Македонска православна црква – Охридска архиепископија, МПЦ-ОА,romanized: Makedonska pravoslavna crkva – Ohridska arhiepiskopija, MPC-OA), or simply theMacedonian Orthodox Church (MOC) or theArchdiocese of Ohrid (AO), is anautocephalousEastern Orthodox church inNorth Macedonia. The Macedonian Orthodox Church claimsecclesiastical jurisdiction over North Macedonia, and is also represented in theMacedonian diaspora. Theprimate of the Macedonian Orthodox Church isStefan Veljanovski, theMetropolitan of Skopje and Archbishop of Ohrid and Macedonia.
In 1959, theHoly Synod of the Serbian Orthodox Church grantedautonomy to the Macedonian Orthodox Church in the then-Socialist Republic of Macedonia, as the restoration of the historicArchbishopric of Ohrid;[2] the MOC was united with the Serbian Orthodox Church (SOC) as a part of the SOC. In 1967, on the bicentennial anniversary of the abolition of the Archbishopric of Ohrid, the MacedonianHoly Synod unilaterally announced its autocephaly from the Serbian Orthodox Church. The Serbian synod denounced the decision and condemned the clergy asschismatic.[3] Thenceforth, the Macedonian Church had remained unrecognised by allmainstream Eastern Orthodox churches for 55 years.[2][4]
The Macedonian Orthodox Church was formally reintegrated into the mainstreamEastern Orthodox community in 2022. TheEcumenical Patriarchate accepted the MOC intocommunion and recognised North Macedonia as itscanonical territory. The schism between the Serbian and Macedonian churches ended, while the MOC was restored as anautonomous part of the Serbian church according to its 1959 status. Afterwards, the Serbian Orthodox Church officially granted autocephaly to the MOC, though not all autocephalous churches have recognised this autocephaly.
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Following the fall of theFirst Bulgarian Empire, Byzantine EmperorBasil II acknowledged the autocephalous status of theBulgarian Orthodox Church and set up its boundaries, dioceses, property and other privileges.The Archbishopric was seated in Ohrid in theByzantine theme of Bulgaria and was established in 1019 by lowering the rank of the autocephalous Bulgarian Patriarchate and its subjugation to the jurisdiction of thePatriarchate of Constantinople.[5][6]
In 1767 the Ohrid Archbishopric was abolished by the Ottoman authorities and annexed to the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople.[7] During theBulgarian National awakening, efforts were made in Ottoman Macedonia for the restoration of a Bulgarian church in the region separate from the Greek Patriarchate, and in 1870 theBulgarian Exarchate was created. The Christian population of the bishoprics ofSkopje andOhrid voted in 1874 overwhelmingly in favour of joining the exarchate. The Bulgarian Exarchate became in control of most of theMacedonian region.Theodosius of Skopje attempted to restore the Ohrid Archbishopric as a separate Macedonian church in 1890.[7]
FollowingVardar Macedonia's incorporation into Serbia in 1913, several of the Bulgarian Exarchate's dioceses were forcefully taken over by theSerbian Orthodox Church.[8] While the region was occupied by Bulgaria duringWorld War I andWorld War II, the local dioceses temporarily came under the control of the Bulgarian Exarchate.[9][10]
The first modern assembly ofMacedonian clergy was held in the village ofIzdeglavje near Ohrid in 1943.[11] It was sponsored by the High Command of theMacedonian Partisans who created a Bureau of Religious Affairs and appointed Veljo Mančevski to be the Commissioner at the Headquarters of the Partisan Detachments and be in charge of religious affairs.[12] In October 1944, an initiative board for the organisation of the Macedonian Orthodox Church was officially formed.[2] In 1945, the first clergy and people's synod met and adopted aresolution for the restoration of theOhrid Archbishopric as aMacedonian Orthodox Church. It was submitted to the Serbian Orthodox Church, which since 1919 had been the sole church in Vardar Macedonia. The resolution was rejected, but a later one, submitted in 1958 at the second synod, was accepted on 17 June 1959, by the Serbian Orthodox Church.[13] Dimitrije Stojković was appointed as the firstarchbishop of Ohrid and Metropolitan of Macedonia under the nameDositej II (Dositheus II).[2]
In May 1966, MOC requested autocephaly from theSerbian Bishops' Council but the Council refused to forward the request to sister Orthodox churches. At the time, the Serbian church had the support and protection of Yugoslav politicianAleksandar Ranković, until his dismissal from all positions in July 1966. After this, MOC sent a demand to the Council for autocephaly and threatened to act unilaterally if it was not granted. The Council declined the demand on 24 May 1967. As a result, at its third synod on 17–19 July 1967, on the bicentennial anniversary of the abolition of the Archbishopric of Ohrid,[14] the Macedonian Church proclaimed its autocephaly (full administrative independence) unilaterally.[15] Serbian Church bishops denounced the decision and condemned the clergy as schismatic.[3] TheLeague of Communists of Macedonia welcomed the proclamation. For all the subsequent efforts to gain recognition, the autocephaly of the Macedonian Church was not recognised by other canonical Eastern Orthodox churches, due to opposition from the SOC.[2] It applied to be part of theWorld Council of Churches in 1967 but Serbian patriarchGerman vetoed the admission.[12] In 1981, there were 6 dioceses in Yugoslavia, one in Australia, and one in Canada; 225 parishes, 102 monasteries, around 250 priests, and 15 monks under the jurisdiction of MOC. TheCatholic Church maintained ties with MOC and the latter established annual May commemorations atSaint Cyril's tomb in Rome.[16]
Since thebreakup of Yugoslavia in the 1990s, the Serbian Patriarchate had sought to restore its control over the Macedonian Church.[11] MOC was introduced into theMacedonian constitution on 17 November 1991.[14] In 2001, MOC demanded a military solution to theinsurgency in Macedonia. TheIslamic Religious Community of Macedonia accused MOC of "promoting civil war and bloodshed."[17]
TheOrthodox Ohrid Archbishopric under the SOC, which had split from MOC, was created in the 2000s and was led byJovan Vraniškovski.[13] The later chain of events turned into avicious circle of mutual accusations and incidents involving the Serbian Orthodox Church and, partly, the Serbian government on one side, and the MOC, backed by the Macedonian government on the other. Vraniškovski complained of a new state-backed media campaign against his church.[18] The government denied registration to his organisation,[19] and launched a criminal case against him. He was removed from his bishopric, arrested, and later sentenced to 18 months in prison,[20] and had "extremely limited visitation rights".[21]
In turn, the Serbian Church denied a Macedonian delegation access to the monastery ofProhor Pčinjski, which was the usual site of Macedonian celebration of the national holiday of Ilinden (literally meaningSt. Elijah Day) on 2 August[22] and the site where the First Session ofASNOM was held. Macedonian border police often denied Serbian priests entry into the country in clerical garb.[23] On 12 November 2009, the Macedonian Orthodox Church added "Archdiocese of Ohrid" to its official name and changed itscoat of arms and flag.[24][25][26]
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In November 2017,Bulgarian National Television announced the content of a letter that the MOC had sent to theHoly Synod of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church requesting talks on recognition of the Macedonian Orthodox Church. The letter was signed by ArchbishopStefan Veljanovski. Among other things, the letter stated: "The Bulgarian Orthodox Church - Bulgarian Patriarchate, taking into account the unity of the Orthodox Church and the real spiritual and pastoral needs, should establisheucharistic unity with the restored Ohrid Archbishopric in the face of the Macedonian Orthodox Church".[27] On 27 November, the Holy Synod of the Bulgarian patriarchate accepted the proposal that it become Macedonia'smother church and agreed to work towards recognition of its status.[28][29][30] The Serbian Church expressed its surprise over the Bulgarian decision to be "mother" to the Macedonian Church.[31]
On 14 May 2018, the Bulgarian Orthodox Church declined the invitation from the Macedonian Orthodox Church to participate in the festivities celebrating the 1000th anniversary of the establishment of the Archbishopric of Ohrid. They also declined to send a representative to the celebration.[32] In late May 2018, theEcumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople accepted the request from MOC to examine itscanonical status.[33]
On 13 January 2020, the Ecumenical PatriarchBartholomew received North Macedonia's prime ministerOliver Spasovski and his predecessorZoran Zaev.[34] According to the Ecumenical Patriarchate's statement, "The purpose of the visit was to examine the ecclesiastical problem of the country. The previous stages of the matter were discussed during the meeting."[35] It was announced that the patriarch would invite both the Serbian Orthodox Church and the Macedonian Orthodox Church to a joint meeting in a bid to find a mutually acceptable solution to the country's ecclesiastical issue.[35] In September 2020, the President of North Macedonia,Stevo Pendarovski, wrote a letter to the Ecumenical Patriarch, asking him to recognise the MOC.[36]
On 9 May 2022, theHoly Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate recognised the Macedonian Orthodox Church, its hierarchy and faithful, and establishedeucharisticcommunion with it. It also stated that it recognised the MOC'sjurisdiction as being overNorth Macedonia.[37][38] However, the Ecumenical Patriarchate explicitly refused torecognise the word "Macedonia" or any other derivative to designate the church, and stated it would use "Ohrid" to refer to it.[b] The Holy Synod also stated it was the role of the Serbian Orthodox Church to settle the administrative issues the Serbian Church had with the MOC.[39][40][41] The decision of the Ecumenical Patriarchate was welcomed by North Macedonia's Prime Minister,Dimitar Kovačevski.[25] After the Ecumenical Patriarchate announced communion with the MOC, the Russian Orthodox Church came to the conclusion that it recognised only the canonical rights of the Serbian Orthodox Church and refused to recognise MOC's jurisdiction over North Macedonia.[42]
On 16 May, theHoly Synod of the Serbian Orthodox Church released a statement that the situation of the MOC was resolved. The Holy Synod stated that full ecclesiasticalautonomy was restored to the MOC under the Patriarchate of Serbia, bringing the MOC-OAfully into communion with the mainstream Eastern Orthodox world.[43][44][45]
On 24 May 2022, the feast of saintsCyril and Methodius,[46] during aliturgy presided by both primates of the MOC-OA and the Serbian Orthodox Church in Skopje,Patriarch Porfirije of the Serbian Church announced to the faithful that "the Holy Synod of the Serbian Orthodox Church has unanimously met the pleas of the Macedonian Orthodox Church and has accepted and recognised its autocephaly."[47][48][49][50] During this liturgy, the primate of the MOC-OA stated he considered theMother Church of the MOC to be the Ecumenical Patriarchate.[46][51]
On 5 June 2022, during aconcelebration of theDivine Liturgy in Belgrade between the SOC and the MOC,Patriarch Porfirije of Serbia gave atomos of autocephaly toArchbishop Stefan.[52][53][54][55] On the same day, Archbishop Stefan stated that he only recognised autocephaly that is granted from the Ecumenical Patriarchate, in accordance, he stated, withcanon law.[56] The formal statement from the MOC released the following day explained that it viewed the document it had received from the SOC as a mere "recommendation [...] of autocephaly".[57][58][59]
On 8 June 2022, theChurch of Greece agreed to recognise the canonicity of the MOC, but has objected to the inclusion of the term "Macedonian" in the church's title, as well as the fact that itstomos was granted by the SOC instead of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. The question of whether the right to grant autocephaly remains with a respective church's Mother Church or the Ecumenical Patriarchate is part of a long-lasting and serious debate within the Orthodox world.[60]
On 10 June 2022, on a visit to Istanbul, Archbishop Stefan was handed the Patriarchal and Synodal Act confirming the canonical and liturgical unity with the Church of Constantinople.[61][62] On 12 June, theEcumenical Patriarch Bartholomew and Archbishop Stefan concelebrated the Divine Liturgy at theChurch of St. George in thePhanar.[63][64] Present at this liturgy was a delegation of theGovernment of North Macedonia: the prime minister of North Macedonia,Dimitar Kovačevski, the Minister of Foreign Affairs,Bujar Osmani, theMinister of Defence,Slavjanka Petrovska, and the Minister of Internal Affairs,Oliver Spasovski; also present was a delegation of theInterparliamentary Assembly on Orthodoxy led by its General Secretary Maximos Charakopoulos.[4][65] After this liturgy, Kovačevski was received by the Ecumenical Patriarch in a private audience; Kovačevski thanked the Ecumenical Patriarch for his decision of recognising the MOC, and stated the Patriarch had corrected a historical injustice by doing so.[65]
On 22 June 2022, theBulgarian Orthodox Church established communion with the MOC.[66] On 25 August 2022, theRussian Orthodox Church established communion with the MOC and formally recognised it as autocephalous.[67]
The autocephaly of the MOC was then formally recognised by thePolish Orthodox Church in October 2022,[68] theOrthodox Church of Ukraine in November 2022,[69] the Bulgarian Orthodox Church in December 2022,[70] and theRomanian Orthodox Church andOrthodox Church of the Czech Lands and Slovakia in February 2023.[71][72] However, the Bulgarian Orthodox Church has objected to the inclusion of "Archdiocese of Ohrid" in the MOC's name, as it understands itself as the continuation of theArchbishopric of Ohrid.[70]
In addition to the Church of Greece and the Ecumenical Patriarchate, the canonicity of the MOC was recognised by thePatriarchate of Antioch in October 2022,[73] and theGeorgian andAlbanian Orthodox Churches in February 2023.[74] The church has also concelebrated with thePatriarchate of Jerusalem, whose synod have not formally addressed the issue of its canonicity or its autocephaly as of March 2023.[75]
As of March 2023, the MOC has neither concelebrated with nor has its canonicity and autocephaly been recognised by thePatriarchate of Alexandria and theChurch of Cyprus.[75] In March 2023, the Synod of the MOC decided "not to concelebrate with the hierarchy of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine until the full resolution of its status in the fullness of Orthodoxy".[76] In the same month, metropolitan Petar along with the political party Desna (right) started collecting signatures for a Declaration "for preserving the name of the Macedonian Orthodox Church – Ohrid Archbishopric." Per the document, the "change of its name, status and dignity is high treason of MOC-OA, the Macedonian people and the state of Macedonia!"[77] In June, the church assigned dioceses to the former SOC's hierarchs, who were part of theOrthodox Ohrid Archbishopric.[78]
In May 2024, the Macedonian Orthodox Church rejected the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople's final conditions for its independence. It has not received any official decree for its recognition. MOC did not agree to change its name, dropping "Macedonian" from it to secure such a decree.[79]
On 21 May 2025, the Holy Synod of theOrthodox Church in America, at the request of His Holiness Patriarch Porfirije of Serbia, officially recognised the canonicity of the Macedonian Orthodox Church-Ohrid Archbishopric.[80]
The church protested against laws on gender equality and registries,[81][82] whose protest was attended by people with religious symbols,Kutlesh flag and Russian flags, as well as members of the Russian motorcycle clubNight Wolves.[83][84] The protest was also supported by other religious communities in North Macedonia.[85] The Platform for Gender Equality and the Network for Protection against Discrimination condemned MOC's involvement.[86] Per North Macedonia's presidentStevo Pendarovski, based on information fromNATO, people from MOC's Synod cooperated with Russian secret services.[87]
Metropolitan Kyrillos of the Ecumenical Patriarchate challenged the validity of the tomos of autocephaly granted by the Serbian church and accused it of having a pro-Russian orientation.[88][89] In September 2024, the leadership of the church expressed its support for theUkrainian Orthodox Church after legislation was brought into force in Ukraine, which banned religious organisations linked to the Russian Orthodox Church from operating there.[90]
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Outside the country, the church is active in 4dioceses in theMacedonian diaspora. The 12 dioceses of the church are governed by tenEpiscopes, with around 500 active priests in about 500parishes with over 2000 churches andmonasteries. The church claims jurisdiction of about twenty living monasteries, with more than 100 monks.[91]
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