A decades old schism between the church previously known as the “Macedonian Orthodox Church” and other homodoxian churches within the Eastern Orthodox Christian world came to an end on the 9th of May 2022 with the formal recognition of this church by the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople as the “Archdiocese of Ohrid”. With this recognition, the church’s name has been restored to the original name used when it was established in the 11th century to serve the Christian population within the Byzantine Theme of Bulgaria. The church continued to exist as an autocephalous entity serving both Slavonic and Greek speaking Christians until 1767 when it was abolished by the Ottoman authorities and annexed to the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople. In 1967, when it attempted to proclaim autocephaly under the contentious name of “‘Macedonian’ Orthodox Church” within the former Yugoslavia, this was not recognized by other canonical Eastern Orthodox churches which resulted in a schism. The resolution of this schism is a major step forward in re-uniting Orthodox Christians within the Balkan region.
Further information about this development can be found at the following locations:
Ecumenical Patriarchate Communique (May 9th 2022): Communiqué (May 9, 2022) – Οικουμενικό Πατριαρχείο (ec-patr.org)
Neos Kosmos Press Article: Archdiocese of Ohrid recognised by Ecumenical Patriarch – Neos Kosmos
Kathimerini Article: North Macedonia welcomes Patriarchate’s recognition of Church of Ohrid | eKathimerini.com
0 Comments