THE Serbian Orthodox Church (SPC) accepts the return to normalcy and thanksgiving of her Church Northern Macedonia. Specifically, the decision taken at the spring Synod of the SPC states: “of the Serbian Orthodox Church, the Serbian Orthodox Church hopes to resolve the normal regime, which should be followed by a pan-Orthodox consensus and acceptance of this regime.” The communiqué also states that “the acceptance of the status of the widest possible autonomy, ie full internal independence, granted in 1959 has eliminated the reasons for the cessation of functional and normal society, functional and normal society “.
The Holy Synod of the Serbian Church considers urgent the dialogue in the near future for the final status of the Church in Northern Macedonia and adds: “In the dialogue for the future and possibly final normal status, the Serbian Orthodox Church will be guided exclusively by principles, criteria and rules, without being interested in “geopolitical” and “ecclesiastical” criteria “.
The Serbian Orthodox Church urges the hierarchy in Northern Macedonia to “resolve the issue of its official name through direct fraternal dialogue with the Greek-speaking and other local Orthodox Churches”.
It is noted that on May 9 the Ecumenical Patriarchate restored the regularity of the Orthodox Church of Northern Macedonia by recognizing it with the name “Archdiocese of Ohrid”. A few days earlier, a secret meeting between the Serbian Patriarch Porphyrios and the Archbishop of the unrecognized “Macedonian Church” Stefanos in the city of Nis had preceded, where it was agreed to restore relations and start a dialogue on the final status. The realization of this meeting was revealed by Bishop Tuzlas Fotios in his Sunday sermon on May 8.
It is recalled that the Skopje Orthodox Church seceded from the Serbian Patriarchate in 1967 and proclaimed itself the “Macedonian Orthodox Church”, but was not recognized by any other official Orthodox church in the world.
In November 2009, the so-called “Macedonian Orthodox Church” added to its name the suffix “Archdiocese of Ohrid”, a self-proclaimed successor of the old Archdiocese of Ohrid.
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