Patriarchate of Serbia: Solution to issue of Ohrid Archdiocese realistic

The Holy Synod of Bishops of the Serbian Orthodox Church on Monday expressed the ecclesiastical body’s hope that the canonical status of the Ohrid Archdiocese, or Church of Ohrid, will be resolved.

The statement comes a week after the Sacred and Holy Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople announced a landmark decision to re-establish Eucharistic communion with the specific Church, while adding that the latter must resolve administrative issues with the Serbian Patriarchate.

The statement from Belgrade on Monday noted that dialogue on the future and possibly final status of the Bishops of the Church of Ohrid, “… is not only possible, but legitimate and realistic”, whereas the Serbian Patriarchate will be guided by the ecclesiastical principles and rules, “without any interest in “geopolitical data” or unilateral initiatives”, and that it is not subject to anyone’s influence or pressure.

The Holy Synod of the Serbian Church announced that it has no intention of setting limitations for the new fraternal Church in terms of its jurisdiction in its home country and abroad, but recommends that a solution for a final name be found in a dialogue with other Orthodox Churches.

The Ecumenical Patriarch recognized the largest – but non-canonical since 1967 – Orthodox Church in the Republic of North Macedonia under the name Ohrid Archdiocese.

The land-locked country in the southern Balkans lies due north of the northern Greek province of Macedonia, which approximates to historical Macedonia of antiquity and occupies more than half of geographical Macedonia.

The Ecumenical Patriarchate last week announced that it accepts, in Eucharistic communion “the hierarchs, the clergy and the people of this Church under Archbishop Stefan.”

The announcement of the Ecumenical Patriarchate made it clear that it excludes the term “Macedonian” and any other derivative of the word “Macedonia” for the Church’s name.

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