The Macedonian Reunion

 

Now, that my tribute to Metropolitan Hilarion has been written, I must admit, the bigger news of the day was the Macedonian Orthodox Church. This schism had been decades long, one that was extremely difficult to fully grasp, but now with the healing of the schism, we have our brothers and sisters back in the church.

If we are to truly understand the Macedonian Orthodox Church-Ohrid Archbishopric as it is officially called, we have to understand the Macedonian Orthodox Church. While I could go on a rant about Macedonia being Greece, this is not the time or place to have this discussion. The first official declaration of the Ohrid Archbishopric was in 1019, within the confines and structure of the Byzantine Theme of Bulgaria by placing the Bulgarian Patriarchate under the Ecumenical Patriarch in Constantinople.  By 1767, the Turks had tried to destroy Orthodoxy and reorganized the Church under the Ecumenical Patriarch in Constantinople. As you can see, while the Bulgarian Patriarch was still under the jurisdiction of the EP, it was once again decided almost a thousand years later to do the same thing again by the Turks.  The Macedonian Church in 1874 agreed to join the Bulgarian Church under the Bulgarian Exarchate, which had been established to give the Bulgarian Church more freedom from the Greeks. In 1913, the Macedonian Church was taken over by the Serbian Patriarchate and treated as another episcopal see within their territory. During WW1 and WW2, the Bulgarian Exarchate, still not having been elevated back to the Bulgarian Patriarchate occupied the territory and governed it under their care. By 1943, the church was under the care of Serbia again and a synod was established by the Bishops of the Macedonian Church to help govern. They adopted a resolution to hand to the Serbian Patriarchate, which according to my sources, the Serbian Church rejected the resolution. In 1958, they were able to get a full synod under the care of Serbia established, The Ohrid Archbishopric was title of Ohrid Archbishopric at this time. This is where it gets complicated.

In 1967, the Macedonian Orthodox Church called a third synod, still under the title of Ohrid Archbishopric. Instead of pursuing a diplomatic discourse with their mother church in Serbia, the bishops of the synod unilaterally declared themselves autocephalous, breaking with communion with Serbia and setting themselves on a course of five decades of being out of communion with any Orthodox Church. The Ohrid Orthodox Archbishopric established by Serbia became its official arm within the country and the Macedonian Orthodox Church was left out of communion. There were attempts to restore the church to full communion, but these attempts were rejected by the government of the nation, and by the MOC at the time of their writing. Because of this all-canonical Eastern Orthodox Churches note that the MOC had broken canon law and service was not to be held with anyone in communion with them. From 2005-2009 a series of events led to the furthering of the schism between the two, as the Macedonian government and the Serbian government went back and forth over the control of area and the church. Macedonians were not allowed in Serbia, and Serbians were not allowed in Macedonia. In 2017 the Bulgarians considered becoming the mother church of the Macedonian Orthodox Church and it was debated within the synods and by the Patriarch himself. Because of this, the Serbian Orthodox Church was shocked and called into question this decision. It was ultimately declined. In 2018, the Ecumenical Patriarch said that they would take under consideration the granting of an autocephalous Macedonian Orthodox Church and would review the case as it was presented to them. The Ecumenical Patriarch at this time had also come under fire for its handling of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and the schism that arose between Constantinople and Moscow. Thus, this leads us today.

On May 9, 2022, the Ecumenical Patriarch and the Holy Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate concluded their review of the situation in Macedonia, restoring between Constantinople and Ohrid the eucharistic unity that the two had shared decades prior. It was at this time however that they did state any final authority would be granted to the Serbian Orthodox Church and its own Holy Synod.  On May 16, 2022, which is as of this writing the current date, the Serbian Orthodox Church has agreed to restore communion between the two churches ending the schism that began in 1967. No further details are known as to whether the autocephalous nature of the church will be granted, but the Serbian church has restored their communion with Ohrid. The Patriarch of Serbia, Porfirije agreed that the schism was over and granted his blessing to restoration.

While it is not good to see brothers break communion with each other, the schism that was brought on by pride and greed has now been healed without further conflict. Canon law, which is a topic I would love to discuss further on this site was broken by the Macedonian Orthodox Church in 1967 but was forgiven here in 2022. Though the bishops were the ones who made the decision, it was the people who suffered, because of the break of communion.  These people, denied the eucharist by the majority of the Orthodox world could receive the basic sacraments that are given to us by God for our salvation. As I have stated before, discussion and dialogue will rule over any hotheaded shouting that may arise in the course of church politics. When the bishops of the church agree to sit down and discuss their issues good things happen. While it does not heal the pain that has been caused for five decades, it does give it a chance to.  The people are now able to freely practice their faith again without being in schism with the church and are brought back into the fold. Jesus said the good shepherd would seek out the 1 lost sheep over the 99 that remained. Today that verse rings true. The good shepherd sought out the 1 lost sheep and brought him home. May God bless the Macedonian Orthodox Church at this time and grant peace and prosperity to all who have now been brought home.

Amen.