Following their settlement in Macedonia,
Slavic tribes came into close contact with the earlier Christianized Byzantine
empire. Starting from the 7th century, they gradually adopted the
Christianity and the process was completed by the time of the brothers
Sts.
Cyril and Methodius and their disciples
St.
Clement of Ohrid and St. Naum of Ohrid. St. Clement was to become the first
bishop and founder of the Macedonian Church with a seat in
Ohrid.
The Patriarchate of Ohrid, an autocephalous
church, was established at the time of
Samoil's
Macedonian empire. But following the fall of his empire in 1018, the Ohrid
Patriarchate was demoted by the victorious Byzantine emperor Vasilius 2nd to
the rank of an Archbishopric although preserving the status of an autocephalous
church. Despite the fact that Greek-Byzantine clergy was installed at its head,
as was the case in the rest of Eastern Orthodox autocephalous Churches, during
the almost 8 centuries of existence, the Archbishopric played a crucial role for
the Macedonian people in their survival in the difficult periods of subjugation
until its uncanonical abolition in 1767.
In the medieval period autocephalous
Churches were named according to their seats (Constantinople, Jerusalem,
Antioch, Alexandria), and thus the Macedonian Orthodox Church, the oldest in the
Balkan Peninsula, was named the Patriarchate/Archbishopric of Ohrid. Until its
abolition in the 18th century it was equal to the 4 Eastern
Patriarchates and it had under its jurisdiction, in certain periods,
particularly in the
Turkish
period, all the Slavic eparchies on the Balkan peninsula. Among these were Pec
(Serbian), the Archbishopric of Trnovo (Bulgarian), the Albanian eparchies, and
even the Moldavian Church and some orthodox eparchies in southern Italy.
"Cross - Symbol of Christianity"
Considering the fact that, for purpose of
their identification, most of the spiritual centuries on the territory under the
jurisdiction of the Archbishopric of Ohrid were always classified by the
adjective of the people to which they belonged, the spiritual culture of the
Macedonian people has been classified as a Macedonian spiritual culture. This
process of development of the Macedonian spiritual culture has left permanent
traces with an established logic and set of rules.
Like all others churches and societies, the
Macedonian Orthodox Church is a product of history. The Macedonian people
emerged from the group of Slavs and became a separated while following their
settlement in Macedonia. Thus the Macedonian Church and Macedonian Orthodox
Christian culture were formed and developed on the territory of Macedonia.
Unfortunately, at that decisive period for
the establishment of a district Macedonian orthodox society a large number of
political and territorial changes in the Balkans occurred which were reflected
in the development of the Macedonian Orthodox Christian Church and culture under
the Macedonian national name. Following the abolition of the Archbishopric of
Ohrid and in the next two centuries (18th and 19th) the
Churches of the peoples whose states had established political authority in
Macedonia enjoyed greatest influence.
In the period after the abolition of the
Archbishopric of Ohrid (1767), the Macedonian eparchies were annexed to the
Greek Patriarchate of Constantinople. Until the
Balkan
Wars in 1912-1913 the Macedonian people found itself in an extremely
difficult situation with regard to its independent historical development
because it had no medieval state and church of its own with attribute
"Macedonian". Having no feudal class of bourgeoisie of its own, the
Macedonian people directed its struggle towards the independence of the church
and education.
Following the
First
World War , the situation with the church in Macedonia remained unchanged.
The Greek authorities in the
Aegean
part of Macedonia treated the Macedonian people with extreme hatred and
cruelty. Bulgaria conducted a similar policy towards that part of the Macedonian
people in the
Pirin section
of Macedonia. After the establishment of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and
Slovenes in 1918, the Serbian Orthodox Church, with the blessing of the
Serbian Karadzordzevic dynasty and in agreement with the Constantinople
Patriarchate, annexed the Macedonian eparchies of the
Vardar
part of Macedonia.
Following Macedonia's
liberation, conditions were created for the restoration of the old Archbishopric
of Ohrid as a national Macedonian Orthodox Church. On March 4th,
1945, the first popular Church Congress was held in Skopje, at which a unanimous
decision was passed in favor of the establishment of the Macedonian Orthodox
Church as autocephalous, headed by an archbishop. In spite of opposition from
the Serbian Orthodox Church, the Macedonian Orthodox Church continued to exist
independently through its Initiative Organizational Committee until 1967, when
at Third Church Popular Congress, the Macedonian Orthodox Church proclaimed
itself autocephalous headed by an Archbishop of Ohrid and Macedonia, adopted a
Constitution.
The Macedonian
Orthodox Church has based its autocephalous status on the 34th
Apostle's rule which decrees that "bishops of each people should recognize
the first among themselves", as well as on Rule 17 of the 4th
Ecumenical Chalcedonian Council which says: "If a new city (refers to any
political and territorial whole) has been established by emperor's authority or
such city is to be established in future, in that case the division of the
church domains (refers to autocephalous churches) shall follow the state's and
citizens division."
In December 1993 a
Church Popular Congress was held in Ohrid, where Right Reverend Michail was
elected the Head of the Macedonian Orthodox Church.
The autocephalous
Macedonian Orthodox Church, during its years of independent existence has
achieved impressive results in the organization of its spiritual, national and
cultural activities. The Church has 300 monks, and organizes the administrative,
educational, economic, financial and church legal services which help its
personnel in the performance of its duties and its mission.
In this sense, the
Macedonian Orthodox Church satisfies the spiritual and religious needs of its
believers in more than 1.000 active churches in the country and in its two
overseas eparchies.
Macedonia has a large
number of Orthodox churches and cathedrals. According to the new records,
prepared on the basis of the estate registry, the precise number of churches
which existed will be determined, which were demolished or had mosques and other
structures of Islamic cultures erected in their place.
In recent years there
has been a growing process of reconstruction of the old Orthodox churches and
construction of new ones.
On the ecumenical
plane, the Macedonian Orthodox Church maintains contacts with many other
Christian churches. The World Association of Churches has assisted in the
printing of the Bible in the modern Macedonian literary language.
Each year, the
Macedonian Orthodox Church offers up a prayer at the tomb of St. Cyril of
Salonica in the basilica of St. Clement, the Pope of Rome. On that occasion, the
state and church delegation of the Republic of Macedonia has an audience with
the Pope as the supreme Head of the Catholic Church.
The Canado-American
and Australian eparchies have been registered in those countries as Macedonian
Orthodox eparchies and act as equal churches, with the same status as all other
churches in those countries. In the holy cathedrals, churches and monasteries of
the Macedonian Orthodox Church in overseas countries, religious services are
performed in Macedonian as are all other activities. A Macedonian eparchy for
Western Europe is in process of being established.
Since the restoration
of the autocephaly of the Macedonian Orthodox Church, no other orthodox church
apart the Serbian one has come out against its autocephalous status. The Head of
the Macedonian Orthodox Church regularly exchanges greetings and messages on the
occasion of the main orthodox holidays.
All this is a
confirmation that in the Christian Orthodox world and on the broader ecumenical
plane the Macedonian Orthodox Church has been treated as equal and respected
owing to its contribution to the striving for better understanding and
cooperation among the peoples nation of the world.
