Moscow, August 26, 2022
Abp. Stefan of Ohrid. Photo: mpc-spe.mk
The Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church formally recognized the Macedonian Orthodox Church-Ohrid Archbishopric as an autocephalous Sister Church yesterday.
As a sign of this recognition, the name of the MOC primate His Eminence Archbishop Stefan of Ohrid will be inscribed in the sacred diptychs, reports Patriarchia.ru.
“The members of the Synod expressed hope that the youngest in the family of autocephalous Orthodox Churches, the Macedonian Orthodox Church-Ohrid Archbishopric, will firmly preserve the holy Orthodox faith in purity and integrity and observe fidelity to the Orthodox canonical tradition,” the Synodal report reads.
The MOC was previously in schism from the Serbian Patriarchate and the broader Orthodox Church for a span of 55 years. Beginning in 2017, it launched a concerted effort to resolve its status. Finally, the Serbian Bishops’ Council announced in May that the Macedonian Church was being received back into the Serbian Church with the status of broad autonomy, and on June 5, His Holiness Patriarch Porfirije granted the MOC a tomos of autocephaly during a concelebration in Belgrade.
In June, the Holy Synod of the Bulgarian Church formally resolved to resume canonical and Eucharistic communion with the MOC.
In early May, a few days before the MOC was received back into its Mother Church of the Serbian Patriarchate, the Patriarchate of Constantinople resolved to enter into communion with the MOC, though it has yet to react to the MOC’s autocephalous status.
The Synod of the Greek Church welcomed Constantinople’s decision to recognize the MOC as canonical, but it has “serious objections and reservations” about its status as autocephalous.
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