Malmö, Sweden, October 23, 2022
Photo: Facebook
A joyous spiritual event took place this weekend at an Orthodox church in Sweden, as hierarchs of the Macedonian Orthodox Church-Ohrid Archbishopric and the Romanian Orthodox Church concelebrated for the first time since the Macedonian Church returned to a canonical status in May.
Photo: Facebook The Divine Liturgy was celebrated at the MOC’s St. Naum of Ohrid Cathedral in the city of Malmö yesterday by His Eminence Metropolitan Pimen of Europe of the Macedonian Church, His Grace Bishop Dositej of Britain and Scandinavia of the Serbian Orthodox Church, and His Grace Bishop Macarie of Northern Europe of the Romanian Orthodox Church, reports the European Diocese of the MOC.
Romanian priests previously concelebrated with a Macedonian hierarch in the Holy Land last month, but this weekend’s celebration in Sweden marks the first time Macedonian and Romanian hierarchs have concelebrated, though the Romanian Holy Synod hasn’t made any official decision in regards to the MOC.
Meanwhile, the Holy Synod of the Antiochian Patriarchate officially entered into communion with the MOC at its session earlier this month.
Macedonian and Serbian hierarchs have concelebrated numerous times over the past few months.
Thus far, the canonicity of the MOC has been formally recognized by (in addition to the Patriarchate of Serbia) the Synods of the Patriarchates of Constantinople, Bulgaria, Russia, and Antioch, and the Church of Greece. Among these, the Synod of the Russian Church explicitly recognized the MOC as both canonical and autocephalous.
MOC hierarchs and clergy have also concelebrated with hierarchs and clergy from the Churches of Jerusalem, Ukraine, Romania, the Czech Lands and Slovakia, and the Orthodox Church in America, though their Synods have not formally addressed the issue.
Thus far, there have no been Synodal decisions from or concelebrations with hierarchs or clergy of the Churches of Alexandria, Georgia, Cyprus, Albania, or Poland.
Follow OrthoChristian on Twitter, Vkontakte, Telegram, WhatsApp, MeWe, and Gab!
