Skopje, October 6, 2026
Photo: mpc-spe.mk
Twelve hierarchs of the Macedonian Orthodox Church gathered in Skopje on Sunday to mark 40 years since His Beatitude Archbishop Stefan of Ohrid, the primate of the Macedonian Orthodox Church-Ohrid Archbishopric, was consecrated a bishop.
The Archbishop led the Divine Liturgy at the Cathedral of St. Clement of Ohrid on October 4, which was the Sunday after the Exaltation of the Cross and also the Sunday dedicated to All Macedonian Saints, reports the Diocese of Skopje.
A large number of faithful were present.
Photo: mpc-spe.mk
Eight metropolitans concelebrated with the Archbishop: Peter of Prespa and Pelagonia, Naum of Strumica, Agathangel of Povardarie, Pimen of Europe, Hilarion of Bregalnica, Joseph of Tetovo and Gostivar, Gregory of Kumanovo and Osogovo, and George of Debar and Kicevo. Bishops Joachim of Deljadrovo-Ilinden and Marko of Delcevo-Kamenica also concelebrated, and Bishop Clement of Heraclea was prayerfully present.
Archbishop Stefan was consecrated as a bishop in 1986 and was later elected primate at the Church National Assembly held on October 9, 1999. He was enthroned the following day, becoming the fifth primate of the Macedonian Orthodox Church.
The Church extends its heartfelt congratulations to His Beatitude on the anniversary and wishes him many more fruitful years of archpastoral service.
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Photo: mpc-spe.mk
Archbishop Stefan was born on May 1, 1955, in the village of Dobrushevo in the Bitola Region. He was born into an Orthodox Macedonian family, the sixth child of his pious parents.
He studied at the Macedonian Orthodox Seminary of St. Clement of Ohrid in Dracevo, Skopje, from 1969 to 1974, graduating with distinction. He then studied at the Orthodox Faculty in Belgrade.
After graduating in 1979, the Holy Synod appointed him a professor at the St. Clement Seminary. The following year he was sent to postgraduate studies at the Ecumenical-Patristic Institute of St. Nicholas in Bari, Italy, where he earned his master’s degree in 1982.
On returning from Italy, he was appointed a lecturer at the Orthodox Theological Faculty of St. Clement of Ohrid in Skopje, teaching Old Testament Scripture and Patrology. He held this post until he was elected a bishop.
He was tonsured a monk on July 3, 1986, at the Monastery of St. Naum of Ohrid in Ohrid. He was consecrated a bishop on July 12, 1986, in the Church of St. Demetrius in Skopje as Metropolitan of Zletovo and Strumica. After the diocese was divided, he was named Metropolitan of the Diocese of Bregalnica, with its seat in Shtip.
In the following years, besides his work at the Orthodox Theological Faculty, he was editor-in-chief of the newspaper Church Life. He also served as rector of the Seminary in Skopje from 1991 to 1999 and as spokesman of the Holy Synod.
At the Church-People’s Council held on October 9, 1999, in the Cathedral of St. Sophia of the ancient Archbishopric of Ohrid in Ohrid, he was elected, and on October 10, 1999, he was enthroned as the fifth Primate of the Macedonian Orthodox Church. Since then he has served as Archbishop of Ohrid and Macedonia and of Prima Justiniana, and he is also the ruling hierarch of the Skopje Orthodox Diocese.
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