Representative of schismatic Macedonian Orthodox Church, Protodeacon Dimitar Belcovski, gave false statements against Archbishop Jovan and members of Orthodox Ohrid Archbishopric

Source: Orthodox Ohrid Archbishopric

April 21, 2016

On April 21 another hearing in the politically rigged court process against Archbishop Jovan of Ohrid and Metropolitan of Skopje, the bishops Marko of Bregalnica and David of Stobi, as well as against the clergy, monastics and the believers of the Orthodox Ohrid Archbishopric, took place.

At the hearing, as a witness against Archbishop Jovan of Ohrid and the others, appeared the schismatic cleric Dimitar Belcovski of the unrecognized Macedonian Orthodox Church (MOC).

In his address Archbishop Jovan of Ohrid reminded Belcovski that we were entering the week of the Passion of Christ, pointing out that he would be serving that week and appealed to his conscience, as it depended upon his statement whether nineteen members of the Orthodox Ohrid Archbishopric would be imprisonmened.

To heal the schism the MOC and its Synod are asking for negotiations, in which the Orthodox Ohrid Archbishopric does take part, but at the same time the representative of the MOC, Protodeacon Belcovski, with his false testimony at today’s hearing did everything to put the accused Archbishop Jovan and the other bishops, priests, monastics and believers of the Orthodox Ohrid Archbishopric, who have been persecuted on a religious basis for the past fourteen years, at a disadvantage. Let it be recalled that in those fourteen years not a single day has passed without an ongoing prison sentence or court process against Archbishop Jovan and the Orthodox Ohrid Archbishopric.

It is also indicative that the witnesses called by the prosecution have still not appeared to testify, thus the Court of First Appeals has tendentiously prolonged the court process, scheduling the next hearing for June.