Recent Church TOMOS hits Orthodox Faithful in the Soul

By Chris M. Purdef

June 13, 2005

In response to Forum 18 News article Macedonia: Why is state interfering in Orthodox dispute? on June 8, 2005 by Branko Bjelajac http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=579

The Macedonian Orthodox Church – Archbishphoric of Ohrid is the historical continuation of the ancient, autocephalous Archbishphoric of Ohrid. Re-established in 1959, under the blessing of the Serbian Orthodox Holy Synod, the renewed MOC was concelebrated by a joint Liturgy with the Serbian Patriarch German. As an affirmation of support for Macedonian ecclesiastical independence, the Serbian Holy Synod gave this declaration, “the recently inducted Bishops and Eparches in the Republic of Macedonian, of the Macedonian Orthodox Church, are no longer obliged to abide by the constitution of the Serbian Orthodox Church.” [i] It was a joyous day in Orthodox Macedonia; once again, the Macedonian people had their own church. The new Macedonian Orthodox Church had the support of most of orthodoxy including the Serbian Holy Synod. However, Serbian support was short-lived.

A new set of events began in 2002 with the attempts to establish a Serbian sponsored parallel Archbishphoric in the Republic of Macedonia, conspicuously promoting its name as the “Orthodox Archbishphoric of Ohrid,” and led by a former MOC Bishop, Zoran Vranishkovski, alias Bishop Jovan. The Macedonian community was stupefied, why was all of this happening now, at a time of great Orthodox renewal the Macedonian Orthodox Church? Yet, for the Holy Synod of the Macedonian Orthodox Church, it was apparent that Zoran Vranishkovski began the project to establish a Serbian sanctioned Archbishphoric in Macedonia not to promote universal orthodoxy, rather to create the image of church disunity, to be presented as such to the international and Greater Orthodox Community. Macedonian Bishop Peter, Metropolitan of the Australian/New Zealand Eparchy, best encapsulated this belief for the “Daily,” Dnevnik,

“It is obvious that the Holy Synod of the SOC wants to create a false perception and picture for the international community and the church public that the Macedonian people and the citizens of the Republic of Macedonia have accepted to change the name of the MOC into the “Orthodox Archbishphoric of Ohrid,” which would serve as an analogy to changing our national name, ethnicity, language, culture, and everything that is Macedonian. Mind you, the SOC decided to do this while we are trying to settle our name issue with Greece in the United Nations…” [ii]

Truthfully, one would really have to be unmindful of Macedonian Orthodox Church history in order not comprehend that any attempt to establish a parallel Archbishphoric in Macedonia would be viewed as nothing less than an attack on the very sovereignty of the Republic of Macedonia. However, to holistically fault the Serbian people and Serbian Orthodox Church of this nationalistic move would not be fair. Metropolitan Naum of the Strumica Eparchy sustained this for a TV-A1 interview,

“The problems between the Serbian and Macedonian Orthodox Churches have been endorsed by ten Bishops, a few of which are not even Serbian, in the Serbian Church who have adequately and clearly stated that they do not recognize our nation, let alone our church.”  [iii]

Nonetheless, when it was clear that efforts to establish the new Archbishphoric in Macedonia were unsuccessful, the Serbian Orthodox Holy Synod, apparently deciding to discipline the Macedonian parish, took it a step further and issued a TOMOS, publicly recognizing the “Orthodox Archbishphoric of Ohrid” as the only canonically legal church in the Macedonia. The official Serbian Holy Synod declaration, for all intents and purposes, proposed to excommunicate the approximately 1.8 million Orthodox Macedonians; clear indication that Serbian Bishops have relinquished their pastoral ideals.

Still however, early indications demonstrate that the TOMOS has drawn little regional orthodox support. In a recent statement, the Patriarchic of the Russian Orthodox Church, Alexy II, came out against the move taken by the Serbian Orthodox Church. It was only a few weeks before the TOMOS that the ROC had sent a representative to the Republic of Macedonia to strengthen Russian and Macedonian Orthodox ties with the announcement that the Moscow Patriarchic Chorus would be performing in Macedonia, bringing with them a written letter of support from Patriarch Alexey II. The official representative from Moscow gave this statement in light of the then rumored Serbian Orthodox TOMOS,

“For us, it isn’t right for the Orthodox Macedonians to be excluded from the Orthodox Community.”  [iv]

Needless to say, the Serbian Orthodox Holy Synod disregarded this message and gave Zoran Vranishkovski his TOMOS anyway.

Additionally, since the Serbian Church decision, there have been rehabilitated attempts to portray Vranishkovski as the Martin Luther King Jr. of the Serbian minority in the Republic of Macedonia. But, media reports on the aftermath of the TOMOS have been irresolute. To add to the confusion, a few sources have detailed that the reasoning behind the proposed TOMOS was a castigatory measure against the Macedonian Orthodox Church, who they claim, had dishonored Orthodox Church Canons. Of course, Macedonian Bishops and theologians have made the same claims against their Serbian brethren. Most reports, however, continue to reveal the re-exposed, nationalistic vibe in the Serbian Orthodox Church with anecdotes that the Macedonian Orthodox Church, along with the powers that be, has denied Serbian minorities the right to attend the church of their choice. Yet, these accusations were dispelled by a fresh Reality Macedonia account given by the leader of the Serbian Macedonian community in Veles, who make up part of the Macedonian Orthodox Povardarski Eparchy,

“We thank Vranishkovski and his archbishopric for their wish to represent us, but we refuse their services. The decision to create a new church only managed to cause dissatisfaction among the local Serbs, because it endangered their good relations with their friends, relatives and neighbors." [v]

Making it abundantly clear that, with the TOMOS, the Serbian Holy Synod have not only proposed to excommunicate Macedonians, but the Serbian Minority in Macedonia from Orthodoxy.

As we continue to wonder if the latest declarations by the Holy Synod of the Serbian Orthodox Church will spell disaster for our Church in the Balkans, the best we can do is pray and heed the advice of our spiritual fathers. In a dialogue published on the official Website of the Macedonian Orthodox Church, Metropolitan Naum stated,

“Regarding the use of the name Macedonian Orthodox Church… primary condition for every Local Church in its apostolic mission, that is, the preaching of the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ to every man, is respect of personal identity (by this of the national, too) of every actual person that we address. Missing the personal identity of the one whom we address, regardless of the reasons for it, means inevitable failure of the church mission and negation of us as pastors. Pastoral ideal, for all of us, is the attitude of the Holy Apostle Paul” [vi]

We pray that love will reign over irrational behavior, and that respect and integrity prevail in the minds of those who have yet to accept the Macedonian Orthodox Church – Archbishphoric of Ohrid into their family. Listening to Father Naum, let us observe the words of St. Paul:

“And unto the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews…to the weak became as I weak, that I might gain the weak: I am made all things to all men that I may save some.”  [vii]

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Chris M. Purdef is the Youth Coordinator for the West Coast Region – Arizona of the Macedonian Orthodox Youth Association of North America.  Chris graduated from Ohio State University with a degree in Political Science and International Studies in 1997.  Two years later he went on to be a US Peace Corps Volunteer in the municipality of Kriva Palanka, Macedonia.  He joined MOYANA in the summer of 2004.  He is also the Vice President of the non-profit Friends of Macedonia. Chris is also a very active member of the Washington, D.C. based organization United Macedonian Diaspora, which he helped co-found.  Chris may be reached at macedonia74@yahoo.com