President Stevo Pendarovski had a meeting today in Istanbul with His Holiness Bartholomew I, Archbishop of Constantinople – New Rome and Ecumenical Patriarch.
At the meeting, President Pendarovski expressed his gratitude to the Ecumenical Patriarch for the special role he has in overcoming the ecclesiastical dispute related to our church. Through his decision of 9 May 2022, today our Church is in canonical unity with other Orthodox churches, accepted as equal with all the others.
The meeting confirmed that the only way to obtain a legitimate and fully accepted Tomos for autocephaly is the one issued by the Ecumenical Patriarchate.
Therefore, we expect, as a state and as a Church, from the supreme institutional body in Orthodoxy, to be granted the official document for church independence – Tomos for autocephaly.
With the decisions of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, our Church is recognized the right to use the name Ohrid Archdiocese, which means church continuity of 1000 years.
The completion of the process of autocephaly is also of highest national interest, because it opens the possibility for new and spiritual growth of the Ohrid Archdiocese, progress and reconciliation in the Macedonian society and state.
