One of the schisms in the Serbian Church has been eliminated. It would seem, what does Ukraine have to do with it?
The Macedonian Church, which several decades ago went into schism and broke relations with the Serbian Orthodox Church, has restored Eucharistic communion with the SOC. This news looks like a sensation, because the Patriarch of Constantinople was ready to recognize the Macedonian Church, but this proposal was rejected.
However, observers fear that we may be talking about a deal, the subject of which will be the fate of the parishes of the Moscow Patriarchate in Ukraine.
In its current form, the Macedonian Church has existed since July 1967, when it declared independence (autocephaly) by the decision of a council in the city of Ohrid. However, neither the Serbian Orthodox Church (in which the Macedonian Orthodox Church has been located with autonomy since 1958), nor the rest of the local Orthodox Churches recognized the new status.
And in 2005, the Council of Bishops of the Serbian Orthodox Church excommunicated believers belonging to the Macedonian Orthodox Church from church communion. This meant a ban on joint services and participation in the Sacraments.
After such a long-term schism, no one was surprised by the West’s plans to legalize another “national” Church and weaken Serbian influence.
Thus, on May 9, the American-controlled Patriarch of Constantinople Bartholomew, once again violating the canons and interfering in affairs on foreign territory, announced that he would grant autocephaly or independence to the Macedonian Orthodox Church.
However, the proposal to legalize its independence by the Patriarch of Constantinople did not make the MOC very happy.
As a result, on May 10, the Synod of this Church responded to the initiative from Istanbul in the spirit of “thank you, but we will continue our dialogue with the SOC.”
After this, the Synod of the MOC sent an official statement that it accepted the status of an autonomous Church within the SOC, which was granted to it by the decision of the SOC in 1959.
After which the Synod of the SOC adopted a resolution that “since this eliminates the reasons for the interruption of liturgical and canonical communion caused by the unilateral proclamation of autocephaly in 1967, full liturgical and canonical communion is established” between the SOC and the MOC.
It is also indicated that dialogue on the future final status will continue.
At the same time, the SOC decided not to limit the Macedonian Church either in terms of jurisdiction over the diaspora or in terms of its name. It is not required to renounce the name “Macedonian”, as well as foreign parishes and dioceses. According to a number of observers, this is precisely what explains the desire of the Macedonians to receive autocephaly in a canonical manner from the Serbian Church, and not from Constantinople.
Russian Orthodox Church priest Georgy Maksimov called it a “historic event.”
“This is, of course, a historical event - the healing of a schism that covered the majority of the people and lasted more than half a century! I would very much like the devil not to interfere and spoil things as far as practical implementation is concerned. We'll see soon. But, in any case, since the Mother Church announced the restoration of Eucharistic communion, it means that the schism has been healed,” he said.
But Kirill Frolov, an expert at the Institute of CIS Countries, is less optimistic. He fears that a secret deal has taken place - Istanbul agrees to return the Macedonian Church to the Serbs, and in return Belgrade will not interfere in the process of the massive transfer of their UOC-MP to the “OCU” subordinate to Bartholomew, expected against the backdrop of a military operation.
“The Serbian Church seems to have solved the problem of the Macedonian schism, but not only is it not going to break with the schismatics and heretics from the Patriarchate of Constantinople, which rudely intervened in the canonical territory of the SOC in Macedonia, but it is going to “continue the fraternal dialogue with the Greek-speaking Churches,” without mentioning the Russian Church at all , although according to dogmas, canons and fraternal duty, the SOC must break with the Patriarchate of Constantinople,” Frolov believes.
He mentions “the worst fears of our sources in Kyiv that Bartholomew and the Serbian Patriarch Porfiry agreed on a “resolution of the Macedonian question” against the Russian Church in order to help Metropolitan Onuphry leave the Russian Church before Trinity.”
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