Macedonian Orthodox Church - Македонска Православна Црква

Црквата е една. Господ не востанови многу цркви, туку една. А таа една Црква се поистоветува со единственото Тело на единиот Христос. Но, заради тоа што таа една Црква се остварува, се пројавува и иконично се изобразува во евхаристиската заедница, таа, според природата на нештата, се појавува како многу Цркви, зашто незамисливо е да постои една евхаристиска заедница за цел свет.

The Church is one. The Lord has not established many churches, but one. And this one Church is identified with the one Body of the one Christ. Still, since this one Church actualises, manifests and iconically portrays herself in the eucharistic community she, in the nature of things, appears as many Churches, because it is inconceivable that there should exist a single eucharistic community for the whole world.According to the sources in the Acts, Saint Paul, Christ's disciple, began spreading Christianity in Macedonia and elsewhere on the Balkan Peninsula towards the mid 1st century AD. He visited this region on two occasions during his journeys through Europe and Asia. He was followed by Timothy and Silas, who remained in Macedonia after his departure. At that time, as a Roman province Macedonia often changed its borders and its ethnic composition. As a result of the Christianization in the first three centuries, the Christians in Macedonia at the beginning of the 4th century already had an organised Church with an established ecclesiastical hierarchy, whose bishops regularly participated at the ecumenical councils.

In the 5th century the Church had several metropolises and dioceses. The metropolises of Thessalonica and Skopje were the most distinguished among them. Several Christian basilicas originate from this period, including the one near the village of Bardovci, in the western outskirts of Skopje.

During the reign of the emperor Justinian I (527-565), who came from the village of Tauresium in the Skopje region, a new town was built near the emperor's birthplace, named Justiniana Prima after him. The Metropolitan of Skopje was appointed an autocephalous Archbishop. Cathellian was the first Archbishop of the Archdiocese Justiniana Prima, at the time the third by honour among the local Orthodox Churches, after Rome and Constantinople. The other archbishops were: Benenat, Paul, John I, Leon and the last one John IX, who in 680-81 took part at the Trullo Council in Constantinople.The work of the holy Apostle Paul and the holy emperor Justinian I was continued by the holy brothers Methodius and Cyril and their disciples Saints Clement and Nahum of Ohrid. In the second half of the 10th century, within the borders of Samuel's state, the autocephalous Ohrid Archdiocese was established with the rank of patriarchate, on the foundations of Justiniana Prima. After the fall of Samuel's state, the Ohrid Archdiocese was reduced to a lower rank of church hierarchy (archbishopric) and it existed as such for eight centuries, until its abolishment in 1767 by the Turkish sultan Mustapha III, and its dioceses were annexed to the Patriarchate of Constantinople. From this moment on Macedonian people made all possible efforts to restore the Archdiocese. Its dioceses were under several jurisdictions of the neighbouring Orthodox Churches and this struggle became particularly fierce in the second part of the 19th and the first part of the 20th century. Convenient conditions for restoration of the independence were created not earlier than during World War II (1941-1945). Right before the end of the war, in 1944, in the village of Gorno Vranovci, an Initiative Board for Organisation of the Macedonian Orthodox Church was formed. In March, 1945, in Skopje, a Resolution to restore the Archdiocese of Ohrid as Macedonian Orthodox Church was made at the First Clergy and Laity Assembly.This decision was submitted to the Holy Synod of the Serbian Orthodox Church, since before World War II several dioceses in Macedonia were under the United Orthodox Church of Serbs, Croats and Slovenians, known later as Serbian Orthodox Church. The Synod of the Serbian Orthodox Church did not accept this decision, which resulted in the following actions of the Initiative Board: instead of as an autocephalous, the Board insisted on the Church being recognised as autonomous. This request was also rejected. In 1958, the Second Clergy and Laity Assembly was held in Ohrid and the proposal for restoration of the Ohrid Archdiocese of Saint Clement as a Macedonian Orthodox Church was accepted and Dositheus was appointed the first archbishop.