Between Constantinople and Moscow

Autocephaly of the Macedonian Orthodox Church—Archbishopric of Ohrid

Bibliographic Data

ID23311757
AuthorsJovan Jonovski (0000-0003-2448-3441, Independent Researcher, 1000 Skopje, North Macedonia, corresponding author)
Year2026
Volume17
Issue7
Pages868
Publication date2026-07-22
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueReligions (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2077-1444 • E-ISSN: 2077-1444
PublisherMDPI AG (PUBLISHER • IT)
DOI10.3390/rel17070868
OpenAlexW7170073230
LanguageEN
References cited6

The article examines the history and the mechanism of obtaining autocephalous status for the Macedonian Orthodox Church—Archbishopric of Ohrid, from the early initiatives in 1944, through the self-decared autocephalous status in 1967, the appeal to the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople in 2018, and finally the granting of a Tomos by the Serbian Orthodox Church in 2022 and further steps toward obtaining full recognition by all other Orthodox Churches. In a situation of division in the Orthodox world, with churches gravitating around Constantinople and those around Moscow, there are differences in ecclesiological understandings of the processes for obtaining autonomy and autocephaly. In this dilemma, political motives prevail rather than dogmatic and canonical ones. These differences are profoundly influenced by geopolitics, particularly in light of the Ukrainian Civil War that began in 2014, which escalated into the Russo-Ukrainian War in 2022. The Macedonian case is compared to the autocephaly of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine in 2019 granted by the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople.

Appeal · Macedonian · Politics · Serbian · Spanish Civil War · Ukrainian · Balkans: History, Politics, Society · Byzantine Studies and History · Religion and Society Interactions

Tools

Open DOIOpen Access