PRESSURE EXERTED BY THE SERBIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH

ON THE MACEDONIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH IS NOT EASING AFTER ALL

AIM, Skopje, September 7,1994

Indications of the possibility that the relations between the Serbian Orthodox Church (SPC) and the Macedonian Orthodox Church (MPC) could improve, announced last week by the Serbian media, proved, it seems, completely wrong. Word got out that the special envoy of the Commission for the Protection of Human Rights,Tadeus Mazovietsky succeeded, through his mediating efforts, to arrange a meeting in the near future at the headquarters of the World Church Council in Geneva between the dignitaries of the two Orthodox churches.

At the same time, the possibility of continuing the dialogue between the clergymen of the two churches was announced by Jovan, the SPC Metropolitan of Zagreb - Ljubljana and the whole of Italy, who among other things said that the problem of the autocephaly of the Macedonian Orthodox Church, contested by the SPC, could be solved by a compromise, namely, by the " freezing of the autocephaly." According to him, the Macedonian priests have agreed to this solution.

However, after Metropolitan Jovan's statement, denials followed from both Skoplje and Belgrade. First the dignitaries of the MPC, having indeed confirmed that they discussed with Jovan the possibility of continuing the dialogue, denied that they talked about the issue of "freezing autocephaly" during the talks and renounced the very thought of bringing into question the authonomy of the Macedonian Orthodox Church. According to one of the dignitaries, Petar the Metropolitcan of Prespa and Bitol (MPC) the status of the Macedonian Orthodox Church cannot be disputed.

• We live like an autocephalous ( in other words autonomous) church and there can be no discussion with anyone about that. By the decision brought in 1959 by the SPC Holy Synod of Bishops, we were given all the characteristics of an autocephalous church and we have legislative, executive and judicial authority. The fact that Macedonia became an independent and sovereign state is a reason more - Metropolitan Petar pointed out.

Metroplotian Jovan had no better luck at home. Future developments were in some way announced by Serbian Patriarch Pavle in Sofia after his meeting with the head of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Maksim. Speaking of the Maceodnian Orthodox Church, the Patriach, whose evident wish is to subject it under his jurisdiction, said that the MPC proclaimed its own autonomy which is contrary to the corresponding canons of the Orthodox Church.

After the head of the Serbian Orthodox Church returned to Belgrade, a statement followed from the Office of the Holy Synod of Bishops of the SPC, according to which it turned out that " Metropolitan Jovan's meeting with a number of bishops in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and the statements given at that time were his personal views and had no connection whatsoever with the official position of the SPC towards the Macedonian schism."

The only thing that is required of the MPC is to comply with the canon order, since without it there is and there can be no future - the rigid persistant stand of the hierarchic top of the Serbian Orthodox Church is repeated. The observance of the canon order can mean, judging by all, nothing else but the return of the Macedonian Orthodox Church which proclaimed its autonomy in 1967, under the wing of the Serbian Orthodox Church as well as placing its metropolitans and church dignitaries under the jurisdiction of Serbian Patriarch Pavle. Moreover, September 1 was set by the SPC as the dead line for the Macedonian priests to comply with the decision, so that now, as announced at one time from the highest places of the SPC, they are faced with unfrocking and anathema.

The Macedonian side, of course, does not accept that, and the proportions of the dispute between the two churches is best illustrated by the words of the head of the MPC, Mr. Gavrilo who on one occasion stated that "the SPC can come to Macedonia only on army tanks and with the Chetniks." No matter to what extent all this looks like a disagreement between clergymen, the whole affair also has considerable political implications. In any case, the SPC leads the way among those political circles which are attempting to bring Macedonia back to the now abbreviated, Serbian-Montengrin FR of Yugoslavia.

Its political influence, as well as the freedom it has in expresing views on all vital political issues of the Serbs should not be underestimated. It is sufficient to recall that Serbian Patriarch Pavle prior to the outbreak of the war on the soil of former Yugoslavia called all Serbian politicians, or more precisely, the leaders of the Serbian political parties, both from Serbia and from the other former Yugoslav republics, for consultations. Likewise, the Serbian Orthodox Church came out against the sanctions introduced by the President of Serbia, Slobodan Milosevic against the Bosnian Serbs anxiously waiting for the day of the unification of "all Serbian lands", namely all those territories which are under Serbian control in the other republics and Serbia into one state. That is where, most probably, Macedonia should also be.

What the top of the SPC actually thinks of Macedonia was very clearly indicated in the statement of the Holy Synod of Bishops of the SPC issued at a time when the strife with the MPC reached its height. Among other things it was stated that " the independence and autonomy given to the eparchies in Skoplje's Macedonia for spiritual purposes threatens to lose its meaning and jeopardize not only the church in Macedonia but the congregation too, and make the church a cut off, dried out branch and toy in the hands of those in power and of worldy forces." If this is true, then one cannot but pose the question of whether in that case the MPC should become, against its will, a toy in the hands of the SPC.

In the same statement, its highest dignateries ask those who are nevertheless afraid of the SPC: " Are the Serbian Orthodox bishops and priests really a greater threat to Macedonia than her godless rulers, various Satanic sects, Uniate plotting and other non-Orthodox forces which are freely working there." Judging by the frame of mind of the leaders of the MPC the cynical answer to that question would be "YES".

VERA GEORGIEVSKA