Hierarch of the Macedonian Church: We do not need a second Tomos, and we cannot choose sides in the schism

Metropolitan John of Krushevo and Demirhisar said that the Macedonian Orthodox Church (MOC) does not need a second tomos on autocephaly from the Patriarchate of Constantinople, considering the document received from the Serbian Church sufficient. In his interview, he also emphasized that the MOC should not take sides in the split between Moscow and Constantinople and touched on internal problems related to the integration of the former Orthodox Archdiocese of Ohrid.

According to the Telegram channel Pravblog, in an interview for the Sloboden Pechat podcast, Vladyka Ioann expressed the opinion that the issue of the MOC’s autocephaly has been resolved after receiving a tomos from its Mother Church, the Serbian Patriarchate. «I do not consider it necessary to receive a second tomos from Constantinople,» the hierarch stated. He recalled the absence of a unified procedure for granting autocephaly in the Orthodox world and cited as an example that caused «additional deep disagreements» the tomos issued by the Phanar to the so-called Orthodox Church of Ukraine.

The Metropolitan expressed particular concern about the split between the Patriarchates of Constantinople and Moscow. «Some people are demanding that we, the MOC, decide who we are with…. I think that we should not choose sides, because we have tragically experienced a period of lack of unity with other Churches. As far as possible, we need to be in good relations with everyone,» he emphasized.

In addition, Metropolitan John touched upon the process of integration of the former Orthodox Archdiocese of Ohrid (POA) into the structure of the MDC. Characterizing his relationship with Archbishop Stefan as «perfectly correct», he pointed out a serious administrative problem: the dioceses allocated to the hierarchs of the former POA, according to him, are «very small and non-functional». This leads to a lack of funds to maintain the apparatus, and this issue requires consideration by the Holy Synod of the MOC.

Recall, earlier we reported that on the day of the memory of St. Sergius of Radonezh, the hierarchs of the Macedonian Orthodox Church — Ohrid Archdiocese participated in the Divine Liturgy, which was presided over by His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia. This was the first joint service of representatives of the two Churches since the Russian Orthodox Church recognized the autocephaly of the Macedonian Church in August 2022. The celebrations took place in the Assumption Cathedral of the Holy Trinity Sergius Lavra.