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Ukraine May Blaze Trail for Macedonian Church’s Recognition
http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/arti...ion-09-21-2018
If the Ukrainian Orthodox Church receives recognition of its independence from Moscow from the Ecumenical Patriarch, the similarly isolated Macedonian Church hopes for a similar breakthrough.
Sinisa Jakov Marusic BIRN Skopje
The recent decision of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, the seat of global Orthodoxy, to actively consider the Ukrainian Orthodox Church’s demand for ecclesiastical independence – known as autocephaly – has given fresh hope to the equally unrecognized Macedonian Orthodox Church.
Macedonian clerics and church analysts see a possible breakthrough in the Church’s long struggle for recognition by the rest of the Orthodox world, if, as expected, Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople issues a decree or “tomos” granting independence to the Ukrainian Church – despite furious objections by the Russian Church, which claims oversight over Ukraine.
The Constantinople Patriarch has enraged clerics in Moscow by firmly defending his right to resolve the status of unrecognized churches.
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