The Parliament is expected to announce how far it has come in talks with the Macedonian Orthodox Church (MOC), which seceded from the SOC half a century ago, wanting to advance the then autonomous status to autocephalous.
At the beginning of this week, the local public learned from the Macedonian media about that secret conversation, but also that the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew recognized the MOC as canonical in those days, under the name of the Ohrid Archbishopric.
Its final status, as can be understood, has yet to be determined. The conversation on the church route Belgrade Skopje continues.
For now, the reaction of the Serbian Patriarchate to the action of Patriarch Bartholomew has been absent. The Orthodox Ohrid Archbishopric also functions in northern Macedonia as autonomous within the Serbian Orthodox Church.
The information that the conversation was taking place came, a few days before the Macedonian media, from the Serbian Orthodox Church, but in a sermon by one of the bishops in Bosnia and Herzegovina, it remained unnoticed here.
As the Bishop of Zvornik-Tuzla Fotija said, a “dialogue of love, faith and hope” was conducted with the MOC in the Diocese of Nis, and that “they are on the verge of healing the schism, for the good of two fraternal peoples, Serbian and Macedonian.”
By his decision, Patriarch Bartholomew acted as the “first in power” to resolve misunderstandings among the churches.
A few years ago, the Moscow Patriarchate accused him of “invading its canonical territory in Ukraine and giving schismatics autocephaly” outside the rules, even though there is already a Ukrainian Orthodox Church there that is autonomous within the Russian Orthodox Church.
This dispute led to divided positions in the Orthodox Church world. The Serbian Orthodox Church took the position that the Ecumenical Patriarch was only “the first in part”, fearing obviously that he could do something in the area of Northern Macedonia and Montenegro without consulting her.
According to some interpretations, Patriarch Bartholomew also wants to take over his diocese abroad through the recognition of the MOC as canonical.
In the days before the SOC Parliament, Patriarch Porfirio visited Kosovo and Metohija and dioceses that are partly or entirely in Montenegro.
Regular, annual sessions of the SOC Parliament are held in May. It gathers bishops from the country and abroad, it is decided by a majority vote, the voice of the patriarch is decisive only when that relationship is equal, but it also gained weight with his personal authority.
At the end of the session, the Parliament issues a statement, and earlier statements, individual, on particularly important issues are not excluded.