Information Service of
the Serbian Orthodox Church
July 15, 2003

STATEMENT TO THE PUBLIC OF THE ARCHDIOCESE OF OCHRID
translated into English from unofficial Serbian translation from Macedonian original

The most recent behaviour of the schismatic organisation in the Republic of Macedonia – which proclaimed itself to be the Macedonian Orthodox Church – is below the expectations of the greatest optimists who believe that the members of the Synod of that schismatic organisation will have at least the minimum of pastoral responsibility, hierarchal courage and Christian conscience. Instead of abandoning the idea of soul-pernicious schism and instead of realising that they are in an utterly fallen state, in schism with God and with all the other Orthodox Church (in which direction they are leading their people too), they continue to close all the doors leading to the Kingdom of God, not only the door for themselves, but for all those who they succeeded in cheating and taking into schism together with themselves.

On July 9, they scheduled the court session to His Eminence Jovan, Metropolitan of Veles and Povardarje and Exarch of the Serbian Patriarch for all the dioceses of the Archdiocese of Ochrid. According to them, it is irrelevant that: the entire court procedure was totally non-canonical; there were not enough bishops to carry out such a procedure (6 bishops were present, 1 was absent, and pursuant to the Twelfth Regulation of the Assembly of Carthage it is necessary that 12 bishops attend the court proceedings); they carried out the proceedings without having previously delivered the bill of indictment to the accused or having invited him to defend; they proclaimed a sentence, final, without the right to appeal, as media reported. Not Roman, nor church and canonical law do record such court proceedings – proceedings without opportunity given to the defendant to defend himself. That was possible only in the time of Turkish reign “the mighty accuses you, the mighty sentences you”. But that is the basic characteristics of the schism. It closes in itself and according to the rules of the fallen nature, it suffocates in its own exhale.

In the end, it is not even that important that the so-called court did not give the Metropolitan Jovan the right to appeal to the Assembly, as the Church has been practicing for centuries, since Metropolitan Jovan would not – in any case – appear in the schismatic court, what is more distressing and agitating is the fact that the people who sat there and sentenced the Metropolitan have no church consciousness and conscience about the fact that they are in schism with the entire Orthodox world, that they are infected with schism which, unless cured in time, obligatorily turns into heresy and that they sentenced the canonical bishop who communicates with all the local Churches. According to the Sixth Canon of the Second Ecumenical Council, schismatics and heretics are not allowed to file charges against canonical bishops.

The decision on depriving Metropolitan Jovan of ecclesiastical rank and authority cannot be accepted by any Orthodox Church, since such a decision was made by a schismatic organisation in Macedonia, which has not been accepted by the Orthodox Churches. That decision will not change anything in the territory of the Republic of Macedonia either. Metropolitan Jovan was even before called: defrocked clergyman, unauthorised bishop, dethroned church dignitary, traitor, spy etc. but bearing in mind that those phrases are lies, it is no wonder that nobody pays attention to this most recent deed: classification of Metropolitan Jovan in the category of laymen, and future addressing with popular name.

The decision to remain in schism with all the Orthodox Churches has great consequences on the people living in the Republic of Macedonia. Schism is potential schizophrenia and causes separations and fractions. At the same time, it represents lack of Lord’s blessing and it is soul-destructive, miserable and futile. It does not give fruit either in church or in national being of a people.

Therefore, it is necessary that all the spiritually educated persons should gather under the blessing of the canonically recognised hierarchy of the Archdiocese of Ochrid and receive part of responsibility in its structure. In other words, to become hot in faith, because if they are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, the Lord will spue them out of His mouth. (Revelation 3:16).