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Верзија на Македонски

The Schism in FYRMacedonia

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section: archbishop\announcements

20.07.2010

Having in mind the years-long persecution of the Ohrid Archbishopric in R. Macedonia, which has not ceased even today, having in mind the perpetual violation of the religious and civil rights which has become a recognizable mark of our homeland in the world, having in mind the refusal to recognize the Ohrid Archbishopric as a religious community in R. Macedonia on two terms, for the knowing person it was clear that the Court of Appeals in Skopje would confirm the convicting decision of the Court of First Instance in Veles, in regard to the charge raised by the schismatic MOC against the Archbishop of Ohrid and Metropolitan of Skopje k.k. Jovan. After the two acquittal verdicts for the same act, in a court process that lasts for whole seven years, the Archbishop Jovan is sentenced to a prison term of two years and six months for the criminal act of “Embezzlement”, and also is to return the schismatic MOC an amount of two hundred forty thousand Euro.

In a country in which there is no freedom of religion, a free and independent judiciary cannot exist as well. The statements that are regularly voiced by the representatives of the USA and EU, in regard to the politicized and corruptible judiciary in R. Macedonia, are largely based upon the attitude which the government and the judiciary have towards the members of the Ohrid Archbishopric, and especially towards its Archbishop. There is no man, not only outside our country where the truth became known much earlier, but also in R. Macedonia itself, who does not know that the persecutions against the Archbishop Jovan and the members of the Ohrid Archbishopric have only political, and not legal character. The whole propaganda that has been continually carried out by the government in order to disgrace the reputation of the Archbishop Jovan and the Ohrid Archbishopric itself, actually had the opposite effect – it only motivated the citizens of our country to show more interest about the problem and sooner realize that the main guilt of the Archbishop Jovan is the fact that he constituted the unity with the Serbian Orthodox Church and resolved the years-long problem with the schism of the Church in R. Macedonia.

Archbishop Jovan is on a trip outside of R. Macedonia, where he received the news about the confirmation of the sentence for imprisonment by the Court of Appeals, and with God’s help he has the intention to carry this cross as well, if that is necessary for the unity of the Church, for the progress of the Ohrid Archbishopric and for the raise of the consciousness of the people, but he will pray and do everything, just as Christ prayed before His cross, “this cup to be removed”.

From the Office of the Archbishopric of Ohrid and Metropolitanate of Skopje

section: news

05.07.2010

The European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI), which operates as a body of the Council of Europe, in its latest Report, published on 15-th July 2010, voiced serious concern regarding the denial of registration of the Orthodox Ohrid Archbishopric.

The European Commission against Racism and Intolerance devotes a significant part of its Report precisely to the issue of the denial of registration of the minority religious groups in R. Macedonia.

Subsequently, we quote only a part of the Report, in which a concern is expressed, regarding the denial of registration of the Orthodox Ohrid Archbishopric by the Court Authorities in our homeland.

In the part for religious minorities, on page 32 of the report, the following is written: “ECRI is moreover concerned about the difficulties encountered by certain minority religious groups in obtaining their registration, although this is a legal requirement for them to be recognized as separate legal entities and able to exercise their activities in full. The legislation was amended by the law of 5 September 2007 on the status of churches, religious communities and religious groups (which came into force on 1 May 2008) with the stated purpose of addressing these difficulties, but it seems that they are not entirely settled. It indeed seems that registration applications by about ten religious communities or groups, including the Ohrid independent Orthodox diocese… referred to above, have still not been granted.

ECRI strongly recommends that the authorities settle without delay the issue of registration of minority religious groups and communities. It also recommends that they exercise vigilance with regard to all forms of discrimination or intolerance on grounds of religion.”

The persecution and discrimination on religious grounds by R. Macedonia against the Orthodox Ohrid Archbishopric is performed by the means of continuation of the judicial persecution of the Archbishop Jovan and the denial of the state authorities to register the Orthodox Ohrid Archbishopric. The state has introduced the new law for registration of the religious communities in order to leave the impression in front of the international community that it is carrying out the required reforms, but in practice, that law was never put in force, and the government continues to protect the state monopoly of the Macedonian Orthodox Church.

The registration of the smaller religious communities and the respect of the basic religious freedoms of all citizens of R. Macedonia equally, is a required condition for reaching the civilization values of the European Union towards which R. Macedonia, for the time declaratively, strives.

The Report in whole can be read at the following address: http://www.coe.int/t/dghl/monitoring/ecri/Country-by-country/Former_Yugoslav_Republic_Macedonia/MKD-CbC-IV-2010-019-ENG.pdf

section: news

28.04.2010

Ms. Asma Jahangir, who is United Nations’ Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief, presented to the U.N. Human Rights Council the Report on the freedom of religion or belief from her mission in R. Macedonia.

As an independent expert, appointed by the U.N. Human Rights Council, Ms. Asma Jahangir paid a working visit to R. Macedonia in the period from 26-th to 29-th April 2009. On this occasion she had meetings with the representatives of the Orthodox Ohrid Archbishopric, as well as with the representatives of the state authorities, other religious communities and communities of belief, and various other associations and non-governmental organizations.

The law for Legal Status of the religious communities with serious implementation problems

In the presented Report of the Special Rapporteur of the UN, the accent is set on the part regarding the issues of concern for the United Nations. Among these issues, special attention is paid to the problem of the (not) implementation of the Law on the legal status of a church, religious community and a religious group. The Special Rapporteur draws attention that “the law is in line with international human rights standards. However, its implementation has so far not been streamlined, for example with regard to registration issues… In addition, the law has allegedly been interpreted widely to include a possibility for the judge to study outside materials to ensure that the sources of teaching and liturgy for any new applicant are different than for any existing registered church. However, its article 10 only requires that the name and official insignia of a church, religious community and a religious group shall be different from the names and official insignia of already registered churches, religious communities and religious groups.”

Further, the Report underlines that the Orthodox Ohrid Archbishopric’s request for registration has been rejected, and analyzing the grounds for such decision by the Court, it highlights that: “this registration practice has been criticized by civil society organizations as undue interference by the State, ultimately protecting church monism and thus providing exclusivity of Orthodoxy on the territory of the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.”

The Special Rapporteur also “would like to remind the Government of its obligations to remain neutral and non-discriminatory, especially concerning the registration procedure. As outlined in her report submitted to the Commission on Human Rights (E/CN.4/2005/61, para. 58), registration should not be a precondition for practising one’s religion, but only for the acquisition of a legal personality and related benefits. In the latter case, registration procedures should be easy and quick, and not depend on extensive formal requirements in terms of the number of members or the time a particular religious group has existed. Registration should not depend on reviews of the substantive content of the belief, the structure or the clergy. In addition, no religious group should be empowered to decide about the registration of another religious group.”

State persecution on religious basis against Archbishop Jovan

The Report also separately focuses on the imprisonment of the Archbishop of Ohrid k.k. Jovan: “the vague formulation of article 319 of the Criminal Code to combat incitement of national, racial or religious hatred, discord and intolerance was allegedly misused against a particular religious leader, Bishop Jovan.”

Analyzing this case, the Report points out that “the fact that Bishop Jovan had conducted religious services that prompted a hostile response by opposing believers could not amount to the commission of the criminal offence of incitement to religious hatred.”

A possible inroad of the MOC in the Constitutional concept of the state

In the part for conclusions and recommendations, the Report states that “the Special Rapporteur would like to emphasize that, according to the Constitution, religious communities are separate from the State and equal before the law. In view of these constitutional provisions and related obligations under international human rights law, the Government has a delicate role to play: it must ensure that the principles of equality and non-discrimination are upheld and, at the same time, it must allow autonomy to religious communities. It must also have an even-handed approach when granting official status to all communities and yet protect the rights of all individuals, whether they are theistic, atheistic or non-theistic believers. A number of the Special Rapporteur’s interlocutors pointed to the perception that the Macedonian Orthodox Church and the Islamic community wield considerable political influence, and that these two largest registered religious communities in the country were able to make inroads to the constitutional concept of separation of State and religion.”

Contrary to the state’s declarative honoring of the religious freedoms, the reports of the international institutions – such as this one from the U.N. Human Rights Council, the reports of the U.S. State Department, European Union, OSCE, Forum 18, The Helsinki Committee, Freedom House etc. – clearly point out the violation of the basic human rights and religious freedoms in R. Macedonia, where the state favors one religious community, and on that account discriminates the other religious communities.

At the same time, the discrimination of the religious minorities is indicated as an obstacle to R. Macedonia’s integration into the European Union and the NATO.

The Report can be read in full at the following location: http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrcouncil/docs/13session/A-HRC-13-40-Add2.pdf

ХРИСТОС ВОСКРЕСЕ

CHRIST IS RISEN!

ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ ΑΝΕΣΤΗ!



From the Information Service of the Orthodox Ohrid Archbishopric

section: holy synod of bishops\correspondence

Archbishop of Ohrid and Metropolitan of Skopje

Protocol № 96 from 3rd March 2010

To: The Council of Europe, Strasbourg



Highly esteemed,

At the beginning of this addressing, we send You our greetings.

In continuation, we would like to very briefly inform You about the violation of the basic religious freedoms of the part of the citizens of R. Macedonia. We are acquainted with the fact that our country will be presiding the Council of Europe and we consider that it is necessary to draw attention to the paradoxical situation that an esteemed institution, such as the Council of Europe, will be presided exactly by R. Macedonia, which violates the basic religious freedoms of a part of its own citizens! Namely, in R. Macedonia exists the Orthodox Ohrid Archbishopric with a recognized autonomous status in the world of Orthodox Christianity, but persecuted by the state in its homeland. Her prelate, Archbishop of Ohrid and Metropolitan of Skopje k.k. Jovan, has served two prison terms because of his religious beliefs, and the court on two terms refuses the registration of the Archbishopric in the register of religious communities. In regard to the imprisonments of Archbishop Jovan and the refusal of registration of the Archbishopric to which, among the other nationalities, the Macedonian citizens of Serbian nationality also belong, the representative of the Serbs in the Government and Member of Parliament, Mr. Ivan Stoiljkovic stated: “it is not being mentioned that the Serbs in Macedonia cannot realize their religious freedom, granted by the Constitution” (Blic, 24th February 2010).

For a more precise insight into the above stated, in continuation we enclose a chronological overview of a part of the events, since the constitution of the Orthodox Ohrid Archbishopric in 2002 until today.

Many international institutions and organizations have also spoken out against this persecution. Following are only a few examples:

US Department of State constantly includes in its “Religious Freedom Report” and “Human Rights Report” information regarding the restrictions of the religious freedoms of the members of the Orthodox Ohrid Archbishopric, the existence of religious prisoners, the violation of freedom of movement, the police terror and demolition of a monastery, the prevention of OSCE from obtaining a copy of the decision upon which the demolition was carried out, the police interrogations of the members of the Orthodox Ohrid Archbishopric etc. (http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2008/108458.htm, http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2007/90187.htm, http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2006/71394.htm, http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2005/51567.htm, http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2004/35470.htm etc.)

US Mission to the OSCE warned of “Violation of freedom of religion” and “encouraged the authorities to apply the law fairly”, advising “the government should avoid involving in religious disputes”, reminding that “Article Nine of the European Convention on Human Rights and Article 19 of the Macedonian Constitution as well as Macedonia’s OSCE commitments, and international norms, all guarantee his right to freedom of religion.” (http://osce.usmission.gov/media/pdfs/2004-statements/fyrom_2-5-04.pdf).

Amnesty International declared the Archbishop Jovan “a prisoner of conscience”. (http://amnesty.org/en/library/asset/EUR05/001/2006/en/28018728-d44a-11dd-8743-d305bea2b2c7/eur050012006en.html)

The Helsinki Committee for Human Rights constantly reports about the violation of the religious freedoms and human rights of the members of the Orthodox Ohrid Archbishopric, among other issues, pointing out that the imprisonment of the Archbishop Jovan is “The most high profile of religious freedom violation” (http://mhc.org.mk/default-mk.asp?ItemID=577B948E52C7B648A9F4398C90B0A71C&arc=1, http://mhc.org.mk/default-mk.asp?ItemID=D269C890ADF91F4D8B26B40C32163802&arc=1 etc.)

The European Commission pointed out that “cases of violations of religious freedom exist” and emphasized that “the new law should provide more liberal procedure for registering religious communities” in its report. (http://ec.europa.eu/enlargement/pdf/key_documents/2006/nov/fyrom_sec_1387_en.pdf)

Forum 18 reports that “Official discrimination continues”, “New Religion Law perpetuates discrimination” etc. (http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=1335, http://forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=1107 etc.)

Highly esteemed,

This is only a part of the persecution that the Orthodox Ohrid Archbishopric faces in the past eight years.

This information for continuation of the limitations of our rights is at the same time an appeal to all the persons being in position to assist the implementation of the Democratic laws and values regarding the respect of religious freedom for all the citizens in the Republic of Macedonia, without any ethnic or religious prejudice, as one of the basic conditions for integration in the Euro-Atlantic civilization trends.

With respect,

Bishop
† David of Stobi and Administrator of Strumica

section: news

11.12.2009

On 19th November, in the temple of St Thomas, in Moscow, the dean of the temple, Fr. Daniil Sysoev was murdered.

Father Daniil was a fervent pastor. He published a significant number of printed works, and was especially successful in public verbal debates with different non-orthodox representatives.

Father Daniil Sysoev showed special love for the Orthodox Ohrid Archbishopric. Giving a great support to the canonical orthodoxy in R. Macedonia, he visited the Orthodox Ohrid Archbishopric on several occasions, he met and talked with His Beatitude Archbishop of Ohrid and Metropolitan of Skopje k.k. Jovan, with a spiritual zeal he did missionary work among the MOC schismatic, drawing attention to the tragic path of the schism, opposed to the salvation in the Church.

Exactly for this purpose, together with Professor Yurij Maximov, Father Daniil Sysoev authored the documentary which we present below. It is filmed on locations in R. Macedonia, but also in Moscow, in front of the temple in which, according to the Moscow investigation officials, he was murdered by Islamic fanatics.


Contemporary persecutions of the Orthodox Church: The Macedonian Schism

section: news

27.10.2009

On 26th October, the U.S. State Department published its Religious Freedom Report 2009 for Macedonia. A significant part of the Report is dedicated exactly to the restrictions of the religious freedom that the Government of R. Macedonia is imposing upon the Archbishop of Ohrid and Metropolitan of Skopje Jovan and the Orthodox Ohrid Archbishopric.

As the State Department points out, one of the restrictions is ”the lack of effective implementation of the registration portion of the 2007 legal status law”. This restriction “severely hindered new registrants' ability to acquire legal standing.”

In the Report it is stressed that “Skopje Court II assigned the registration process to a single judge, who did not meet the timelines required by the law, leaving many applicants waiting months without information. The judge in charge and the president of the court also stated that they would seek to ensure that sources of teaching and liturgy for new registrants are different from those of existing registrants, seemingly intending to protect the autonomy of already-registered groups and contrary to the spirit of the law.”

The U.S. State Department also accents the following: ”During the reporting period, the court approved two new applicants, and rejected or did not act on applications from 11 religious communities. Some restrictions related to its status as an unregistered group continued to be applied to the ‘Orthodox Archbishopric of Ohrid’, which denies the MOC's self-declared autocephaly (also not recognized by other Orthodox churches). “

In the report it is indicated that the Orthodox Ohrid Archbishopric is lead by the Archbishop Jovan and is recognized as an Archbishopric by the Serbian Orthodox Church. It is emphasized also that “members of the group claimed undue government monitoring or harassment based on their religious beliefs. On July 23, 2008, and February 9-10, 2009, church members reported delays at border crossings into the country and indicated that border guards told them they should take off their monastic clothes in order to facilitate border crossing.”

The report points out that “state support for construction of houses of worship and other religious buildings favored the dominant Orthodox religious community.”

The U.S. State Department draws attention to the fact that the government refuse to return the passport to Archbishop Jovan and that he “faced a detainment order for a third retrial of a case in which he was initially acquitted by the Veles Trial Court in 2006.”

The State Department indicates that Archbishop Jovan’s lawyer has not yet received the opinion requested from the expert panel in regard to the trial. The report was finished before the convicting verdict for the Archbishop Jovan was pronounced.

As a constitutive part of the Report, the following is also included: “Embassy officials discussed the implementation of the 2007 legal status law with the court in charge of registrations and with government and religious leaders on numerous occasions, advocating for implementation of the law in a way that meets international standards with respect to human rights and religious freedom and meets the deadlines contained in the law. Embassy staff also worked closely with a number of religious groups and communities seeking to register, serving as a central point for information-sharing among applicants frustrated by court delays and confused by the lack of clear application procedures.”

From the Report of the U.S. State Department, it can be clearly seen that R. Macedonia is far from the implementation of the Law for Churches, Religious Communities and Religious groups, hence, it is far from the fulfilling the international standards in regard to the respect of human rights and religious freedoms.

By the state persecution against the Archbishop Jovan and the refusal of the application for registration of the Orthodox Ohrid Archbishopric, the Government of R. Macedonia is protecting the monopoly of the schismatic MOC, thus creating tensions which do not go in favor of the R. Macedonia’s ambitions for integration in the Euro-Atlantic civilization flows.

Following is the link to the U.S. State Department Religious Freedom Report 2009 for Macedonia: http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2009/127323.htm

section: news

07.10.2009

The upcoming year, in 2010, 1100 years will be completed since the repose of the equal to the apostles, enlightener of all Slavs, saint Naum of Ohrid, the wonderworker, one of the disciples of the glorious brothers from Thessaloniki, the saints Methodius and Cyril. After he came back from the mission in Moravia, on the shore of Lake Ohrid, saint Naum built the monastery which, with its activities, together with the University of Saint Clement, would provide Ohrid a glorious name – Jerusalem for the Slavs.

Because of the relics of saint Naum, which reside in the monastery, as well as because of the authentic monastic life, the monastery was throughout the ages, a place of favour, at which divine services were served also by the well known Archbishops of Ohrid: Theophylact of Ohrid, Demetrios Chomatian, Constantine II Cabasilas, Porphyrios Palaiologos, Arsenios II...

In our more recent history, special concern for the monastery was shown also by the chrysostom of the 20th century, saint Nikolai of Ohrid and Zica. Even today, a memory is lively kept, that one of the favourite places for hesychastic prayer of the holy Bishop Nikolai, was exactly the monastery, exactly close to the holy relics of saint Naum of Ohrid.

But today, the image of the glorious monastery is completely different. Since it is in the hands of the self-proclaimed Macedonian orthodox church, which for the ecumenical orthodoxy is a schismatic religious community, the words of the Gospel about “the abomination of desolation standing in the holy place” (Matthew 24, 15) are being fulfilled upon the monastery. Instead of preserving the holy tradition, instead of monastic life and divine services, the Macedonian orthodox church decided, for a monetary compensation, to rent the monastery to companies that develop activities which are totally opposed to the monastic way of living, totally opposed to the Orthodox Christianity in general.

Namely, the Macedonian orthodox church since years back has transformed the monastery of saint Naum into a hotel, with a permission to even rename the monastery to: “Hotel Complex Saint Naum”.

Also, besides the monastery functions as a spa and fitness centre, Macedonian orthodox church permits the activity of the “Art of Living Foundation”, whose founder is Ravi Shankar, within the monastery. This religious group is teaching its breathing technique Pranayama, sudarshan kriya exactly within the monastery.

One of the reasons due to which the Macedonian orthodox church persists to dwell in schism with the Orthodox World, is exactly the fact that in the redeeming unity with the Church, it would not be able to allow the rental of the monastery of saint Naum to the abovementioned religious group, it would not be able to allow the marketing of the rich tradition of the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church.

The monastery “Saint Jovan Bigorski” recently suffered a terrible disaster, that left no one indifferent, and for the overcoming of its consequences, Archbishop of Ohrid kyr kyr Jovan offered his help. But, in regard to the monastery of the saint Naum of Ohrid, we are witnesses that through the abovementioned activities, which the schismatic Macedonian orthodox church for a monetary compensation is permitting in the monastery, it itself is causing probably the most terrible disaster for the Orthodoxy on the Balkans, and wider!

Therefore, with the monastery of saint Naum transformed into a hotel and a religious centre of Ravi Shankar, the question remains open – how will the Macedonian orthodox church celebrate the upcoming anniversary of 1100 years since the repose of saint Naum of Ohrid, the wonderworker?

(See: http://www.hotel-stnaum.com.mk/index-en.php?page=banja-sveti-naum)

section: history\contemporary history

Stavropegic Monastery
St. John Hrysostom
Village Nizhopoli
Bitola County
Republic of Macedonia

To
His Excellency Ms. Hillary Rodham Clinton
United States Secretary of State
Washington

Nizhopoli, 6 March 2009

Your Excellency,

Hereby we are turning to Your Excellency as to the United States Secretary of State OSCE Chairperson-in-Office in the name of the Stavropegic Monastery St. John Hrysostom in Bitola, in regard to disrespect of the freedom of religion in the Republic of Macedonia and violation of the fundamental human rights in this country. The implementation of the Law on Legal Status of Churches, Religious Communities and Groups (Official Gazzette of the Republic of Macedonia No.113 dated on 20/09/2007) has started in November 2008, i.e., with a delay of one year. This Law was passed under great pressure of the International Community and intensive intercession by the OSCE, for the former law dealing with the religious communities in the Republic of Macedonia favored religious discrimination, and even one Orthodox Christian, the Archbishop of Ohrid and Metropolitan of Skopje kyr kyr Jovan was convicted and imprisonment for ‘inciting religious hatred’.

The new law, passed on 9th September 2007 with a great help by the OSCE, as we have mentioned hereinabove, is generally good. It guarantees religious freedom and tolerance, however, a new problem emerged, and it is its inapplication, ie., its erroneous interpretation. The Court, under the pressure of the Government of the Republic of Macedonia, stands up for the Macedonian Orthodox Church, which is given preferential treatment by the Government, and does not want to register anybody who has seceded from it.

Another religious community, the Orthodox Ohrid Archbisopric, has the same problem, and according to our information, it waits for six months now to be serviced by the Court with the List of the Relibious Communities already registered in the Republic of Macedonia, so it could lodge a request for registration thereof. We do not act in their name, but as we have stated hereinabove, in the name of the Stavropegic Monastery St. John Hrysostom, that had lodged a request for obtaining a legal status to the Court being of jurisdiction regarding registration of religious communities in the Republic of Macedonia. After 118 days, in spite the Law provides that the procedure should be completed within 8 days, we have got a response by the Court that our request is rejected. There is no essential rationale in the Ruling, it seems they simply wanted to inform us that they are in power and that they are not concerned by the fact that they are breaking the Law. For the purpose not to be understood as we are arbitrary interpreting the Ruling, please find it enclosed to this letter together with our Complaint on it. We are asking for several minutes of your precious time and read our Complaint, for we have precisely listed all the violations of human rights and religious freedom committed by the law enforcement and judicial authorities of the Republic of Macedonia.

We have lodged the Complaint to the Court of Appeals in Skopje, pleading the Court to instruct us on the way we could acquire legal status and still to avoid being a part of the Macedonian Orthodox Church where the Government and the Court are pushing us. We have stated therein that we even agree the Court to be our God-father and name us, if the only obstacle is the name, if thus they will make possible for us to exercise our human rights and freedom of religion guaranteed with Article 9 of the Convention for Human Rights and Fundamental Freedom, as well with Article. 19 of the Constitution of the Republic of Macedonia.

We had no chance to acqire legal status in the time when the Governmental Commission was in charge for registration, for they treat us as traitors of the Macedonian Orthodox Church that is favored by them. Now, when the Court is in charge with the registration, the situation is the same, for as it is well known, in spite it is shameful, the Court is under direct influence of the law enforcement authorities. However, in both cases there is a violation of the fundamental human rights and religious freedom. Regretfully, the USA, the EU and the OSCE helplessly watch this for seven years now. We say helplessly, but it does not mean that we are ungrateful for what they did and are still doing to prevent it. The repots on human rights of the State Department of the USA mention the problem of violation of the freedom of religion in the Republic of Macedonia every year, and in our correspondence with the EUR Commissioner Mr. Oli Ren, it has been always emphasized that the Republic of Macedonia could not be accepted in the EU until it meets the Copenhagen requirements, and respecting of human rights and religious freedom is one of them. But there is nothing for us from it. Nobody has made an explicit pressure on this country to leave the totalitarianism and to respect the human rights. Dealing with the problem about the name of this country is really important for the stability of the region, but is not the disrespect of that country of the fundamental human rights guaranteed with the International Conventions a problem of sameimportance? Regretfully, all the institutions that have some ability to contribute to solution of this problem deal with it somewhat superficially, and all finishes only with reports for seven years now. On the contrary, we live under unbearable and inhuman conditions, we do not know when the police will wander into our premises for religious services without sending word of their arrival and in a barbarian manner, demanding to control the present attendants and to search the premises. We do not know when and how long we will be kept at the border crossings, disdaining us and demanding us to get undressed to be searched. We cannot invite any clergyman from another Church to visit us because the border police would send him back if he has not an invitation from a registered religious community. Not to mention that we cannot manage even the mere disposal of our property, for we have no legal status and therefore we are not allowed to open a bank account.

Your Excellency, please answer us whether we ask too much? Whether we are supposed to bear this because we are nuns and we have taken vows to spend our lives in patience and obedience. Nevertheless, this is something that overcomes our strength for suffering. If the matter was about one or two years, we probably would not write you, but we are persecuted, mistreated, humiliated by the authorities of the Republic of Macedonia for sever long years, and we still have not any legal status.

Please receive this letter of ours as a sigh from our weakness, as a cry of hope and need for help. We beg of you to do anything within your competencies, through the OSCE through all international and organization institutions, so that the necessary talks with the authorities of Republic of Macedonia will be held aimed at convincing them to respect the fundamental human rights and the freedom of religion. Please forgive us, nuns who have taken the vows of obedience before God, but it really does not appear respectable for a country which is a candidate for EU membership to be tolerated by the International Community and to be lenient toward sit to the degree of letting it violate the fundamental human rights and the freedom of religion for years now in the 21 Century. None of the International institutions has persuaded us that it has done everything for stopping such totalitarian behavior of the Republic of Macedonia during the last seven years.

Expecting Your sincere support for solution of this essential problem in regard to human rights and freedom of religion, we remain

Respectfully,

sister Olympis with the sisterhood

section: news

20.06.2008

His Beatitude Archbishop of Ohrid and Metropolitan of Skopje kyr kyr Jovan, upon an invitation by the organizers: the Council of Europe and the Non-government organizations: CIVIS and Konrad Adenauer, participated in the international, interreligious gathering held in Strasbourg on the topic “The Contribution of Churches and Religious Communities to the Building of Lasting Peace in Southeastern Europe”, which took place on 20th June in the Council of Europe’s building.

After having sent many letters to the institutions of the European Union regarding the breaking of the human rights of the faithful of the Ohrid Archbishopric, the Archbishop of Ohrid kyr kyr Jovan for the first time after six years, since the persecution of the Ohrid Archbishopric began, had the opportunity to expose, in the seat of the Council of Europe, the problem of the breaking of the human rights in R. Macedonia.

The Ambassador, representative of R. Macedonia in Strasbourg, Ms. Victoria Gerjer after the exposé of the Archbishop kyr kyr Jovan, demonstratively left the gathering. That once more proved what we are unceasingly speaking of for six years – that in R. Macedonia there is no religious dialogue and no religious tolerance.

Following below, we are publishing the integral text of the Archbishop kyr kyr Jovan’s exposé in Strasbourg, which caused great compassion among all the participants in the gathering.

section: archbishop\reviews

(An address by his Beatitude, Archbishop of Ohrid and Metropolitan of Skopje, Jovan at the international, interreligious gathering held in Strasbourg, in the Council of Europe’s building, on the topic “The Contribution of Churches and Religious Communities to the Building of Lasting Peace in Southeastern Europe”)

The topic foreseen by the organizers of this international, intereligious gathering is “The Contribution of Churches and Religious Communities to the Building of Lasting Peace in Southeastern Europe”. The contribution which could be given by the churches and religious communities to the building of lasting peace in southeastern Europe is indeed of great importance. I shall not go so far as to imply that in numerous cases the position of the church regarding certain political issues which provoke instability or war is of an even crucial importance. I will remind myself, as well as this esteemed gathering, that certain researchers of the sociology of religion or politicologists assign imperative importance to churches and religious communities regarding both to the starting of wars, as well as to establishing peace. Even if we deny the imperative role of churches and religious communities for stability and peace, we cannot overlook that their role is of immense relevance for building peace everywhere around the world.

The time foreseen for this address does not allow us to present the historical facts regarding the aforesaid, however the wars that came to pass and the peace treaties from our very recent past, precisely in the southeastern region of Europe, are very pragmatic evidence of this. Religion and religious affiliation have vital influence in a person’s life, but this influence multiplies when given people are under threat of political instability, or of war with someone. This is why churches and religious communities have a very responsible role to endeavor for justice and truth, but to support the achievement of these in a peaceful manner, not through a revolution or war. If the religious leaders are sincerely devoted to the religion they belong to, I deem they will lead their people to a road which provides peaceful resolution, because there is almost no religion, of the great and more influential, for which peace is of no relevance. However, religious leaders are just people, so, unfortunately, they fall prey to some other ideologies, sometimes completely discordant with their faith, not to even mention that they are sometimes drawn by some really base motives, too low to even mention, such as world fame, wealth or power.

In this introduction of mine I gave a very short observation of mine regarding the contribution of churches and religious communities for the building of lasting peace in Southeast Europe. If this is to be summarized in an even shorter form it would be as follows:

1. Churches and religious communities may contribute largely in the building of peace, both in Southeast Europe and in the entire world.

2. Religious leaders have the responsibility to lead their people on the paths of peace and coexistence with the members of other religions, because this is a teaching present in almost all world religions.

3. The true believers have the obligation to conform their beliefs with the religious demands for internal and external peace, which is to say, peace with ourselves and with the others.

4. In order to make possible the fulfillment of all of the aforesaid, certain social prerequisites need to be provided by the state authorities in the states of southeast Europe.

Most of the speakers at this esteemed gathering will address the explanation of the first three points. Since the circumstances in our life have brought us to personally experience the imperative requirement for a government to provide the needed conditions for churches and religious communities to give their contribution for the building of lasting peace in Southeast Europe, allow me to linger on this issue, as much as it is in my ability to shed some light on the influence of state authorities, at least as far as my country, Republic of Macedonia, is concerned, regarding the creation of necessary preconditions for operation of the Church I belong to.

On account of the lack of time I would rather not enter into a historical overview of the relationship between churches and religious communities, on one side, and the state authorities, on the other, in the time of the communist dictatorship. This issue is, more or less, familiar to all. The state authorities in all states of Southeast Europe, represented by the communist parties, did not have a positive attitude towards the churches and religious communities. The authorities wanted to diminish the influence of churches and religious communities on the social life in such a measure that these would fall apart on account of their irrelevance. I mention this just as a reminder of the fact that in the time of communist totalitarianism the countries of Southeast Europe did not have freedom of religion or belief.

After the fall of communism not all the states under communist ideology equally changed their attitude towards faith and religion. Some completely provided for the exercise of this basic human right, the right to freedom of religious expression. Some partially did so, and some have not even tried yet. This political ambiance is depicted in the countries of Southeast Europe as well. Not all of these countries equally advanced in their pursuit of democracy, which they declared to support.

Now, I shall move on to the attitude of the authorities in the Republic of Macedonia towards the Ohrid Archbishopric, the Church I belong to, because I consider this attitude to be very pinpointing and in many regards a good example of how the attitude of the state towards the Church should not be so that a church might have a political ambiance to give its contribution which is rightfully expected of it.

I will speak of this very responsibly and without exaggeration because the situation, such as it is, is already very tense. We were a Metropolitan in the Macedonian Orthodox Church since 1998, when we were ordained, until June 2002 when after the summons of the Serbian Patriarch we acceded to unity with the Serbian Patriarchate. The Macedonian Orthodox Church separated from the Serbian Church, without the latter’s agreement, in 1967 and that is when it was proclaimed a schismatic church and is not recognized by any other Orthodox Church. I will not linger over the topic of the unity of the Church before this gathering or over its importance for the existence of the Church, but I will dwell over certain facts from our very recent history. Immediately after our accession into canonic unity with the Serbian Orthodox Church (June 2002) the state authorities of the Republic of Macedonia swiftly reacted and after less than 5 days, the police, completely unlawfully, evicted us in the street, breaking the Criminal Code of the Republic of Macedonia, by violating the decision we had received for governance over the place of residence. This was only the beginning and we lost this process before the “independent” courts of the Republic of Macedonia. At the moment all of this is processed here in Strasbourg in the Court of Human Rights and we expect a positive resolution.

Until the end of 2003 the authorities of the Republic of Macedonia applied various coercions to try and push us back to the Macedonian Orthodox Church. Sometimes these coercions were in the shape of offered privileges, but much more often in the shape of threats. Near the end of 2003, the director of the Direction for security and counterintelligence, Mr. Zoran Verushevski himself, came to the house where I lived, in Nizhepole, near Bitola, and offered great gifts from the state if I came back to the Macedonian Orthodox Church. As we were sitting at the table I received a phone call, from his mobile phone, by the then Minister of internal affairs, Mr. Hari Kostov, so that he can confirm that the government is behind Mr. Verushevski’s proposals. I refused their proposals without reflection and that same exact moment the aforesaid government representative threatened that I would regret this. It was not long after, only a couple of months and I was taken into custody for 20 days. After I was released from custody, not a full month later, masked men, with automated rifles entered the house where I lived, and since I was absent, they cut the hair of the nuns who were there, collected only the items used for religious service and set the house on fire. It took us more than three years to renew the house and furniture. Almost four months later, in August 2004 the court sentenced me to two and a half years of imprisonment on account of “instigating national and religious hatred”. In the period when we appealed against the verdict, the Ministry for transport and connections reached a decision to demolish the only church that the Ohrid Archbishopric had built. There are at least 300 other houses and residences built without a permit in the area, since it is beyond the city limits and there is no building plan for the same, but they demolished only our church as if it was the only illegal building. In 2005 the appellate court in Skopje confirmed the prison sentence and I had to go to prison. It seems I was the only one who was sentenced for instigating national and religious hatred since the fall of communism. After an immense pressure from the international institutions and organizations concerned with the human rights and freedom, my prison sentence was shortened and I stayed in prison for eight months. Immediately after I was released from prison, the public prosecutor raised charges against me on account of embezzlement of money intended to renew a temple in Veles. Despite the fact that the money in concern had not even been touched to be spent, not to even mention embezzled or misappropriated, and it was deposited in the court, with the calculated interest, on the very first day when the court asked for it, I, being the second person convicted, received a sentence of one year in prison, and the treasurer, who was the first person convicted, received five months of imprisonment. This prison sentence was also shortened, once again after pressure from outside, and I stayed in prison for eight months, again.

In the meanwhile, all of these years, besides the fact that the emphasis of the persecution was put on me, the authorities were not shy of maltreating the other members of our Church as well. There is almost no exiting or entering the Republic of Macedonia when the police do not maltreat the bishops, priests or monastics of the Ohrid Archbishopric for several hours. During the first years it often happened that the police raided during religious service, despite having no right to do this since we officiated on private property. They often executed searches into the bishops’ and priests’ houses, rudely and with no court order. It is not even worth to mention the puny insults and cussing by the police officers against our believing people. In 2005, before the eyes of the police, people, who were obviously collaborators of the police, demolished the place where we held religious service in Skopje. After the demolition they left a writing on the wall which said “Macedonian Orthodox Church”. I shall not dwell over the fact that this awful act was staged by the Macedonian Orthodox Church, but I cannot remain silent about what happened before the eyes of the police and the police did nothing to prevent this. Instead of appeasing inter-religious tension, the authorities in the Republic of Macedonia do everything to instigate it. It was the same until the civil conflicts with the Albanians in 2001. The authorities suppressed and overlooked the demands of the Albanians, Muslims, until they took guns into their arms. It should not be expected that we will do the same. We are a Church and we know that violence breeds nothing good. Violence breeds violence and nothing else. We have decided to use patience to conquer the violence which is being executed over our Church for nearly 6 years, without a stop, but our strength is slipping away. What is done to us by the authorities in the Republic of Macedonia, in the 21 century is worse than barbarism. Not to recognize the freedom of choice as regards religion, now, in the 21 century, is much worse than leading a religious war in the pre-New Testament period. The civilization has a path of development, but where on this path is the Republic of Macedonia, which is in the heart of Europe, a candidate for Euro-Atlantic integration and signatory of the protocol of the International Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg?

By this I wanted to give a really brief summary of all that has happened on the religious and political field in the Republic of Macedonia and which is related to the Church I belong to, the Ohrid Archbishopric. I will mention also that we filed a request for registration of the Ohrid Archbishopric to the government commission for relations with the religious communities but we were rejected, and after the rejected filed charges to the Supreme Court, we filed for proceedings before the Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. On the day after tomorrow, 22 June, it will have been 6 years since we acceded to unity with the Serbian Orthodox Church and we still have not been recognized by the authorities in the Republic of Macedonia. On 1 May, this current year, the new law on religious communities entered into effect. We filed a request for registration before the court on 26 May, this year, and the court is obliged to answer within 30 days if we are to be registered or not. In a few days time these 30 days will have passed, we still have no answer from the court, and I fear we are not going to receive it in the foreseen time frame, since for the previous decisions we waited for years.

Therefore, my questions are as follows:

1. Is the overlooking of the factual existence of the Ohrid Archbishopric and its unrecognizing by the state authorities in the Republic of Macedonia a contribution of this state to the building of peace in Southeast Europe?

2. Are the court proceedings, maltreatments and the various types of pressure exerted over me, as an Archbishop of a Church, as well as on the other members of the Ohrid Archbishopric, by the police and the courts of the Republic of Macedonia creating an ambiance for activity of the religious communities in this country?

3. Is the demolition of religious buildings of the Orhid Archbishopric by the government authorities creating mutual trust between the members of the Church, being citizens of the Republic of Macedonia, and the governmental agencies of the same state?

I have asked only these three questions from the numerous existent ones in order to present before this esteemed gathering that what I mentioned in the very beginning is really necessary. In order for the religious communities to give any sort of contribution to the building of peace in Southeast Europe there are some necessary preconditions that need to be provided by the state authorities of this region by their respect of, at least, the basic and guaranteed religious rights of every person. With great regret, even feeling embarrassed for this, since I am a citizen of this state, with great responsibility and understanding for the political situation of the country, but in the name of justice and truth I must declare that the basic human rights are not respected in the Republic of Macedonia. It is not the right to religious affiliation, but also the human and democratic rights to political freedom, because as it was seen during the last parliamentary elections in June 2008 a civilian died and several other were wounded from excessive use of force by the police.

I would like to summarize the following from all of the above: With disrespecting the guaranteed human rights, not only the religious but also the political rights of certain minorities, the Republic of Macedonia becomes a source of instability in Southeast Europe. I wonder how in a state in which there is no rule of law, such as the Republic of Macedonia, and which by this constantly proves to be a factor of instability in the region can a persecuted Church, such as the Ohrid Archbishopric, give a contribution to the building of lasting peace in Southeast Europe?

Forgive me if you expected solutions from me, but you received a problem. We could not resolve this for full six years, so that is why we pose it before you. We even expect of someone to tell us that we exaggerate, but do not let this subject go unnoticed. We have regularly informed of these issues the representatives of the European Union and the US State Department. We regularly informed the organizations that deal with human rights issues, but besides entering this into their annual reports and besides receiving answers from the representatives of the European Union that the Republic of Macedonia cannot become a member of the European Union until it secures the respect of the religious rights of its citizens, we have the impression that no one conditions this state to change its totalitarian politics. I repeat once again, the politics that do not respect the fundamental human rights have always been and remain a source of instability in the region.

20 June 2008
Strasbourg

ARCHBISHOP AND METROPOLITAN
+ of Ohrid and Skopje, Jovan

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