The concelebration of a Divine Liturgy by Patriarch Porfirije of Serbia and Archbishop Stephen of Ohrid took place at St. Sava Cathedral in Belgrade.
The delegation of the Ohrid Archdiocese, led by Archbishop Stephen, arrived in Belgrade yesterday and was welcomed with enthusiasm by the members of the Serbian Church.
Patriarch Porfirije, on the other hand, in a short video that he uploaded to his social media accounts, points out that “as the bells of the Church of Saint Sava ring, so do our hearts with joy because of this blessed day.
Welcome, dear brothers. Welcome our brother Archbishop Stephen. Welcome to the community of love. We are brothers”.
Yesterday, the President of North Macedonia, Stevo Pendarovski, sent a letter to Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, thanking him for the decision of the Ecumenical Patriarchate to restore the canonicality of the Orthodox Church of his country.
In this letter, Pendarovski believes that the Ecumenical Patriarchate’s acceptance of the Church of Northern Macedonia in canonical unity and Eucharistic communion “restored the historical injustice committed against our Church and its faithful and healed the deep wounds caused by decades of isolation.”
In this letter, the President of North Macedonia expressed his hope and expectation for a final settlement of the administrative status of his country’s church in the near future through the granting of an Autocephaly Tomos by the Ecumenical Patriarchate, stressing that the completion of the autocephaly of the church of North Macedonia is a top national interest.
