The Ecumenical Patriarchate, the primus inter pares of the world’s Eastern Orthodox churches, this week announced that it had received a request by the “schismatic” Orthodox Church in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (fYRoM), to assume an initiative aimed at re-establishing the latter’s canonical recognition under its previous and historic title, the Archbishopric of Ohrid.
An announcement by the Istanbul-based Patriarchate said a relevant Holy Synod meeting was convened on the matter on Wednesday, and chaired by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew (Vartholomeos).
The request by the church, which has called itself the “Macedonian Orthodox Church” since 1967, was accompanied by a letter from the prime minister of fYRoM, Zoran Zaev.
The Patriarchate announced that the Holy Synod approved the request to assume such an initiative.
