Macedonia's Lonely Church Seeks Bulgarian 'Parent'

Macedonia's unrecogised Orthodox Church has startled the Orthodox world - and possibly started a new conflict with the Church in Serbia, by asking the Bulgarian Orthodox Church to assume a form of parental authority over it.

The Bulgarian Church told BIRN on Monday that it will probably discuss the unusual request from the Macedonian Orthodox Church at a meeting set for November 27.

"Taking a decision would not be that easy," the spokesperson for the Bulgarian Holy Synod, Alexandra Karamihaleva, warned.

On Sunday, media in both countries revealed that the Macedonian Church had sent an official written request earlier this month for the Bulgarian Church to become its "mother" Church and so encourage its acceptance as an equal among the other Orthodox churches.

If the Bulgarian side agreed, the Macedonian Church would "recognise the Bulgarian Patriarchate as its mother church, which would be the first to accept and recognise its [Macedonian Church's] autocephaly [independence] and declare, promote, represent and stand for it before the Ecumenical Patriarchate [of Constantinople] and the other churches," the letter of the Macedonian Church said.

The Macedonian Church remains unrecognised by other Orthodox Churches due to a long-lasting dispute over its ecclesiastical independence from the Serbian Orthodox Church, to which it was formerly united.

The two churches have remain locked in conflict over the right of the Macedonian Church to be accepted as an equal to the other Orthodox churches.

The Serbian Church, which has close ties with other Orthodox churches, has blocked recognition of the Macedonian Church ever since it unilaterally declared "autocephaly", or ecclesiastical independence, in the late 1960s.

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