North Macedonia requests church autocephaly from Ecumenical Patriarch

North Macedonia's President Stevo Pendarovski has appealed to the global seat of Orthodoxy in Istanbul to recognize the independence of his country's Orthodox Church, Greek state-run news agency ANA-MPA reported on Monday.

"I turn to you, on behalf of a large portion of my fellow citizens, who identify themselves as Orthodox Christians and whose only wish and need is to reconcile with their close ones and focus on a common future, coexistence and true freedom," Pendarovski told Vartholomeos in a letter quoted by North Macedonia's MIA news agency.

"Let me ask Your Holiness to esteem the call of our people and our Church to use Your prerogative and finally give our citizens of the Orthodox Christian faith the opportunity to be equal with the other Orthodox Christians across the globe," he added.

He said that the Ecumenical Patriarchate "is an example of how one...