“We will always be the Macedonian Orthodox Church, no matter how we are addressed. As far as I know, we are not obliged to make constitutional amendments to change our name, but only in our relations, when addressing the Ecumenical Patriarchate, we should refer to ourselves as the Archdiocese of Ohrid,” said Poemen, Metropolitan of Europe in the Ohrid Archdiocese, who spoke in an interview on TV Sitel.
He was responding to a question about Archbishop Stefan’s statement that their church was being asked to exclude the word “Macedonian” as a condition for the granting of the Tomos of Autocephaly from the Ecumenical Patriarchate.
Metropolitan Poemen believes that the requests from the Ecumenical Patriarchate toward granting the Tomos of autocephaly are not too demanding and that a solution can be found. “This isn’t new,” he said, adding that “there are three conditions: the use of the name, the issue of ownership in the diaspora, and cooperation with the Church of Ukraine.” These problems are not insurmountable and can be solved through dialogue.”
He expressed confusion over the tough position of the Ohrid Archdiocese regarding the recognition of the Church of Ukraine and the need for its analysis by the Holy Synod.
“I don’t understand why they have such a harsh attitude… the recognition of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine comes from the same source as the recognition of our Church,” said the hierarch.
He suggested that this may be related to a certain sympathy for the Russian Church, but believes that the issue can also be resolved.
Regarding the transfer of property in the diaspora, Metropolitan Poemen noted that it is about church estates built by the diaspora, some of which are over a century old. Unlike the Church in Ukraine, which has no property in the diaspora, the “Macedonian Orthodox Church” considers it inadmissible to give away real estate built in the past.
“I repeat, it is not about alienating property – only about finding a way to recognize their jurisdiction in the Orthodox world. I believe we will sit down and solve the issue.”
However, he emphasized that this is not a clear requirement. “Although it may seem acceptable now, especially since many Ukrainians have moved around the world, it is unacceptable for us to give away what was built in the past. No church will give away its property. The archbishop explained that if all the other churches had transferred the diaspora to the Ecumenical Patriarchate, we would also have considered joining,” he said.
