Skopje, 13 March 2023 (MIA) - President Stevo Pendarovski met on Monday in Istanbul with His All Holiness, Bartholomew I, Archbishop of Constantinople, New Rome and Ecumenical Patriarch.

During the meeting, President Pendarovski expressed gratitude to the Ecumenical Patriarch for the special role he has in overcoming the ecclesiastical dispute related to our church. Under the Ecumenical Patriarchate's decision of May 9, 2020, today our Church is in canonical unity with other Orthodox churches, accepted as equal with all the others, President’s Office said in a press release.

At the meeting it was stated that the only way to obtain a legitimate and fully approved “Tomos of Autocephaly” is to be issued by the Ecumenical Patriarchate.

“Therefore, we expect, as a state and the Church, from the supreme institutional authority in Orthodoxy, to grant us the official document for church independence “Tomos of Autocephaly.” Under the decisions of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, our Church is recognized with the right to use the name Ohrid Archbishopric, which means 1,000 years of church continuity. The completion of entire process of autocephaly is also of supreme national interest, because it opens up the possibility for new and spiritual growth of the Ohrid Archbishopric, progress and reconciliation in Macedonian society and state,” Pendarovski’s Office said in a press release.