Macedonian Orthodox worshippers will celebrate their second Easter this year since being unified with fellow believers in other Orthodox countries.

This must have come as a relief for North Macedonia’s churchgoers, as they are no longer considered schismatics thanks to Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew’s decision on May 9, 2022, which returned the Macedonian Orthodox Church (Ohrid Archbishopric), MOC-OA, to canonicity with the rest of Orthodoxy.

The landmark decision by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew to accept the MOC-OA into communion lifted a great burden from its shoulders and opened many doors that had been closed for decades. The MOC-OA illegally seceded from the Serbian church in 1967 and fell into schism. Joint concelebrations and visits with other local church representatives have slowly become the norm, injecting fresh impetus into North Macedonia’s church life.

However, two years on, things have not been moving at the desired speed for MOC-OA’s autocephaly ambitions. Bartholomew, who sits in Istanbul and is considered first among equals, has still not signed the long-desired decree of autocephaly (tomos).