Mickoski Reacts Sharply to Vučić: Views That Belong to the Last Century

Hristijan Mickoski, Prime Minister of North Macedonia, has responded directly to statements by Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić regarding his ecclesiastical claims over Macedonia.

Unlike the restrained response of the Macedonian Orthodox Church, Mickoski stressed that the autocephalous Macedonian Church is a pillar of Macedonian identity. According to him, the Serbian president’s statements are among the views that belong to the last century, Telma reports.

“The Macedonian Orthodox Church – Archbishopric of Ohrid Justiniana Prima embodies the brightest part of the Macedonian Orthodox identity. Of course, there are also Macedonians who belong to other faiths and not only the Orthodox faith, but for me personally, as a pillar of Macedonian identity, the MOC stands above everything else. I have no intention of commenting on statements of this kind or engaging in daily exchanges over such remarks, which belong more to the last century,” the prime minister said.

Vučić expressed his position during the commemoration of the victims of the Croatian offensive “Oluja.” The Serbian president said that “polycentric ideas” had existed within the Serbian Orthodox Church (SOC) for its federalization and confederalization, insisting that the Serbian Church is one and unchanging everywhere in the world, the Lideri.mk portal reports.

“The Serbian Church is the same here in Mrkonjić Grad, in Pirot, in Sydney, in Skopje, in Frankfurt, in Melbourne and everywhere else in the world. In the same way, we too must know what our vital national interests are,” the Serbian president said.

The Macedonian Orthodox Church responded yesterday to Vučić’s claims, using measured language.

“As the legitimate bearer of the fullness of the grace of the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church, as well as the successor to Justiniana Prima and the restored Archbishopric of Ohrid, the MOC–OA fulfills its spiritual and pastoral mission for all Orthodox Christians within its canonical territory, without making it conditional on national, political, cultural or ethnic affiliation. In the work of the MOC–OA, the principal and sole guide is the Gospel of Christ, faith in the Resurrection and the well-being of the souls entrusted to it, while it rejects all political and ideological worldviews or platforms, regardless of where they come from.”

In May 2022, after a schism that lasted more than five decades, relations between the Macedonian Orthodox Church – Archbishopric of Ohrid and the Serbian Orthodox Church marked a turning point.