Ecclesiastical Issues Facing FYROM and its Diaspora

Ecclesiastical, that is, church-related, issues are one of our favorites here at Melbourne Macedonian, and in this post we talk about the "Macedonian" church and explain where it stands in the Orthodox world today.

One of the largest Orthodox churches
in the world: St. Sava in Belgrade

To begin, we have to understand what the Orthodox Communion is and see which churches constitute it. Currently, there are fourteen (14) autocephalous, or self-governing, churches within the  Communion. They are, in order of primacy according to Constantinople: the patriarchates of Constantinople (Ecumenical), Alexandria, Antioch, Jerusalem, Moscow, Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria, and Georgia; and the churches of Cyprus, Greece, Poland, Albania, and the Czech Lands.

As one can see, only four churches have jurisdiction within the Balkans: Albania, Bulgaria, Romania, and Serbia. The "Macedonian" church of FYROM declared itself autocephalous and broke away from the Serbian Patriarchate in 1967. This was an attempt by shady nationalist figures with considerable power at the time to create a separate "Macedonian" church with its own (not Serbian, and by all means not Bulgarian) identity and, above all, authority, and whose existence would strengthen the case for a separate "Macedonian" nation different ethnically and historically to the other peoples of the region, especially the Orthodox Serbs and Bulgarians.

The reason for the "Macedonian" church's declaration of independence being rejected by the Serbian church is that such things cannot be determined by daughter churches, but by mother churches. That is, a church subordinate to another church can only become independent, autocephalous, or self-governing, if the other church grants it this status. In this case, the "Macedonian" church (daughter) could not declare independence from the Serbian church (mother), but the Serbian church could have granted it independence if its synod ever deemed this appropriate. Simply put, this is how things work within the Orthodox Church. For example, today the church of Belarus is subordinate –that is, belongs– to the church of Russia, which became autocephalous in 1448 and was elevated to patriarchate (Moscow) in 1589 by Constantinople, to which it answered up until the granting of independence. 

Archbishop Stefan
(schismatic)

Fifty years on, and the so-called "Macedonian" church currently headed by archbishop Stefan Veljanovski of Ohrid still remains unrecognized by every church within the Orthodox Communion. What this means is that all sacraments conducted by priests belonging to this schismatic church are considered invalid. It should be noted that congregations in the diaspora (e.g. Australia, Canada) identifying as "Macedonian Orthodox" belong to this church.

That said, there is a church within FYROM, a very small one, that is canonical and in full communion with the other churches. This is the church under the jurisdiction of the Serbian patriarchate and led by archbishop Jovan Vraniskovski, also of Ohrid...

But that's all for now: This topic will be continued in a future post. 

The Macedonian [sic] Australian Community Organization of "Vardar" (II)

Many are asking us why we bother with the Yugoslavs and try to rebut their claims. There's no point dealing with these people –they say– they're unstoppable in their determination to change the facts.

Melbourne Macedonian was created with the intention of getting the Greek perspective on the Macedonia Issue out there. That's what we've started to do (we'd like to think) and that's what we'll continue to do.

For we believe it's important to stand up for what's right.

That said, Melbourne Macedonian has no intention of engaging in round-the-clock online warfare with the various Yugoslav-run pages on social media sites like Facebook, where many untruths are being written on a regular basis.

However, if we see something we deem to be incorrect or deceiving, out of line with history or lacking sheer common sense, we will respond. And even if it's just for the record.

So following our previous post addressing misleading statements found on the Facebook page of the so-called Macedonian Australian Community Organization of "Vardar", we would like to make the following points.

It's funny that the Vardar Community Organization should refer us to their video dated 12 April 2016 where Liberal prime minister Malcolm Turnbull acknowledges their country as "Macedonia". Why? Because, firstly, after eight (8) months and in spite of the prime minister's promise to 'take on board their concerns', there has been no change whatsoever in Australia's position on the name (Australia continues to recognize their country officially only as FYROM) and, secondly, their vocal advocate Luke Simpkins no longer represents the electorate of Cowan and is no longer a member of parliament (he was unseated by Labor's Anne Aly in the July federal election).

Also, we would like to stress that there is nothing wrong with Yugoslav organizations being active in Australia and running cultural events. What is wrong, in our opinion, is these organizations provoking the local Greek community unashamedly by, amongst other things:

• Distorting historical facts, e.g. claiming the ancient kingdom of Macedonia was in fact Slavic and not Hellenic (= Greek)
• Stealing Hellenic symbols, e.g. using flags with the Vergina Sun at community halls and cultural events
• Making irredentist claims (informally) on Greek territory, e.g. putting up maps of "Greater" Macedonia at community halls, teaching their young people that Thessaloniki and Florina rightly belong to FYROM
• Arguing cases that are simply baseless and outlandish, e.g. claiming that the Slavic-speaking peoples of northern Greece were victims of "genocide" during the 20th century.

Indeed, as we said in our previous post, the Vardar Community Organization would be doing itself a favour if before pressing Enter it read over everything it writes a second or third time. 

A Yugoslav community function
in Toronto, Canada

They seem to be forgetting that the Greek community in Australia, Canada, and the U.S. is much larger and better established than theirs, hence misleading statements and provocative actions will always trigger a strong reaction.

Let's not forget ourselves that FYROM's population sits at around 2.1 million, or one fifth that of Greece's, and about 25% of this 2.1 million is ethnic Albanians. Just for the record. 

The Macedonian [sic] Australian Community Organisation of "Vardar"

Melbourne Macedonian has been doing a bit of surfing online lately, particularly Facebook, to see what's out there and what both sides are saying about the Macedonia Issue.

One particular Facebook page, run by the Yugoslavs, caught our attention: The Macedonian [sic] Australian Community Organisation of "Vardar".

Scrolling through posts from the last three months or so, we picked up a number of items (some very provocative) and chose two posts we believe are worth commenting on. (Note that all italic wording within the quotation marks below is that of the Vardar Community Organization.)

'Ask this Orthodox Priest that doesn't belong to the Macedonian Orthodox Church as to why other churches are yet to recognise the existence of our holy Macedonian Orthodox Church!'

The church in today's FYROM broke away from the Serbian Patriarchate in 1967 in an attempt by shady figures from the nationalist political scene of the time to create a separate "Macedonian" church that would strengthen their case for a "Macedonian" nation different ethnically and historically to the rest (Serbs, Bulgarians, Bosnians, etc). As a result, none of the 14 autocephalous churches that make up the Orthodox Communion today recognize the schismatic "Macedonian" church and all sacraments are considered invalid. In order for this to change, the "Macedonian" church needs to stop being used as a channel for FYROM government propaganda and the name issue needs to be resolved. Otherwise, it would be impossible for hierarchs of the Greek-speaking churches (Constantinople, Alexandria, Jerusalem, Cyprus, Greece, and Albania) to acknowledge the existence of a "Macedonian" church with a "Macedonian" flock. Furthermore, to recognize the Yugoslavs and their church as both canonical and Macedonian would be an insult not only to the Greek-speaking clergy, but to all clergy and their priesthood, for doing so would be an act of complete disregard for history, which is written by the Divine Creator alone and cannot be rewritten by man.

'Yesterday "Ensemble Macedonia" visited the Macedonian Orthodox Monastery "Saint John the Baptist" or Bigorski Manastir where they sung old Macedonian folk songs. This song is called "We are too the children of Macedonia" and represents the struggles of the Macedonian people particularly the Macedonians from Aegean Macedonia (today's Northern Greece) who were forced to flee their homes after Greek genocide was forced upon them after geographical Macedonia was divided in 1913 between our neighbours'

The Vardar Community Organization would be doing itself a favour if it read over everything it writes a second or third time before pressing Enter. To suggest that the Slavic-speaking populations of northern Greece (yes, they did exist and were primarily Bulgarians and Yugoslavs) were victims of genocide is a big call to make, and an insult to all Greeks. Indeed, genocide is a very controversial topic and should not even be insinuated if the evidence is clearly not there. Armenians, Greeks, and Assyrians, for example, have encountered a number of obstacles, both internal and external, in the push for international recognition of the atrocities their ancestors endured at the hands of the (Ottoman) Turks during the early 20th century. And these groups have history and the facts on their side. Now, for a group of Yugoslavs to cite genocide out of the blue when trying to explain the impact World War I had on the Balkan region, not to mention the internal struggles in the region and the self-serving political interests of a select few, is very foolish, to say the least, but also dangerous politically.

As always, if you'd like to get in touch with us please email melbourne.macedonian@gmail.com. 

Who Gave You the Right to Negotiate My Name?

The original in Greek

The terms "international, bilateral, constitutional" don't fool us.

The geographical terms "North, Upper, Vardar Macedonia" (with or without brackets) don't fool us.

"North" Macedonia suggests there's a "South" Macedonia. "Upper" Macedonia suggests there's a "Lower".

The countries that have recognized Skopje [FYROM] with its constitutional name have stated that once the issue is resolved, they will refer to FYROM with its new name. So why do you give away without thinking twice the name of 2.5 million [Greek] Macedonians?

Say No to a composite name. Overthrow the status quo.

The problem is not ours, but FYROM's.

We don't need a "bilateral" solution – they do.

[Greek diplomat and political activist] ION DRAGOUMIS ONCE SAID:

'KNOW THAT IF WE HURRY TO SAVE MACEDONIA, MACEDONIA WILL SAVE US! SHE WILL SAVE US FROM MEDIOCRITY AND DECAY, SHE WILL SAVE US FROM THE SHAMEFUL SLEEP, SHE WILL FREE US. IF WE HURRY AND SAVE MACEDONIA, WE WILL BE SAVED!'

No matter how many countries recognize them [FYROM], Greece will have the final word.

We make this plea to you. Don't sell out our name.

You know very well that there was no "Macedonia" before 1945.

You know very well the plans of Marshall Josip Broz (Tito).

So why should we all of a sudden recognize a non-existent, pseudo-state?

As the first president of FYROM, Kiro Gligorov, once said:

'We are Slavs and came to the region during the 6th century AD... We are not descendants of the ancient Macedonians. Serious historians are laughing at what's happening in my country. The way we're going, we'll end up descendants of Adam and Eve and will prove that even paradise is Macedonian.'

MACEDONIA IS GREECE AND NOT NEGOTIABLE.