Heads of Serbian Orthodox Church and Macedonian Orthodox Church Hold Another Joint Service

Patriarch Porfirije, Archbishop of Ohrid and Macedonia Stefan (BETAPHOTO/AMIR HAMZAGIC)

Patriarch Porfirije, the head of the Serbian Orthodox Church, is currently paying a canonical visitation to the Macedonian Orthodox Church. He was invited by Archbishop Stefan, of Ohrid and Macedonia, with whom the patriarch will hold a joint liturgy at Ohrid’s Church of Saints Clement and Panteleimon on May 24, the Serbian Orthodox Church’s Information Service has announced.

The occasion will mark the church heads’ second meeting and joint service in under a week.

Previously, the patriarch and archbishop held a “reconciliation liturgy” at Belgrade’s Temple of St. Sava on May 19, signifying the end of a long-term schism caused by the Macedonian Church – which had had autonomy under the Serbian Orthodox Church – unilaterally declaring autocephaly in 1967. The resulting split left the Macedonian Church unrecognized by all other orthodox churches for five decades.