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The man is simply pleading for refutation ( 23.06.2005 )

What do we say to the man (Bishop Bački) from whom we have heard about certain “games without boarders,” proving that every “why” has its own “price”, and that the players of this game were playing for money? Thank God the man, from time to time, feels the need to show himself publicly in order to confirm the information given by secret service agents whom we’ve heard in the media, that what was earlier viewed as a “public secret,” regarding a specific Greco-Serbian political and financial deals.

However, let’s start from the beginning. First he says that all he declares is with permition and blessing of His Beatitude, the Serbian Patriarch, and in the name of the Holy Synod of the Serbian Orthodox Church. To this we reply: If he can, firstly, try to convince the Serbian Patriarch, then the rest of the Serbian Bishops, only then will we believe him. With his statement, the man, legitimized himself as one of the main conspirators of the idea and the political project for a Serbian Exarchate from the beginning or still to come creating a new parallel church exarchy in the Republic of Macedonia with the unfortunate chosen name; showing that he personally is tied to and feels responsible for the success or failure of this project.  

The man continually uses the expression “the so-called Macedonian Orthodox Church,” reiterating with this that he does not recognize the Macedonian state and Macedonian people. The poor man forgets again, that the Church is not a place for self-proving of one’s own national identity. In Niš, he signed a working document, which spelled out that our Holy Church would be able to “use the name that she has used for decades” in bilateral terms with the Serbian Orthodox Church. In other words, it was written that we would use the name Macedonian Orthodox Church, without the “so-called,” which he uses now out of grief. Afterwards, without noticing his comical situation, he pranced around the globe, explaining how “some” had trampled all over their signatures, this ironically being himself and his like-minded. Everything that the Bishop does should be to maintain the unity of the Church, not to induce schism. The spirit and the aim of the covenant with the Serbian Orthodox Church and signing of the working document was creating unity within the Church. This was an on-going process that needed to continue, which the Serbian Orthodox Church unilaterally discontinued deceived by the promises of exarchal success. The present pastoral condition, for those who have to be watchful on themselves and on their flock, always requires enlightened acting, while at the same time, rejecting demonic thoughts and suggestions.  

It is not true that the Ambassador of the Russian Federation in the Republic of Macedonia has the role of press secretary for the Russian Patriarch Alexey II. All of the Macedonia media (not Skopje’s media, as it pleases Bishop Bački), including our website (www.mpc.org.mk), make reference to the statement given by the Russian Patriarch taken from the official website of the Russian Orthodox Church, with which in our translation we put a link to the original text. Meaning, the Russia Patriarch Alexey II is the one who gave the statement against this way of solving the dispute, i.e. creating a parallel hierarchy, and not the Ambassador of the Russian Federation, Agaron Asatur, which can be easily confirmed by going to the website: www.patriarchia.ru. It is obvious that the Serbian Orthodox Church this time got the message from the Russian Orthodox Church through this manner.

            The man excellently admits that the decision to give out a “Tomos” for autonomy of the Serbian Exarchate in the Republic of Macedonia is their own decision, which concerns the internal life and organization of the Serbian Orthodox Church, and that none of the sister local Orthodox Churches has the right to either approve or disapprove this decision, but it is good previously, in order to coordinate joint statements, they to come to a prior agreement with their exarchates, which continually seek, yet have not received approval from abroad. Since they do not receive approval, then suddenly they do not need it, meaning “sour grapes”. In other words, if we view the situation through an administrative and political perspective, what is characteristic for those who do not have the Spirit within themselves, surely the problem is internal, but if we look how it should, through the perspective of the One Body of Christ, then it is more difficult to determine the theory of internal or external church problem.

Further, on one had the man claims that the “Serbian Orthodox Church is an autocephalous Orthodox Church and no sister local Church has the right “to approve” her decisions regarding her internal life and organization,” yet on the other hand, he claims that the “Serbian Orthodox Church issued the Tomos after it became clear to them that the Macedonian Orthodox Church did not intend to accept the pan orthodox (meaning, not only Serbian!) stance. Obviously, this kind of pan orthodox stance does not exist, as it is also obvious that this man states whatever he wants and whenever he pleases: first he doesn’t need approval, and then he needs the pan orthodox stance. Thus, it would be better if the man were not so self-righteous, furthermore, he should check for logic in his own texts and statements.

It is true that from 1921 to 1940, for the first time in her 20 centuries of existence, the eparchies of the current Republic of Macedonia, however only for twenty years, found themselves under canonical jurisdiction of the current Serbian Orthodox Church. Nevertheless, to fully understand the problem we must understand that the Archbishphoric of Ohrid was un-canonically abolished by the Patriarchy of Constantinople with the help of the Turkish State in 1767; this includes the fact that, afterwards, the Serbian Government bought those eparchies from the Constantinople Patriarchy on behalf of the Serbian Orthodox Church. It should be known that the they realized the authority over the such way bought eparchies with a lot of bloodshed, Macedonian and Serbian, with physical and spiritual terror; also that the Serbian Bishops, who acted more like hirelings than like true pastors, were the first to run when the Bulgarian Army in 1941 conquered that part of Macedonia. The subject of the Serbian occupational forces in Macedonia and their genocide over the Macedonian people is a theme that we will be opening in the future.

In conclusion, Bishop Bački expresses hope that the dispute regarding the schism in the Republic of Macedonia will be de-politicized and he claims that it was known who politicized this dispute. Here how he uses the well-know demonic method of stating half-truths, more specifically, incorporation of lie and truth in order to place under the lie as truth: “One thing is abundantly clear, (the dispute) has not been politicized by the Serbian (which is a lie!), or the Russian Orthodox Church (which is truth), nor the Orthodox Church on its whole and fullness (phrase which is used  as a wall that all bishops who are enslaved by secular politics, hide behind).” But then who is politicizing this dispute? We will ask the man only one thing: wasn’t it himself who, at an official meeting with our delegation at the Monastery Bigorski in 1999, claimed that our Church can be called the Macedonia Orthodox Church, but not the Archbishphoric of Ohrid, because this Archbishphoric was Bulgarian, Greek, and Serbian (!?) and wasn’t it he who, only a year and a half later, claimed that our Church, can now only be called the Archbishphoric of Ohrid, but never the Macedonian Orthodox Church? Does he think that we do not have written and audio record of what is said? Truly big and contentious dogmatic and canonical question is the question about the name... and this isn’t politicizing of church dispute? Shameful!

We must always remember that when regional churches are unable to agree upon their position regarding questions that are not of dogmatic and canonical character, and are obviously harming Church unity, it means that these church leaders are involved in secular politics. This goes especially for those who deny a local Church’s name, and overlook the pastoral reality of the existence of the Macedonian People (since they already deny biblical and historical facts) and who vainly hope that the existential and canonical fact of a local Orthodox Church, more specifically the existence of the Macedonia state, will somehow magically disappear.  

 

(http://www.spc.org.yu/Vesti-2005/06/20-6-05-c.html#pod)

 

 

on behalf of the editorial staff

of the Macedonian Orthodox Church