On the day of the great Christian feast - Dormition of the Most Holy Mother of God, urged by the Euro-Atlantic democratic principles of respect for the religious rights of the prisoners, clergymen of the Orthodox Ohrid Archbishopric came to the central prison Idrizovo, near Skopje, in order to bring Holy Communion to His Beatitude, […]

SYOSSET, NY [OCA Communications] In a letter addressed to His Holiness, Patriarch Pavle of Serbia, His Beatitude, Metropolitan Herman, expressed shock over the arrest and imprisonment of His Eminence, Archbishop Jovan of Ochrid in the former Yugoslav republic of Macedonia.

The Orthodox Church in the Macedonian Republic unilaterally declared itself autocephalous and broke ties with the […]

Yesterday His Holiness Serbian Patriarch Pavle, together with the members of the Holy Synod of Bishops, received His Excellency Archbishop Eugenio Sbarbaro, the papal nuncio in Belgrade.

Archbishop Sbarbaro conveyed to Patriarch Pavle the solidarity of the Holy See with the imprisoned Archbishop of Ochrid and Metropolitan of Skopje, Kyr Jovan, and the whole Serbian Orthodox […]

His Holiness Serbian Patriarch Pavle received a letter from His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All-Russia informing him of his efforts toward the speedy release of the imprisoned Archbishop Jovan of Ochrid and Metropolitan of Skopje. Below is the text of the letter in its entirety:

We are in receipt of your telegram regarding […]

The ambassador of the Vatican in Serbia and Montenegro, Archbishop Sbarbaro, stated in Bor today that the Holy See has intervened with Macedonian authorities to secure the release of Archbishop Jovan, who has been sentenced to prison in that country.

“The position of the Catholic Church and the Holy See is clear: we are unhappy that […]

On August 22, His Holiness Patriarch Alexy of Moscow and All Russia sent a letter to Macedonian President B. Crvenkovski.

His Holiness said in his letter that differences with regard to the church order in the Republic of Macedonia could be resolved only through church dialogue based on the holy canons. The arrest of Metropolitan John […]

Bishop Josef Homeyer, President of the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Community (COMECE), today sent a letter to the British Prime Minister Tony Blair, President-in-Office of the European Council, to the High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy, Javier Solana, and to the European Commissioner for Enlargement, Olli Rehn, alerting […]

On August 20/7, 2005 His Holiness Serbian Patriarch Pavle received the following letter from His Eminence Metropolitan Laurus of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia (ROCOR) sent from the monastery of the Holy Trinity in New York, USA.

To His Holiness Paul,
Orthodox Archbishop of Pec
Metropolitan of Belgrade-Karlovci
Patriarch of Serbia
Your Holiness Most Holy and Esteemed Vladyko!
I […]

New York - The Hierarchs of the Standing Conference of Canonical Orthodox Bishops in the Americas (SCOBA) have declared unanimously their outrage concerning the imprisonment of Archbishop Jovan of Ochrid by the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM).
“With this imprisonment,” they declared, “the right of freedom of thought and belief has been denied and trampled […]

The Holy Synod of the Hellenic Church received official notification today regarding the new imprisonment of His Beatitude Archbishop Jovan of Ochrid and Metropolitan of Skopje, and expresses its energetic protest against this decision of the Government of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, which represents a threat to the democratic rights of every free […]

The Belgrade daily “Glas Javnosti” (”The Public Voice”) published an interview today with Abbot David (Ninov) of the Ochrid Archdiocese. Given that this interview is an authentic testimony by one of the closest co-workers of the imprisoned Primate of the Autonomous Archdiocese of Ochrid, the Archbishop of Ochrid and Metropolitan of Skopje Kyr Jovan, we […]

On August 9, 2005, the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Skopje issued a Press Release entitled “On the Desecularization of the Republic of Macedonia” most strongly objecting to any form of restriction of the freedom of belief and religion.

The Helsinki Committee called upon the state to abide by both the international documents it had […]

Your Excellencies, Highly Esteemed,
Being concerned because of the most recent events, the violation of the human rights, the religious discrimination and xenophobia which become inseparable part of the contemporary policy of the Macedonian authorities, we address you with unhidden hope that these anti Euro-Atlantic tendencies in our fatherland will soon be replaced with the fresh […]

Having waited for three days from the moment of the imprisonment of His Beatitude Archbishop Jovan of Ochrid and Metropolitan of Skopje in the Idrizovo Prison in Skopje in the vain hope that at least some reason would prevail, albeit late, among the officials of the Republic of Macedonia, the Holy Synod of Bishops of […]