Free
Archbishop Jovan (John) VI

Skopje, March 3rd, 2006

After having spent 220 days in the central Macedonian prison at Idrizovo, his Beatitude Archbishop of Ohrid and Metropolitan of Skopje kyr kyr Jovan (John) VI by decision of the Supreme Court of R. Macedonia is hereby released today.

Drawing from the age-long Orthodox Tradition which teaches us to pray “for all those who love us and for all who hate us”, we use this occasion to express our gratitude to all of the Heads of the local Orthodox Churches, to the Bishops and the faithful Christian people for their fervent prayers to God, as well as to the persons who through their institutional engagement for respect of the elementary human rights and religious freedoms, contributed to the release of his Beatitude Archbishop of Ohrid and Metropolitan of Skopje kyr kyr Jovan (John) VI. It is also timely and it definitely makes sense because of the joy of today’s release to thank those who work against Archbishop kyr kyr John and the Orthodox Ohrid Archbishopric.

We express hope that the release of Archbishop kyr kyr John is occasion for joy of all the citizens of the R. Macedonia regardless of their religious and ethnic allegiances, since his release is only a step forward towards the reaffirming of the image of our country before the international community in the aspect of respect for the basic religious freedoms.

From: The Information Service of The Orthodox Ohrid Archbishopric