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Ohrid archbishopric
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There
is no data available whether representatives from Macedonia attended the
First Ecumenical Synod of Nicea in 325. However, the Second Synod at Serdica
in 343 was attended by Parigorius, the first Metropolitan of Skopje, and
his suffragan the Bishop of Ulpiana (present-day Liplyan); both supported
Orthodoxy. The presence of Parigorius proves that there were organized bishoprics
in Macedonia headed by metropolitans and bishops since the first decades
of the 4th century. In the 5th century the church in Macedonia was well-organized.
Of the two metropolitan's dioceses in Thessaloniki and Skopje, the diocese
in Thessaloniki was more influential due to its foundation by the Apostle
Paul.
"16.9. And a vision
appeared to Paul in the night," There stood a man of Macedonia, and
prayed to him, saying, 'Come over to Macedona,
and help US.'
16.10. And after he had
seen the vision, immediately we endeavored to go into Macedonb, assuredly
gathering that the Lord had called us for
to preach the gospel untothem." - The Book of Philippians, The
New Testament
The settlement of Slavs in the Balkans, their Christianization and the development
of Slavic liturgy and literacy gave a completely new quality to the development
of the church in Macedonia. Prince Boris, after the establishment of the
Bulgarian state incorporating a part of Macedonia, ordained Clement as Bishop
of Dremvica and Velika (893) with a residence in Ohrid, wherein Clement
became the first Macedonian-Slavic bishop. The religious service in his
bishopric was, of course, held in the language of the Macedonian Slavs,
and Ohrid became an educational, literary and a church center. Branko Panov
is of the opinion that, nevertheless, the center of Clement's bishopric
was located at some distance from Ohrid, because in his Extensive HagiographyTheophylact
of Ohrid writes "Clement used to return from Velika to Ohrid to see
for himself whether the inhabitants on earth are strong in spirit and whether
they resist the fear of God ... being at peace in his communication with
God in the monastery, the beauty of which he loved and longed for when he
was away from it." With the establishment of Samuil's state, the necessity
for an independent Macedonian church became imperative. Until the time of
Samuil, the church in Macedonia had been under the jurisdiction of the Bulgarian
Patriarchate founded by Tsar Symeon without the approval of the Ecumenical
Patriarch of Constantinople. At that time eparchies are recorded as existing
in the Macedonian towns of Voden, Meglen, Serres, Ohrid and Skopje. The
success of the komitopulis' uprising and the wresting of Macedonia away
from Byzantine rule (the Bulgarian Empire had fallen in the meantime) demanded
that ecclesiastical authority be independent of Byzantine authority and
lie close to the secular authority of Samuil, both geographically and ideologically.
The center of the church moved to Prespa on the island of Achilles, where
Samuil built a magnificent church to house it. The relics of St. Achilles
were brought from Larissa, which Samuil conquered in 985. 
There is no concrete data as to when Samuil created an autonomous Macedonian
archbishopric. Logically, it is most likely that he would begin such immediately
after proclaiming himself tsar, which suggests the late 10th century. When
he transferred his capital from Prespa to Ohrid, he likewise moved the residence
of the archbishopric, known hereafter as the Archbishopric of Ohrid.
Durnovo, in his study Do the Bulgarians have Historical Rights over Macedonian
Thrace and Old Serbia? writes that it should be recognized that Ohrid was
the capital of Samuil's Slavic-Macedonian empire, and although the empire
was labeled as Bulgarian it had nothing in common with the former Bulgarian
Empire on the other side of the Danube River. The Macedonian Empire was
established "... after the Bulgarians were expelled from Macedonia
and it possessed its own separate dynasty and bishops". As Samuil's
empire expanded, the jurisdiction of his church was extended as well. The
first archbishop of the Archbishopric of Ohrid was Philip, who retained
this position from its foundation until the murder of Gavril Radomir in
1015. When Ivan Vladislav took the throne, Philip was dismissed from his
post.
Samuirs church did not differ from other eastern churches--it enjoyed all
the typical feudal privileges, with estates at its disposal, pareikos (serfs)
to cultivate its land and exemption from various dues and taxes. Samuil
favored the high clergy to a greater and more pronounced degree than other
secular feudal lords. "The independent Macedonian Orthodox Church in
Samuirs Macedonian state had the final say in the whole of spiritual and
educational life, it regulated legal and family relations and united the
people under the symbol of its name, in the spirit of the widely-accepted
medieval principle of unity between church and state, in accordance with
the apostolic theory that there is no power other than that of God",
emphasizes Lidija Slaveska. Secular rights, courts and legislation were
the three basic functions of the state, but these were effected by the church
as well, as it was organized as an independent social community.
In the history of the Macedonian people, Samuil's state and the Archbishopric
of Ohrid played another crucial role. Samuil introduced the language of
the Macedonian Slavs to state administration, while the church acknowledged
Macedonian as well--not surprising, considering it was the language of Cyril
and Methodius and their disciples Clement and Naum. The raising of Macedonian
io the level of an administrative and ecclesiastic language encouraged the
standardization of dialectal forms.
As Samuirs state shrank in later years, the eparchies in areas now outside
its borders broke their ties to Ohrid. Consequently, towards the end of
Samuirs empire the Archbishopric of Ohrid exercised its power only in Macedonia,
where both the clergy and the people belonged to the same ethnos--the Macedonian.
The formation of the Macedonian Slavs as a nation was accelerated by the
fact that Macedonia was the basic core of Samuirs state and the Macedonian
Slavs its core population. Therefore, Archbishop of Ohrid and Skopje and
Metropolitan of Macedonia, his Holiness Dositey, was correct in stating
that "There is no need to put a particular emphasis on the fact that
the Archbishopric of Ohrid, and later the memory of it, was the only source
of Macedonian national awareness."
In
the beginning, the relationship between the Ohrid archbishopric and Patriarchate
of Constantinople were cordial enough Archbishop of Ohrid Paisius even conducted
the Synod in Constantinople in 1565, when Patriarch Joasaph was accused
of immonia. One sign of mutual respect was the act passed at the Edirne
Council of May 1697, whereby the leading officials of the Archbishopric
of Orhid, the Patriarchate of Pech and the Bishopric of Cyprus were proclaimed
"the respected three", equal by law to "God's proclaimed
four patriarchates." However, the weaker the Archbishopric of Ohrid
grew, the more intense the ambition of the Patriarchate of Constantinople
to subjugate it and the territory of its diocese. The intrigues of the patriarchate
in time became part of its relations towards its sister church, and during
periods of cool AustroOttoman or Russo-Ottoman relations this was manifested
by constant suggestions to the sultan that the archbishopric was a tool
of Rome, Vienna or Moscow. Disagreements within the archbishopric itself
were to the advantage of the Patriarchate of Constantinople.
The break between the two came with the appointment of Ananias, protosingel
of Patriarch Ioannikios III the Karatzas, as Archbishop of Ohrid. This was
an organized and unprecedented move made with the sultan's blessing:
the patriarchate, despite the independence of the Ohrid archbishopric, granted
the right of appointment of the Archbishop of Ohrid to a group of six to
seven archpriests who, at the time, were in the Archbishopric of Constantinople
and inclined towards Greek domination of the church. The action of appointing
a new archbishop to the vacant position was, in fact, initiated by Graecophile
colonists from the Ohrid diocese n the Turkish capital. While formal appointment
was effected, Ananias was not accepted by the people of Ohrid and the archbishopric
did not recognize the new appointment. Expelling Ananias from Ohrid was
the last success achie.ed by church autonomists in Ohird--by bribing Turkish
officials and supporters of the Greek cause among the high clergy of the
archbishopric, the patriarchate detached diocese after diocese from it.
Finally, on January 16, 1767, Archbishop Arsenius resigned "voluntarily,"
saying that "...owing to an inability to put in order and satisfy the
needs of the Archbishopric of Ohrid, which arose before us one after the
other..." he would resign. Dismissed from his post as archbishop, Arsenius
was appointed as Metropolitan of the Eparchy of Pelagonia, but on June 24,
1767, he was driven from there as well, "voluntarily" resigning
again.
Immediately after deposing Arsenius as archbishop, Patriarch Samoil Chanjeff
obtained from Sultan Mustafa III an irade (decree) whereby the Archbishopric
of Ohrid was abolished and the eparchies included within the patriarchate.
The irade furthermore left the inhabitants of these eparchies with no right
of complaint against such a decision. In order to obliterate the archbishopric
totally, Constantinople abolished the Eparchy of Ohrid itself, transferring
the regional seat of ecclesiastical power to Durres and renaming the eparchy
the Eparchy of Durres. The name of Ohrid itself was changed to Lychnidos,
with the aim of wiping out anything reminiscent of the Archbishopric of
Ohrid. After 800 years Ohrid was abolished both as center of an autocephalous
church and as residence of an archbishop, despite the fact that it had occupied
that position since the first decades after Christianity had come to the
Balkans. Expressing its gratitude to the sultan, on May 15, 1767, the Patriarchal
Synod passed an act where it "explained" the reasons for abolishing
the Archbishopric. As with the Patriarchate of Pech, abolished a year earlier,
it was alleged that the Archbishopric of Ohrid had been illegally established
and non-canonically separated from the Ecumenical Patriarchate. Hence, the
sultan's edict, whereby the archbishopric was eliminated, was both canonical
and "just." Slavko Dimevski notes that even the edict to abolish
the archbishopric by the Ottoman Sultan, a sworn enemy of Christianity,
was not as cruel as the decision
made by the patriarchate to obliterate the existence of the Archbishopric
of
Ohrid.
After achieving its main objective in the abolishment of the Ohrid archbishopric,
the Patriarchate of Constantinople took steps to destroy Slavic spiritual
and ecclesiastic life in Macedonia and to impose the laws and customs of
the Greek church. The first target of course was the Slavonic religious
service; clergy were generally replaced by Greeks and graecomans despite
the resistance of congregations soon emerged in Bitola, Ohrid, Skopje, Kukush,
Lerin and Tetovo. Although the clergy was dominated by Greeks, the lowest
orders remained Slavic--the Greeks eschewed these posts as they brought
negligible incomes. During the time of the darkest spiritual slavery under
the Pharanlots these Slavic clergy, semiliterate and half-educated, succeeded
in preserving the traditions of Clement's church and the Archbishopric of
Ohrid.
Jovan Pavlovski & Mishel Pavlovski
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