 Reaching decisions by consensus, a major shift in the culture and ethos of the World Council of Churches (WCC), will be at the centre of the upcoming meeting of its Central Committee, which will take place 15-22 February in Geneva. |
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 GENEVA 10 February 2005 (LWI) – The Lutheran Bishop of Oslo
(Norway), and former general secretary of the Lutheran World Federation
(LWF) Rev. Dr Gunnar Stålsett celebrates his 70th birthday today. |
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 http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=506
By Drasko Djenovic, Forum 18 News Service
Following the rejection by the Macedonian authorities of the registration
application of the Archbishopric of Ohrid of the Serbian Orthodox Church
(SOC), Forum 18 News Service has learnt that dozens of those who signed the
registration application were visited by priests of the rival Macedonian
Orthodox Church (MOC) and the police to pressure them to abandon their
adherence to the Church. Father David of the Archbishopric complained to
Forum 18 on 9 February of a "new wave" of intimidation he says the police
launched in December 2004 against Serbian Orthodox believers in Prilep and
Resen, in southern Macedonia. Police have attempted to pressure individual
believers into signing a formal declaration that they have left the SOC and
joined the MOC, which enjoys government backing.
The head of the state religion committee, Cane Mojanovski, has vowed
"never" to give the church registration (see F18News 4 February 2005
http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=505).
It appears that after the Archbishopric lodged its registration
application, the religion committee passed a copy to Metropolitan Peter of
the MOC. Priests of the MOC then visited about 30 families who signed the
application, and following the MOC visits, police questioned and searched
97 people.
Goran Pavlovski, spokesperson of the Interior Ministry, denied to Forum 18
that police had questioned and searched the application signatories,
insisting that they only questioned people "suspected of illegal acts". He
also told Forum 18 from the Macedonian capital Skopje on 9 February that
the situation of the Archbishopric of Ohrid "was given too big a
meaning".
The Skopje office of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in
Europe (OSCE) declined comment for now on the problems facing the SOC in
Macedonia. "The OSCE is much concerned by the difficulties believers might
face in the country," mission spokesperson Maxime Filandrov told Forum 18
from Skopje on 7 February. "We are doing work on this with the different
stakeholders, mainly via our Office for Democratic Institutions and Human
Rights in Warsaw, but we would not go public on this issue at the moment in
order not to 'overexpose' the ongoing efforts to find a solution."
In December 2004 and January 2005 police tried to pressure Riste Risteski
from Prilep and his family into evicting SOC monks from a house inherited
from his parents which he owns in the village of Lagovo. The monks had been
expelled by police on 13 January 2004 from the MOC monastery of the
Dormition of the Holy Mother of God - Treskavec, near Prilep, after the
monastery attempted to be reconciled with the SOC. The MOC is not
recognised by any canonical Orthodox church in the world and monks who
sought "canonical unity" with the Serbian Church have been expelled from
their monasteries by police (see eg. F18News 13 January 2004
http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=228).
On Sunday 11 January 2004, police expelled nuns from the Dormition of the
Holy Mother of God convent near Resen and from the St. Elijah - Chardak
convent, as well as monks from the St. Demity - Marko's monastery near the
capital Skopje.
Risteski told Forum 18 on 8 February that on the morning of 10 January 2005
he was taken from his home to Prilep police station. There he was
interviewed for between 6 to 7 hours, his mobile phone was taken from him
and he was denied any contact with a lawyer or his family. He said police
also denied him food and water. Officers tried to get Risteski to sign a
statement evicting the SOC monks and threatened that he would "have
problems" because the monks are "Serbian spies who want to spread hatred
between Serbs and Macedonians". After these threats, Risteski was taken to
the house where the SOC monks are, which was searched without a warrant by
police, and filmed. Although Risteski has legal documents proving
ownership, the police threatened to destroy the house, and questioned
Risteski about his property and finances.
On each of the next three days, Risteski was summoned to the police
station, verbally threatened that he and his children would lose their
jobs, and on the third day asked to sign a statement that he would not give
the house to the Archbishopric of Ohrid. When Risteski asked that he be
permitted to take the statement home and consult his lawyer, the police
took the statement from him and have since left him alone.
Goran Bogatinoski from Prilep was also visited by police at the beginning
of January 2005, as they wanted to question him why he allowed SOC monks to
stay in his house, as well as why there were icons in his home. Bogatinoski
was taken to the police station and threatened that "if he made people
angry, people could stone his house and the police will not be able to help
him". He was also threatened that the police would prevent him from getting
work. In 2004, Bogatinoski had been questioned by police about who his
friends were.
On 27 January 2005, police singled out the car of an SOC priest entering
Macedonia for a detailed search and verbally insulted him. As the priest is
a Macedonian citizen, he could not legally be refused entry. Similar border
incidents, including refusal to allow SOC priests to travel through
Macedonia on the way from Kosovo to Greece, took place in 2003 and 2004
(see F18News 24 July 2003
http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=113).
The Skopje-based Macedonian Helsinki Committee has noted that the state's
active support for the Macedonian Orthodox Church, is contrary to the
constitution, restricts religious freedom, and calls into question the
secular character of the state.
Among other incidents during 2004, Monika Dodova from Veles in central
Macedonia was invited for an "informal talk" by police inspector Elica.
Dodova told Forum 18 on 9 February that she is a philologist studying Latin
and Classical Greek, and that Inspector Elica questioned her about why
people study Greek, the names of her students and whether she discusses the
SOC with them. Dodova refused to give the police her students' names.
Later, in June 2004 on her way to the monastery of St. Prohor Pchinski in
Serbia, where she was going to take part as a godmother in a baptismal
service, police interrogated her closely. After Dodova returned from
Serbia, Inspector Elica rang her to say that "she know that Dodova had
travelled to Serbia and why."
Also in 2004, the Macedonian parliament passed a resolution supporting "the
autocephalous status and the unity of the Macedonian Orthodox Church" (see
F18News 28 January 2004 http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=238)
and a paramilitary "state security" unit attacked an SOC monastery with
machine guns (see F18News 24 February 2004
http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=259). The monastery was
subsequently demolished by workers helped by about 500 police armed with
machine guns (see F18News
http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=437).
Metropolitan Jovan, the head of the SOC Archbishopric of Ohrid, is awaiting
the results of an appeal against an 18 month jail sentence imposed on him
(see F18News 4 February 2005
http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=505).
A printer-friendly map of Macedonia is available from
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/xpeditions/atlas/index.html?Parent=europe&Rootmap=macedo
Note that the formally recognised name of Macedonia in international law is
"The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia".
(END)
© Forum 18 News Service. All rights reserved.
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"The light of Christ shines upon all. Hope for renewal and unity in Europe": this is the theme of the 3rd European Ecumenical Assembly (EEA3), put forward by the Joint Committee of the Conference of European Churches (CEC) and the Council of European Bishops' Conferences (CCEE), which met in Chartres, France, from 3-6 February 2005.
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