Analysis
Democratic Security
Union Jack and the White Eagle. Significance of the Poland-UK Defence Treaty
28 May 2026
30 May 2022
The decision of the Patriarchate of Constantinople to recognise the canonical status of the Archdiocese of Ohrid, the Church of North Macedonia, reminded me of the plight of a nation whose identity is contested by almost all of its neighbours.
The very decision of the Ecumenical Patriarch is a reminder of this clash of identity. The question of the status of the Orthodox Church of Macedonia should be resolved by its synod with the synod of the Serbian Orthodox Church. And the question of the name of the Church — with the synod of the Greek Orthodox Church.
The Serbian Orthodox Church doubts the right of the people of North Macedonia to their own autocephalous Church, and the Greek Orthodox Church questions the right to the name ‘Macedonian Orthodox Church.’ But there is also the Bulgarian Orthodox Church. Sofia doubts both the right to autocephaly and the right to the name. In Bulgaria, they are sure that the Macedonian nation does not exist…