[ Post a Response | Christian Belief ]
Posted by Nikolov on June 6, 2001, 11:36:51 Regarding the current situation in Macedonia, the Head of the Macedonian Orthodox Church (MOC), His Holiness Stefan said for the Macedonian Radio that "basis of all crisis is the moral crisis." The moral crisis, according to H.H. Stefan, "means forgetting of the elementary, national, patriotic, state and religious values by every individual. Moral crisis means hatred, destruction of the other, forgetting of the Holy, of the religion, denial of the unity due to religious differences and religious orientation." What is happening to us is nothing new in the history, Stefan said. "Could anyone imagine that ancient Egypt, with all its glory would disappear, that Rome or Byzantine would disappear. This proves that the moral crisis is stronger than anything else. Unfortunately, something like that might happen to us, but I still believe that we can still go back to the real values, which we have currently forgotten. When I say "we" I mean all of us, both the Macedonians, Albanians, and all others who live in this country. ," he stated. "It is a question how true were the statements that Macedonia is oasis of peace. Oasis of peace can be only that country where all citizens think alike." "When we named our country 'oasis of peace' our country was left without weapons. The former Yugoslav Army took everything it could take from Macedonia, and at the same time, we have to admit, someone was permanently bringing weapons in Macedonia, and we lied to ourselves that we are building 'oasis of peace'," he said. Speaking about the relations between the Macedonian Orthodox Church and the Islamic Community in Macedonia, H.H. Stefan said that he could not believe that what is happening on military field should influence on the MOC or on the Islamic Community, because "it is constantly underlined that the clashes are not due to the religion, but for Constitutional changes." "Regardless whether we admit this or not, we are overwhelmed by the feeling that in this hard days for Macedonia the Islamic Community did not condemn the terrorists who are shooting on our security forces. So far, I did not hear from them any expression of sympathy to the families of the killed Macedonian policemen or soldiers. I did not hear from them to condemn those who entered in the monastery "St. Anastasij" in Tetovo, who occupied the "St. Virgin Mary" church in Matejce. Also, I did not hear from them to condemn those who use the mosques as sniper positions. Therefore, I think that we should all do our best to eliminate that feeling of mistrust between MOC and the Islamic Community," H.H. Stefan said. He underlined that the Islamic Community stood against the evacuation of the civilians from Kumanovo-Lipkovo region. "All experts suggested evacuation of the population. I believe that all what is happening to us will make us think that the voice of the Church leaders and leaders of the Islamic Community is needed so we can surpass this situation," Stefan stated. On two occasions since the beginning of the clashes, the Macedonian Orthodox Church tried to schedule a meeting with the representatives of the religious communities in Macedonia, Stefan said. All representatives, except those of the Islamic Community, came to the meetings, where we were supposed to sign a joint statement for the present situation, the MOC Head said. Regarding the Article 19 from the Constitution of the Republic of Macedonia, His Holiness Stefan says that it guarantees to the MOC and other religious communities in the state independence and equal rights in front of the law. "If the problem is in the mentioning of the MOC name, that is due to the historical role of the Macedonian people in the Macedonian history. There is nothing wrong with the Preamble of the Constitution," he said. The statement given by Prime Minister Ljubco Georgievski that the name of MOC should be erased from the Constitution H.H. Stefan understands as "statement given with dosage of irony." "The place given to the MOC is founded on its historical work for the Macedonian people. I think that talks for the role of the MOC and its place in the Constitution of the Republic of Macedonia should not be allowed," H.H. Stefan said. Regarding the new draft-text of the Law for religious communities, Stefan said that besides the MOC the other religious communities in Macedonia had certain remarks. Regarding the MOC activities for its recognition by the other orthodox churches, H.H. Stefan said that soon a MOC delegation would meet with delegations from the Antiohian and Georgian Orthodox churches. Regarding the relations with Serb Orthodox Church, he said "we concluded that these negotiations do not offer anything new and therefore, we decided to change our demands for resolving of the Macedonian church issue." "Due to that reason, we decided to address to the Istanbul Patriarchy, i.e. to the Supreme Patriarch Bartholomew. The current situation in Macedonia has postponed our activities, but still, we expect our initiative for trilateral meeting to be realized soon," he stated. Asked what would MOC do in regard to the destruction of churches in the region of crisis, H.H. Stefan said that in this context the Islamic Community and international organizations could help. Regarding the idea by the Macedonian Academy of Science and Arts for voluntarily exchange of territories and people between Macedonia and Albania, the Head of the Macedonian Orthodox Church said that this is an exceptional time when each and every one of us thinks about the beginning and the causes of the war, but should also think about its end and the life afterwards. I would not comment those statements, as I have heard MANU's members do not support that idea, but it was a position that was presented to the public. I do not understand it as an offered program, but I think they follow the example of the Serbian and Albanian academies. I would ask the following question: Is that the most unconstitutional statement we have heard in the past months? Is it a sin to ask when will the population disarm and is it a sin to expel someone that illegally entered our country? Is it a sin someone that made mistake to be responsible before the Court of Law? In this period we have to tolerate our differences and our positions, because we will not resolve the crisis unless we hear everyone's position and opinion. "It is time to find the best solution to come out of this situation, as the weapon and the threats are not in favour of anyone's Constitution, not the human, nor Christian nor Muslim's," H.H. Stefan stressed. Among the current activities of MOC, H.H. Stefan mentioned the resolving of the situation in the Macedonian Orthodox Eparchy in Australia. "Ultimately, we all have to understand that the situation in the Australian Eparchy does not contribute to the Macedonians there. The respect of the church, nation and of the state is defended in Macedonia, as well as in the foreign eparchies. He also pointed out to the activities for restoring the temple of "St. Kliment" on Plaoshnik in Ohrid. "I visited the temple few days ago and it is a real shrine. Head of MOC announced that the St. Sophia Church would be blessed in October after the restoring of the church is over. In that time MOC's Assembly will be held, where representatives from all MOC's eparchies will participate. I think that several issues including the future activities of MOC will be on the agenda. Regarding the visit to Australia H.H. Stefan blessed the believers and expressed his wishes and readiness to visit them, hoping that the visit will be realized soon. At the end of his interview for the Macedonian Radio, H.H. Stefan spoke of his visit to the US - Canadian eparchy and the church municipalities in Toronto and in the state of New York. He attended the electing Assembly in the US Canadian Macedonian eparchy as well as the celebrations on the occasion of the 5th anniversary of "St. Dimitrij" in Markham.
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