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This letter is from the League of Macedonian Americans to all Macedonian-American churches, the Macedonian government and main political parties, and to several news agencies in Macedonia.
We encourage all Macedonian communities throughout the Diaspora to consider our options if the Macedonian Orthodox Church decide to acknowledge the Bulgarian Orthodox Church as her mother church. We must organize and unite against this attack. If there is one area of influence that the Diaspora can have a important impact regarding Macedonia affairs in the homeland, it revolves around Church matters.
The Macedonian Community Must Reject MOC’s Attempt to Place Us Under Bulgarian Jurisdiction
November 21, 2017
Brothers, Sisters, and Respected Members of the Macedonian Community:
It is with heavy hearts that we write this letter today. We Macedonians have been wounded and insulted by the one institution that has, until now, offered shelter and protection for the Macedonian people, culture and identity.
The recent decision by the Macedonian Orthodox Church (MOC) to ask the Bulgarian Orthodox Church (BOC) to become our mother church is a blow to the Macedonian Cause and an affront to the efforts of our ancestors to attain our own Macedonian church, which has played a crucial role in fostering the development of the Macedonian identity in Macedonia and the Diaspora. The MOC may have strategic reasons for asking such of the BOC, but any response by the BOC in the affirmative or negative will harm the Macedonian Cause. The MOC has, in our eyes, delegitimized itself as an institution that represents the will and spirit of the Macedonian people by proceeding in such a manner: our soul has been compromised.
Our connection to the MOC is an expression of our cultural identity and serves as a means to remain connected to the Macedonian community and to honor the lives of our ancestors. For Macedonians in the Diaspora, our Macedonian churches are the last stronghold of our communities. Our churches form the bond that links us to one another – without these churches, we would have been absorbed into different identities and cultures, and we would have been wandering in the dark searching for light. In a world that Goce Delchev described as a battlefield for competing cultures, the MOC had prevented us from fading away – until now.
The idea of voluntarily submitting ourselves to the BOC and the idea that we would willfully allow the BOC (a political-religious institution founded in 1870 that used places of worship to convert Macedonians into Bulgarians) to become our mother is unjustifiable and intolerable. We cannot in good conscience follow the MOC into the BOC. Any Macedonian dedicated to the Macedonian Cause should also find such path unacceptable and deplorable. The designation of ‘mother’ in and of itself is condescending and implies that the Macedonian Orthodox Church is a child that is subordinate to its so called ‘mother’. A daughter cannot become a sister to her mother, as the MOC wants us to believe could eventually happen. Some in the MOC leadership insist that this is simply an honorary title and has no operational consequences for the MOC. We frankly do not see any honor in the designation and have to question how anyone, especially Macedonians, would feel honored by these actions.
The consequences of placing the MOC under BOC jurisdiction would be wide and far-reaching and could potentially cause a great schism within the Macedonian community. For example, Macedonian-Americans and other Diaspora Macedonians would view the Bulgarian domination of our spiritual center as a betrayal to the Macedonian Cause and the Macedonian people, and they may decide to secede from the MOC and form their own Macedonian Orthodox Church community, independent of the MOC. In this way, these Diaspora churches that represent about one-fourth of the worldwide Macedonian population would put tremendous pressure on the MOC to rethink their recent actions. We believe the Macedonian community and church would be better off without any ‘mother’, especially one like the BOC, who has actively worked against the existence of a separate Macedonian Orthodox Church and Macedonian identity.
If the MOC acknowledges the BOC as a mother church, the Macedonian churches in the Diaspora would consider uniting and seceding from the MOC. They would have no other option if they want to safeguard the Macedonian identity from the continual looming threat of Bulgarianization. We thus respectfully ask for your support in demanding that the MOC withdraw their letter to the BOC.
Sincerely,
Victor Sinadinoski & Goce Petreski
League of Macedonian Americans
We encourage all Macedonian communities throughout the Diaspora to consider our options if the Macedonian Orthodox Church decide to acknowledge the Bulgarian Orthodox Church as her mother church. We must organize and unite against this attack. If there is one area of influence that the Diaspora can have a important impact regarding Macedonia affairs in the homeland, it revolves around Church matters.
The Macedonian Community Must Reject MOC’s Attempt to Place Us Under Bulgarian Jurisdiction
November 21, 2017
Brothers, Sisters, and Respected Members of the Macedonian Community:
It is with heavy hearts that we write this letter today. We Macedonians have been wounded and insulted by the one institution that has, until now, offered shelter and protection for the Macedonian people, culture and identity.
The recent decision by the Macedonian Orthodox Church (MOC) to ask the Bulgarian Orthodox Church (BOC) to become our mother church is a blow to the Macedonian Cause and an affront to the efforts of our ancestors to attain our own Macedonian church, which has played a crucial role in fostering the development of the Macedonian identity in Macedonia and the Diaspora. The MOC may have strategic reasons for asking such of the BOC, but any response by the BOC in the affirmative or negative will harm the Macedonian Cause. The MOC has, in our eyes, delegitimized itself as an institution that represents the will and spirit of the Macedonian people by proceeding in such a manner: our soul has been compromised.
Our connection to the MOC is an expression of our cultural identity and serves as a means to remain connected to the Macedonian community and to honor the lives of our ancestors. For Macedonians in the Diaspora, our Macedonian churches are the last stronghold of our communities. Our churches form the bond that links us to one another – without these churches, we would have been absorbed into different identities and cultures, and we would have been wandering in the dark searching for light. In a world that Goce Delchev described as a battlefield for competing cultures, the MOC had prevented us from fading away – until now.
The idea of voluntarily submitting ourselves to the BOC and the idea that we would willfully allow the BOC (a political-religious institution founded in 1870 that used places of worship to convert Macedonians into Bulgarians) to become our mother is unjustifiable and intolerable. We cannot in good conscience follow the MOC into the BOC. Any Macedonian dedicated to the Macedonian Cause should also find such path unacceptable and deplorable. The designation of ‘mother’ in and of itself is condescending and implies that the Macedonian Orthodox Church is a child that is subordinate to its so called ‘mother’. A daughter cannot become a sister to her mother, as the MOC wants us to believe could eventually happen. Some in the MOC leadership insist that this is simply an honorary title and has no operational consequences for the MOC. We frankly do not see any honor in the designation and have to question how anyone, especially Macedonians, would feel honored by these actions.
The consequences of placing the MOC under BOC jurisdiction would be wide and far-reaching and could potentially cause a great schism within the Macedonian community. For example, Macedonian-Americans and other Diaspora Macedonians would view the Bulgarian domination of our spiritual center as a betrayal to the Macedonian Cause and the Macedonian people, and they may decide to secede from the MOC and form their own Macedonian Orthodox Church community, independent of the MOC. In this way, these Diaspora churches that represent about one-fourth of the worldwide Macedonian population would put tremendous pressure on the MOC to rethink their recent actions. We believe the Macedonian community and church would be better off without any ‘mother’, especially one like the BOC, who has actively worked against the existence of a separate Macedonian Orthodox Church and Macedonian identity.
If the MOC acknowledges the BOC as a mother church, the Macedonian churches in the Diaspora would consider uniting and seceding from the MOC. They would have no other option if they want to safeguard the Macedonian identity from the continual looming threat of Bulgarianization. We thus respectfully ask for your support in demanding that the MOC withdraw their letter to the BOC.
Sincerely,
Victor Sinadinoski & Goce Petreski
League of Macedonian Americans
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