|
|
|
Published by the
Orthodox Church in America,
July 29, 2005
Metropolitan Herman denounces
imprisonment of Archbishop Jovan of Ochrid
as "a blatant and shocking assault on
freedom of conscience" |
 |
 |
SYOSSET, NY [OCA
Communications]
— In a letter addressed to His Holiness,
Patriarch Pavle of Serbia, His Beatitude,
Metropolitan Herman, expressed shock over the
arrest and imprisonment of His Eminence,
Archbishop Jovan of Ochrid in the former
Yugoslav republic of Macedonia.
The Orthodox Church in the Macedonian Republic
unilaterally declared itself autocephalous and
broke ties with the Serbian Patriarchate some
four decades ago. As such, it is not in
communion with the
world’s Orthodox sister Churches and has
maintained a bitter dispute with the Serbian
Church over the patriarchate’s presence in the
republic. The patriarchate’s Archbishop Jovan,
who broke ties with the schismatic Church in
Macedonia and returned to the patriarchate a few
years ago, has been the target of
anti-patriarchate parties and civil authorities.
He was arrested during the last week of July
2005 and sentenced to 18 months in prison in
Skopje for allegedly “inciting national, racial,
and religious hatred, schism, and intolerance.”
The text of Metropolitan Herman’s letter reads
as follows.
“The recent sentencing and imprisonment of His
Eminence, Archbishop Jovan of Ochrid by the
government of the Former Yugoslav Republic of
Macedonia causes me to write this letter of
solidarity with Your Holiness and with
Archbishop Jovan. That a hierarch is judged and
imprisoned for speaking and acting in accordance
with his conscience is a blatant and shocking
assault on freedom of conscience and on freedom
of religious faith and practice.
“We are publicly announcing our dismay at the
action of the Former Yugoslav Republic of
Macedonia. Although the disputes and
disagreements with regard to the canonical
status of most of the Orthodox hierarchy,
clergy, and laity in the Former Yugoslav
Republic of Macedonia are painful and real, the
intervention of civil authorities into the
dispute does not and cannot lead to
reconciliation.
“We take our stand alongside the Holy Synod of
the Serbian Orthodox Church in asking that all
possible moral and legal actions be undertaken
to secure the freedom of Archbishop Jovan.
“The prayers of the hierarchs, clergy, monastics
and faithful of The Orthodox Church in America
most certainly continue to be offered to God in
hope and expectation of the healing of the
schism which separates so many of the Orthodox
people of the Former Yugoslav Republic of
Macedonia from the Serbian Patriarchate and all
the other canonical Orthodox Churches.”
|
