Abstract

Christianity in the lands of Macedonia dates back to apostolic times. However,the Macedonian Orthodox Church remained unrecognized by the Ecumenical Orthodoxyfor more than half a century due to the controversy over its canonicity.The paper includes an excursion into the history of Macedonian Orthodoxy, the country’spath to its own autocephalous church and the prospects of gaining Pan-Orthodox recognition.This subject is quite relevant today. To this day, there is no clearly defined algorithm ofgranting a Tomos. This means that there is no unified legitimate way for a church to obtainan autocephaly when separated from the mother church. Therefore, obtaining autocephalyalways entails ambiguous perception in the Orthodox world.On July 19th, 1967, the Synod of the Macedonian Orthodox Church announced autocephalyof the Orthodox Church of Macedonian Republic on their own.Since that time the canonical status of the Macedonian Orthodox Church wasn’t recognizedby any of Local Churches.2018 the stage of meetings between the Macedonian authorities and the Ecumenical Patriarchatebegins. Fanar negotiated with the President of Macedonia Gheorghe Ivanovregarding the granting of autocephaly.2022 the Holy Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate decided to recognize MOC canonical.The Serbian Patriarch officially proclaimed the autocephaly of the Macedonian Church.Archbishop Stephen was given a Tomos.The peaceful act of returning the church to the canonical field took place in the Orthodoxworld.