Mihailo: By the decision of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, the act of King Alexander was derogated from, the CPC freed its connection with Belgrade

The Ecumenical Patriarchate's decision to recognize the church hierarchy in North Macedonia, i.e. the Macedonian Orthodox Church for the canonical Orchid Archdiocese, derogated the act of King Alexander which recognized the annexation of the Montenegrin Orthodox Church (CPC) to the Serbian Church, assessed Metropolitan Mihailo of the CPC.

Mihailo said that the Holy Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, headed by Patriarch Bartholomew, recognized the church hierarchy headed by Archbishop Stefan as canonical and valid in the entire Orthodox world and established a canonical and liturgical community with it, under the name of the Ohrid Archbishopric "bearing in mind that the area of ​​its jurisdiction within the borders of the state of North Macedonia".

Mihailo said that this act is of universal importance because it derogates from the Tomos from 1922.

"Therefore, the act of King Alexander which recognized the annexation of Montenegrin to the Serbian Church, but also the Eparchy of the Ecumenical Church: Skopje, Velesko-Debarska, Pelagonija, Prespa-Ohridska, and parts of Vodenska and Polijanska - all in today's North Macedonia," said Mihailo. .

According to him, the Montenegrin Church was formally freed from all ties and relations with the Belgrade Patriarchate.

"We expect all Orthodox churches to re-establish liturgical unity with our Church and thus confirm the ties from time immemorial between our sister churches," Mihailo said.

He pointed out that the Metropolitan of the Patriarchate of Constantinople, Danilo, recently stated that the Montenegrin Church should also be recognized with autocephalous status.

Mihailo said that Patriarch Bartholomew stated that the history of the Balkans should be studied again, hinting at new relations of peace and love between all sister Orthodox churches.

"Precisely, the fear of derogating the Tomos from 1922 encouraged the former authorities and the Belgrade Patriarchate, strengthened by a group of certain Montenegrins awarded sinecures and honored with the highest state honors, to wage a multi-year war against the Montenegrin Church and me personally," said Mihailo.

He added that the Belgrade Patriarchate intended to integrate the CPC into Serbia and rename it Orthodox, thus removing it in favor of the Serbian Orthodox Church.

"God is great and he put an end to them, and he announced to the Montenegrin church that it is about to take over all spiritual competences, in the entire Montenegrin territory with all the consequences that come from that," concluded Mihailo.

In 2013, Mihailo criticized the statement of the Ecumenical Partyarch Bartholomew, who said that a local church cannot just be declared autocephalous, alluding to the CPC, Mihailo then said that the autocephaly of the CPC Bartholomew is well known.

"But it is not in his interest to say that, because it is not in the interest of the SPC. I would recommend him to read the tomos of the Patriarchate of Constantinople", he stated at the time.

In response to Bartholomew's statement that the church is not an organization with a few supporters, Mihailo said that the CPC has more believers in Montenegro than Bartholomew in Turkey and outside Turkey."

The Ecumenical Patriarchate excommunicated Metropolitan Mihailo in the mid-XNUMXs.