Archbishopric of Ohrid in the context of Macedonian Orthodox Church – Ohrid Archbishopric

The Macedonian Orthodox Church – Archdiocese of Ohrid (MOC-AO; Macedonian: Македонска православна црква – Охридска архиепископија, МПЦ-ОА, romanized: Makedonska pravoslavna crkva – Ohridska arhiepiskopija, MPC-OA), or simply the Macedonian Orthodox Church (MOC) or the Archdiocese of Ohrid (AO), is an autocephalous Eastern Orthodox church in North Macedonia. The Macedonian Orthodox Church claims ecclesiastical jurisdiction over North Macedonia, and is also represented in the Macedonian diaspora. The primate of the Macedonian Orthodox Church is Stefan Veljanovski, the Metropolitan of Skopje and Archbishop of Ohrid and Macedonia.

In 1959, the Holy Synod of the Serbian Orthodox Church granted autonomy to the Macedonian Orthodox Church in the then-Socialist Republic of Macedonia, as the restoration of the historic Archbishopric of Ohrid; the MOC was united with the Serbian Orthodox Church (SOC) as a part of the SOC. In 1967, on the bicentennial anniversary of the abolition of the Archbishopric of Ohrid, the Macedonian Holy Synod unilaterally announced its autocephaly from the Serbian Orthodox Church. The Serbian synod denounced the decision and condemned the clergy as schismatic. Thenceforth, the Macedonian Church had remained unrecognised by all mainstream Eastern Orthodox churches for 55 years.

The Archbishop of Ohrid is a historic title given to the primate of the Archbishopric of Ohrid. The whole original title of the primate was Archbishop of Justiniana Prima and all Bulgaria (Greek: ἀρχιεπίσκοπὴ τῆς Πρώτης Ἰουστινιανῆς καὶ πάσης Βουλγαρίας).

The archbishopric was established in 1018 by lowering of the rank of the autocephalous Bulgarian Patriarchate to the rank of archbishopric. The autocephaly of the Ohrid Archbishopric remained respected during the periods of Byzantine, Bulgarian, Serbian and Ottoman rule and continued to exist until its abolition in 1767.