Macedonian Orthodox Church in the context of "Serb traditions"

Macedonians (Macedonian: Македонци, romanized: Makedonci [maˈkɛdɔnt͡si]) are a nation and a South Slavic ethnic group native to the region of Macedonia in Southeast Europe. They speak Macedonian, a South Slavic language. The large majority of Macedonians identify as Eastern Orthodox Christians, who share a cultural and historical "Orthodox Byzantine–Slavic heritage" with their neighbours. About two-thirds of all ethnic Macedonians live in North Macedonia; there are also communities in a number of other countries.

The concept of a Macedonian ethnicity, distinct from their Orthodox Balkan neighbours, is seen to be a comparatively newly emergent one. The earliest manifestations of an incipient Macedonian identity emerged during the second half of the 19th century among limited circles of Slavic-speaking intellectuals, predominantly outside the region of Macedonia. They arose after the First World War and especially during the 1930s, and thus were consolidated by Communist Yugoslavia's governmental policy after the Second World War.The formation of the ethnic Macedonians as a separate community has been shaped by population displacement as well as by language shift, both the result of the political developments in the region of Macedonia during the 20th century. Following the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire, the decisive point in the ethnogenesis of the South Slavic ethnic group was the creation of the Socialist Republic of Macedonia after World War II, a state in the framework of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. This was followed by the development of a separate Macedonian language and national literature, and the foundation of a distinct Macedonian Orthodox Church and national historiography.

In North Macedonia, the most common religion is Eastern Orthodoxy, practiced mainly by Macedonians, Serbs, and Aromanians. The vast majority of the Eastern Orthodox in the country belong to the Macedonian Orthodox Church, which declared autocephaly from the Serbian Orthodox Church in 1967.

Church Slavonic is the conservative Slavic liturgical language used by the Eastern Orthodox Church in Belarus, Bulgaria, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Poland, Russia, Ukraine, Serbia, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, Slovenia and Croatia. The language appears also in the services of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, the American Carpatho-Russian Orthodox Diocese, and occasionally in the services of the Orthodox Church in America.

In addition, Church Slavonic is used by some churches which consider themselves Orthodox but are not in communion with the Orthodox Church, such as the Montenegrin Orthodox Church and the Russian True Orthodox Church. The Russian Old Believers and the Co-Believers also use Church Slavonic.

Eastern Orthodoxy in Croatia refers to adherents, religious communities, institutions and organizations of Eastern Orthodox Christianity in Croatia. It is the second-largest religious denomination in Croatia, behind the Roman Catholic Church. Over 128 000 people, forming 3.32% of the total Croatian population, are Eastern Orthodox Christians (2021).

Eastern Orthodoxy in Croatia is represented foremost by the Serbian Orthodox Church, which claims most of the Eastern Orthodox Christian faithful. Other major jurisdictions are the Bulgarian Orthodox and Macedonian Orthodox Churches. These three churches are recognized by the state. In Croatia there are also adherents to the Montenegrin Orthodox Church. In the past, there was a Croatian Orthodox Church, although it was unrecognized by the Serbian Orthodox Church.

Saint Clement (or Kliment) of Ohrid (Bulgarian, Macedonian, Serbian: Климент Охридски, Kliment Ohridski; Ancient Greek: Κλήμης τῆς Ἀχρίδας, Klḗmēs tē̂s Akhrídas; Slovak: Kliment Ochridský; c. 830 – 916) was one of the first medieval Bulgarian saints, scholar, writer, and apostle to the Slavs. He was one of the most prominent disciples of Cyril and Methodius and is often associated with the creation of the Glagolitic and Cyrillic scripts, especially their popularisation among Christianised Slavs. He was the founder of the Ohrid Literary School and is regarded as a patron of education and language by some Slavic people. He is considered to be the first bishop of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, one of the Seven Apostles of Bulgarian Orthodox Church since the 10th century, and one of the premier saints of modern Bulgaria. The mission of Clement was the crucial factor which transformed the Slavs in then Kutmichevitsa (present-day Macedonia) into Bulgarians. Clement is also the patron saint of North Macedonia, the city of Ohrid and the Macedonian Orthodox Church.

Michael (Macedonian: Архиепископ Охридски и Македонски г.г. Михаил, romanized: Arhiepiskop Ohridski i Makedonski g.g. Mihail) (20 March 1912 – 6 July 1999) was an Archbishop of Ohrid and Macedonia. He established the first Macedonian Orthodox parish outside Yugoslavia.

Archbishop Michael was born in Novo Selo, Ottoman Empire (present-day North Macedonia) in 1912. He had been a longstanding professor and dean at the theological faculty of the Ss. Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje before being elected as the leader of the Macedonian Orthodox Church on December 4, 1993.