Archbishop Stefan, the head of the Macedonian Orthodox Church, urged the flock to be true followers of Christ and carry their burdens with joy. During the Easter mass at the St. Clement cathedral in Skopje, the Archbishop condemned attempts to deny the identity of the Macedonian nation and to undermine the Macedonian state.

Who will dare denounce us as a Macedonian people and a Macedonian state? What right do they have to denounce the history and tradition, the language and religion, on this Macedonian soil that is drenched with he enlightenment works of the church and of our teachers, with the endurance of our defenders and the countless martyrs? Our great-grandfathers did not budge and neither will we, as worthy keepers of their oath. We will not make concessions to those who keep reaching for what is most important to us, what we built with hard labour over centuries. Our history, our land, our culture, our language and all that is ours – Macedonian, Archbishop Stefan said.

He urged the people to wake up and unite around the church, and to overcome internal strife and divisions. To the gathered faithful, Archbishop Stefan spoke of the anniversaries of past battles of the past that are due this year, waged by Tsar Samoil as well as the partisan movement that both helped build up the Macedonian nation state, as well as the cultural achievements of the church.