This is the first Easter that we celebrate in full unity with the other Orthodox churches, said Archbishop Stefan of the Macedonian Orthodox Church. The church was accepted as equal by the other churches last year, after a decades long dispute with the Serbian church that prevented the full recognition of the Macedonian church.

We are grateful to the ressurected Christ for this mercy. His generosity richly flew over the Orthodox Macedonian people and protects us from divisions and hostility, Archbishop Stefan said.

He urged the Macedonians to remember that the church is their foundation and has sustained them through the centuries of foreign rule.