The Holy Synod of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church at its regular session presided by Bulgarian Patriarch Neophyte made a decided to recognize the tomos with which the Serbian Church granted autocephaly to the Macedonian Orthodox Church, the Bulgarian media reported.

As reported by MIA’s correspondent in Sofia, according to these reports, the BOC Synod believes that the MOC-OA should be called the “Orthodox Church in the Republic of North Macedonia”.

According to the media, the Bulgarian Patriarch Neophyte will include the name of the Archbishop of Ohrid and Macedonia HH Stefan in his Christmas diptychs, but as “Archbishop Stefan of Skopje”, because the BOC “does not recognize the title with which the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew received Archbishop Stefan and the MOC into liturgical communion”.

The Bulgarian church website doxologiainfonews.com states that the BOC Synod disputes the name of the Macedonian Orthodox Church – Ohrid Archbishopric, because according to the BOC Statute “the legal successor of the Ohrid Archbishopric is the Bulgarian Patriarchate”.

After the decision of the Ecumenical Patriarchate to accept the MOC-OA into canonical unity, the BOC decided in June of this year to recognize our Church and entered into canonical unity with it.