Passport of Archbishop Jovan VI of Ohrid Confiscated

HIS BEATITUDE JOVAN VI – ARCHBISHOP OF OHRID AND METROPOLITAN OF SKOPJE

Orthodox Archbishopric of Ohrid (Serbian Orthodox Patriarchate) – 14/7/18

On July 9, the current year, at the border-crossing Medzitlija, near Bitola, without any explanation, the Ministry of Internal Affairs took the passport of His Beatitude Archbishop Jovan of Ohrid and Metropolitan of Skopje.

Such discrimination with taking of passports without any explanation is characteristic of judicially unorganized states, countries in which there is no rule of law.

Is this the will of the governing authorities that only declaratively, in front of the representatives of the European Union, stand for justice and the rule of law, it will soon be revealed, if the public is interested in finding out why this unlawfulness has been made, today to Archbishop Jovan, tomorrow to somebody else.

The Orthodox Ohrid Archbishopric is preparing the grand event of the celebration of 1000-year jubilee since the founding of the Ohrid Archbishopric. The government, on one side is declaratively stating that is reaching out towards everybody, but in reality it is violating the religious freedoms and obviously, with such discrimination, has the intent to influence the organization of the aforementioned celebration.

With the religious persecution, the Government is violating the Constitution and the international conventions that it had signed, thus continuing the practice of the previous Government, practice that was recently sanctioned by the Court for Human Rights in Strasbourg which decided that damage is to be paid to the Orthodox Ohrid Archbishopric.

Source: