The representative of the schismatic Macedonian Orthodox Church, protodeacon Dimitar Belcovski, gave false statements against Archbishop Jovan and the members of the Orthodox Ohrid Archbishopric

Orthodox Ohrid Archbishopric  ( Serbian Orthodox Patriarchate) – April 2016

On April 21 another hearing in the politically rigged court process against Archbishop Jovan of Ohrid and Metropolitan of Skopje, the bishops Marko of Bregalnica and David of Stobi, as well as against the clergy, monastics and the believers of the Orthodox Ohrid Archbishopric, took place.

On the hearing, as a witness against Archbishop Jovan of Ohrid and the others, appeared the schismatic cleric Dimitar Belcovski of the unrecognized Macedonian Orthodox Church (MOC).

In his addressing, Archbishop Jovan of Ohrid reminded Belcovski that we were entering the week of the Passions of Christ, pointing out that he would serve in that week and called upon his consciousness, since from upon statement it depended whether 19 members of the Orthodox Ohrid Archbishopric would be sentenced imprisonment.

MOC and its Synod, are asking for negotiations for solving their problem with the schism, and in those negotiations the Orthodox Ohrid Archbishopric takes part, but at the same time the representative of MOC, protodeacon Belcovski, with his false testimony on today’s hearing, did everything to disadvantage the accused Archbishop Jovan and the other bishops, priests, monastics and believers of the Orthodox Ohrid Archbishopric, who are being persecuted on religious basis in the last 14 years. We are reminding that in those 14 years not a single day has passed without an ongoing prison sentence, or a court process against Archbishop Jovan and the Orthodox Ohrid Archbishopric.

It is also indicative that the witnesses that the Prosecution asked to be called, are still not appearing to testify, thus the Court of First Instance is tendentiously prolonging this court process, scheduling the next hearing for June.

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