The Impact of Political Changes within Yugoslavia regarding the change of the state position on the "Macedonian" ecclesiastical issue during 1966

Abstract

In 1958, the “Macedonian” Orthodox Church (MOC) was declared autonomous, and the following year it was recognized as such by the Serbian Orthodox Church (SOC). Since then, ecclesiastical and political men of Skopje have made an effort to upgrade it to the level of the autocephalous Church, removing it from the jurisdiction of the SOC. An important factor in developments would be the attitude that central Yugoslav power would hold in Belgrade, which up until 1966 seemed to consider the MOC's autonomy to date as satisfactory, since the ecclesiastical unity in the country was maintained and idioprosopia of “ Macedonians” of Skopje was emphasized as well. The change in the official state attitude in the matter came after the 4th Plenum of the Yugoslav Communist Party in Brioni in July 1966. In it, Alexandar Ranovic, Tito’s co-leader, was overthrown from power since he was accused of, by extremely supporting the Yugoslavian idea, gave preference to Serbian national sentiment at the expense of the other ethnicities of the country. This development was perceived by many researchers as having influenced the conversion of the state line into the Macedonian question and the support of the separatist Macedonian demands for self-healing of the MOC. In the most formal way senior politicians (such as the chairman of the local Crvenkovski party) from Skopje sought to present the MOC as a victim of Rankovic's faction in order to stimulate the interest of central power and to provoke sympathy with the claim of its autochephaly. On the other hand there is the controversy, again by the highest levels of the Yugoslav political scene. Serbia's representative to the Federation, M. Radosavljevic, denied all suspicions against the SOC, who wanted it to be favored by Rankovic's line, and decomposed Skopje's arguments one by one. Finally, the state line turned to the MOE, which led to the imposition of its autoclassy with the Third People's Assembly in Ohrid in August 1967. The result of this choice was the condemnation of the MOC by the SOC and its severance from the Orthodox Church.