RECOGNITION OF THE INDEPENDANCE OF THE MACEDONIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH (MOC) AS AN ISSUE CONCERNING MACEDONIAN NATIONAL IDENTITY

Abstract

The article analyses the relations between Macedonian Orthodox Church (MOC) and the Serbian Orthodox Church (SOC) concerning the recognition of the independence of MOC, as an issue of the Macedonian national identity. The issue of the church in Macedonia is still not solved and it is still current, but not only as a church problem but much more since it renews a number of open issues in relation to the Macedonian ethnic and national identity, dispute over ethnicity, language, nation and territory of Macedonians in the Republic of Macedonia.