The head of the Serb Orthodox Church, Patriarch Pavle, has sent a letter to Macedonian President Boris Trajkovski asking for the release of a recently arrested metropolitan, charged with “incitement to national and religious hatred”. The arrest of Metropolitan Jovan should be seen in the context of a long-running conflict that arose following the independence of the Macedonian Church, proclaimed in 1967. Metropolitan Jovan (of Macedonian origin) has not recognised the authority of the Macedonian Church and in July 2003 founded, with the blessing of the Serb Church, the archdiocese of Ohrid (in the south-west), first seat of the Orthodox Church in the region. Jovan was arrested by the Macedonian police together with a dozen other ecclesiastics while he was celebrating a liturgy on Sunday 11 January. The judicial authorities in the town placed the metropolitan on remand for 30 days. “The arrest of Metropolitan Jovan writes Patriarch Pavle makes one think of the persecutions of Christians in the Early Church”.
