Macedonia, Serbia to consider church trade-off?

Novi Sad, Macedonia - Macedonia will allow a Serbian church to be built on its territory if a Macedonian church is built in Serbia.

The Macedonian government is prepared to allow the construction of Serbian Orthodox church in Macedonia led by Bishop Jovan Vraniškovski, under the condition that the Macedonian church is given the same opportunity in Serbia, according to President of the Association of Vojvodina Macedonians Dragan Velkovski.

Velkovski told Novi Sad daily Građanski List that this emerged from a meeting within the Macedonian Foreign Affairs Ministry attended by President of the National Council of Macedonians Jovan Radeski and President of the Macedonian Community in Serbia Gojko Ilijevski.

He did not say whether the suggestion has been sent to the Serbian Foreign Ministry.

“I believe that the suggestion is a good one because it creates conditions for reconciliation between the two churches,” Velkovski said.