The Macedonian Greek Catholic Church ( la, Ecclesiae Graecae Catholico Macedonica; mk, Македонска грчка католичка црква), sometimes called, in reference to its Byzantine Rite, the Macedonian Byzantine Catholic Church is ''

sui juris ''Sui iuris'' ( or ) also spelled ''sui juris'', is a Latin phrase that literally means "of one's own right". It is used in both secular law and the Catholic Church's canon law. The term church ''sui iuris'' is used in the Catholic '' Code of Ca ...

'' Eastern Catholic church in full union with the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

which uses the

Macedonian language Macedonian (; , , ) is an Eastern South Slavic language. It is part of the Indo-European language family, and is one of the Slavic languages, which are part of a larger Balto-Slavic branch. Spoken as a first language by around two million ...

in the liturgy. The Macedonian Greek Catholic Church comprises a single eparchy, the

Macedonian Catholic Eparchy of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Strumica-Skopje The Macedonian Catholic Eparchy of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Strumica-Skopje is the only eparchy of the Macedonian Greek Catholic Church. It is situated in North Macedonia. The eparchy is an Immediately subject to the Holy See ...

History

Apostolic Exarch An exarch (; from Ancient Greek ἔξαρχος ''exarchos'', meaning “leader”) was the holder of any of various historical offices, some of them being political or military and others being ecclesiastical. In the late Roman Empire and ea ...

was appointed for

Bulgarian Catholic Apostolic Vicariate of Macedonia The Macedonian Apostolic Vicariate of the Bulgarians ( la, Apostolicus Vicariatus Macedoniaensis Bulgarorum or ''Vicariatus Apostolicus pro Bulgaris Catholicis Macedoniae''), informally ''Macedonia of the Bulgarians'', was one of the missionary, ...

as early as 1883 and lasting until 1922/1924 as part of the

Bulgarian Greek Catholic Church The Bulgarian Greek Catholic Church ( bg, Църква на съединените с Рим българи; la, Ecclesiae Graecae Catholico Bulgarica), sometimes called, in reference to its Byzantine Rite, the Bulgarian Byzantine Catholic C ...

. After the end of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

and the foundation of

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...

, the Exarchate was absorbed into the

Eparchy of Križevci Eparchy ( gr, ἐπαρχία, la, eparchía / ''overlordship'') is an ecclesiastical unit in Eastern Christianity, that is equivalent to a diocese in Western Christianity. Eparchy is governed by an ''eparch'', who is a bishop. Depending on the ...

. In January 2001, a separate ''Greek Catholic Apostolic Exarchate of Macedonia'' was formed for

Eastern Catholics The Eastern Catholic Churches or Oriental Catholic Churches, also called the Eastern-Rite Catholic Churches, Eastern Rite Catholicism, or simply the Eastern Churches, are 23 Eastern Christian autonomous ('' sui iuris'') particular churches of ...

of the Byzantine Rite in

North Macedonia North Macedonia, ; sq, Maqedonia e Veriut, (Macedonia before February 2019), officially the Republic of North Macedonia,, is a country in Southeast Europe. It gained independence in 1991 as one of the successor states of Yugoslavia. It ...

. It was separated from the

and constituted as immediately subject to the Holy See. On the same day (11 January 2001) the Holy See appointed the Latin Bishop of Skopje as the first Apostolic Exarch of

.Acta Apostolicae Sedis, 94 (2002)
p. 152.

Statistics

As of 2010, the Church's membership was estimated at approximately 15,037 faithful, with one bishop, 7 parishes, 11 priests, and 18 religious sisters.

List of Hierarchs

Apostolic Exarchs *

Lazar Mladenov Lazar Mladenov ( bg, Лазар Димитров Младенов) (July 11, 1854 – March 4, 1918) was a Bulgarian Orthodox priest and, later, a member of the Bulgarian Uniat Church in the Ottoman Empire and a convert to Eastern Catholicism. ...

(1883 – 1895), Titular Bishop of Satala *

Epiphany Shanov Epiphany Shanov ( bg, Епифаний Шанов 1849–1940) was a Bulgarian Uniate priest.(BulgarianIstoricheski pregled, Bŭlgarsko istorichesko druzhestvo, Institut za istoria''Bulgarian Academy of Sciences'' 1985: 41(7-12): 45, retrie ...

(1895 – 1922 or 1924), Titular Bishop of Livias *

Joakim Herbut Monsignor Dr. Joakim Herbut (Macedonian/Serbian: Јоаким Хербут) 14 February 1928 – 15 April 2005) was a Macedonian Catholic prelate. He was bishop of the Roman Catholic diocese of Skopje-Prizren from 1969 to 2005 and exarch of the Gre ...

(2001 – 2005), Latin Church Bishop of Skopje *

Kiro Stojanov Kiro Stojanov ( mk, Киро Стојанов; born 9 April 1959 in the village of Radovo, Bosilovo Municipality) is the Roman Catholic Bishop of Skopje and the Eparchial Bishop of the Macedonian Catholic Eparchy of the Blessed Virgin Mary Ass ...

(2005 – 2018), Latin Church Bishop of Skopje Eparchs of Strumica *Kiro Stojanov (2018 – ''present''), Latin Church Bishop of Skopje

References

External links

Eparchy of Križevci

* ttp://www.cnewa.org/default.aspx?ID=73&pagetypeID=9&sitecode=HQ&pageno=1 Article on Greek Catholics in Former Yugoslavia by Ronald Roberson on the CNEWA website {{North Macedonia topics

History

Statistics

List of Hierarchs

See also

References

External links