The Orthodox Ohrid Archbishopric was refused registration by the State Religion Commission of North Macedonia on the grounds that one group may be registered for each confession and that the name was not sufficiently distinct from that of the MOC.

[1] Numerous international organizations have criticized the authorities of North Macedonia for their moves towards the Orthodox Ohrid Archbishopric and Archbishop Jovan VI, raising the possibility of a threat to religious freedoms.

[11] On 23 September 2002, Metropolitan Jovan was appointed Exarch of all the territories of the Ohrid Archdiocese by the Assembly of the Serbian Orthodox Church.

On the same day, there was an announcement of the Patriarchal and the Assembly's tomos for autonomy of the Ohrid Archbishopric,[13] with Archbishop Jovan as the Chairman of the Holy Synod of Bishops.

[20][21] Following the rejection of its registration application by the Macedonian authorities, the police raided Orthodox Ohrid Archbishopric's buildings.

[23] Archbishop Jovan was sentenced to 18 months of prison in June 2005 for "[i]nstigation of ethnic, racial and religious hatred, discord and intolerance".

[56] At the second session, held on 16 May, the Council decided to resolve various disputes with the Macedonian Orthodox Church, thus healing the long-standing schism.

[60][61] On that occasion, Patriarch emphasized in his speech that the Holy Council of Bishops (SOC) had set a task for the Synod to resolve all remaining technical and organizational issues.

Due to those circumstances, OOA hierarchy did not attend the publication of the patriarchal tomos on the autocephaly of MOC, which was handed over in Belgrade, on 5 June.

[63] On 19 June, patriarch's envoy Jovan (Ćulibrk), Bishop of Pakrac and Slavonia, met in Skopje with hierarchs of OOA on the occasion of the fifteenth anniversary of episcopal service of Bishop David (Ninov) of Stobi,[64] but in spite of that, OOA hierarchy did not participate in any event organized by MOC on the occasion of the visit of Serbian Patriarch to North Macedonia, which took place on 20 and 21 June.