Archbishopric of Ohrid in 14th Century

The history of the archbishopric of Ohrid had been interwaved with political events in Macedonia in that period. Three questions are being objects of our interest: borders of archbishopric diocese; canonical position and its utilization about political objects. Borders of the diocese of archbishopric of Ohrid depended on political conditions in the Balkans. At the end of XIII century archbishopric embraced 11 bishopric, although in second half of XIII century its had 13 and even more in XI century its possesed 31 bishopric. The greatest part of bishopric were being taken by archbishopric of Pec (Serbian) in 1219 and 1282 as well by patriarchate of Trnovo (Bulgarian) in 1235. In 1274 Byzantian emperor Michael VIII Paleolog made attempt, through Lyon's union to annihilate Serbian and Bulgarian church and bring them under the jurisdiction of archbishopric of Ohrid, but he failed. Canonical position of Archbishopric of Ohrid had never been disturbed. Archbishopric remained independent regardless the ruler of its dioceses. Syntagma of Matej Vlastar and Pseudo Kodin's manuscript bear witness about that. Emperor Dushan's asking archbishop of Ohrid for giving consent for promoting Serbian archbishopric in patriarchate and participation of archbishop of Ohrid on the ceremony of proclaiming Dushan for emperor are in favor of our previous asserting. Independence of archbishopric of Ohrid was not disturbed after the death of emperor Dushan as well as after Ottoman conquering of its dioceses. The activities of Michael VIII Paleolog in Lyon witnessed for utilizing of archbishopric of Ohrid for political purposes. Serbian emperor Dushan also used the archbishopric to help his inention for promoting Serbian archbishopric in patriarchate. Archbishopric of Ohrid, utilizing military political differences during the process of Ottoman stabilization in the Balkans, achieves to have more favorable position than the neighboring independent churches.