Free Archbishop Jovan!

[Aindriahhn]

http://freearchbishop.com/

A petition to free an Orthodox archbishop in Macedonia (link on that page). This much suffering Hierarch has been arrested multiple times by the government for entirely religious reasons. Really, the oppression of anyone for their faith is truely unconciousable, especially in Europe. More information on the site.

[ScrumYummy]

That doesn't look quite like suffering to me.

Not to say that this is bogus or anything, I just haven't been able to find any legitimate evidence of religeous persecution. The website keeps using sensational words like "terror" and "religeous persecution," but as far as I can tell it skirts around what he was actually arrested for and the events surrounding the arrest. Can you provide any additional articles that talk about the circumstances, preferably something AP? I wasn't able to find anything through google.

[Aindriahhn]

Well, to be frank, the difficulty is the fact that Macedonia does remain under what is a relatively small European country that tends to get (for some reason) very little attention in the western media (though, try googling '"associated press" macedonia "Archbishop Jovan"'). As for the charges, they're a bit of a farce. The actual accusations have varied, and include things such as 'collecting money under the premise of being a charitable organization', and “inciting national, racial, and religious hatred, schism, and intolerance.” The archbishop has been released several times, and as a prerequisite for NATO membership, Macedonia has been told to respect religious freedom (amongst other things).

Part of the difficulty is the fact that the archbishop is in communion with the rest of the Orthodox church, including Greece, whereas the government sponsored church is in communion with itself, essentially, and itself alone. If you know the history of Macedonia, then this will provide some clarification, as tensions between that country and Greece have been longstanding. The other Macedonian Orthodox church, the one out of communion, was founded by the communists, in 1958, and since then there has been difficulties, churches have been destroyed, and priests have been harassed and arrested. The repetitive imprisonment of the Archbishop is merely a single case of the governments refusal to recognize religious freedom (though, in my opinion, a fairly serious case).

As for the being unable to find legitimate evidence for religious persecution, one might consider other sources, a quick google of 'Macedonia "religious persecution"' brought up several. The difficult is that unless something finds a fair amount of attention in the west, or directly involves the west, the western media doesn't tend to pay it much attention. Did you know there is still religious tension in Cyprus? How about the Armenian genocide? There are many examples of travesties, both modern and historic, that we have been quite content to ignore. Though, I will try to find some other sources.

edit:
As for
this, it is an example of the Archbishop's co-operation with his oppressors. Often, in the history of many religions, people were eager to suffer for their faith, however, this does not excuse oppression. It is sad to think that the Archbishop is probably quite use to being in jail, by now.