Saint Alexander the Great

The schismatic Orthodox church in FYROM is proclaiming Alexander the Great a Saint. Archbishop of Orhid in FYROM, Stephen, has given permission to place a hagiography of Alexander the Great on the dome of St. Nicholas Church in Stip, a place normally kept for the Pantokrator, i.e. Jesus Christ blessing the believers. They have even drawn the Macedonian symbol, the Sun of Vergina, which is not in any way a Christian symbol, introducing new pagan symbols. 

This is a blasphemous and immoral decision taken by the schismatic church in FYROM. This points out how the small Balkan nation wishes to change history, altar religion and modify the way with which a certain person is proclaimed a saint.  

FYROM or Macedonia?

On 18 July 2011 the United States House of Representatives published a Bill to authorise appropriations for the Department of State for fiscal year 2012, and for other purposes. On pages 52-54 of the Bill it analyses the topic of FYROM, referring also to its relations with Greece. 

The text states : 

SEC. 807. LIMITATION ON ASSISTANCE TO THE FORMER 

16 YUGOSLAV REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIA. 

17 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 

18 (1) Greece has demonstrated an enormous good 

19 will gesture in agreeing that ‘‘Macedonia’’ may be 

20 included in the future name of the Former Yugoslav 

21 Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) as long as that 

22 term is combined with a geographic qualifier that 

23 makes it clear that there are no territorial ambitions 

24 on the part of the FYROM with regard to the his-

1 torical boundaries of the Greek province of Mac-

2 edonia. 

3 (2) The FYROM continues to utilize materials 

4 that violate provisions of the United Nations-bro-

5 kered Interim Agreement between the FYROM and 

6 Greece regarding incendiary rallies, rhetoric, or 

7 propaganda, and United Nations-led negotiations be-

8 tween the FYROM and Greece have so far failed to 

9 achieve the longstanding goals of the United States 

10 and the United Nations to find a mutually accept-

11 able, new official name for the FYROM. 

12 (b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con-

13 gress that all United States assistance to the FYROM 

14 should be conditioned on the FYROM’s willingness to en-

15 gage in meaningful discussions with Greece in accordance 

16 with United Nations Security Council Resolution 817. 

17 (c) LIMITATION.—The Secretary of State may not 

18 use funds authorized to be appropriated under this Act 

19 for programs and activities that directly or indirectly pro-

20 mote incendiary rallies, rhetoric, or propaganda by state- 

21 controlled agencies of the FYROM or encourage acts by 

22 private entities likely to incite violence, hatred, or hostility, 

23 including support for printing and publishing of textbooks, 

24 maps, and teaching aids that may include inaccurate in-

1 formation on the histories and geographies of Greece and 

2 FYROM. 

What is important is to see that, although the US has recognised (in 2004 with President Bush) FYROM as Macedonia, here it uses the term FYROM. The United Macedonian Diaspora published a leaflet, signed by Metodija A. Koloski (President) explaining that the Greek lobby in Washington is to be blamed for this, expressing in bold letters "Are we going to let the pro-Greek lobby in Washington, D.C. succeed?! NO!" 

However it is, from a Greek point, questionable how President Bush came to the conclusion that FYROM should be recognised as Macedonia. That being said it is again questionable how around 130 countries have accepted this name for the small Balkan state.   

Greece has shown up to now that it will not tolerate this historical false name and the fact that another country wishes to adopt part of Greek history. This was emphatically shown when the previous PM Konstantinos Karamanlis vetoed FYROM's acceptance within NATO in 2008 in Bucharest.  

For those who like history it is essential to express the following, which are issues supported by the Greek side and the international community, i.e. professors (even in FYROM) and people who have actually read a book or two.!

It is proven by historic documents and archaeological discoveries which can be found in all the history books and museums in Greece and around the world that ancient Macedonians were Greek. The most important archaeological discovery in Macedonia is the tomb of King Philippos II. It was excavated in Vergina, Greece in 1978, and it proves beyond any doubt the Greekness of Ancient Macedonia. All the finding are characteristic of the Greek culture and all the inscriptions are written using the Greek language. Among the discoveries of this tomb is the Vergina sun, which was the symbol that FYROM attempted to use on its flag, initially. 

According to historical books, including those analysing the Ecclesiastical History of the Slavs, the Slavs descended into the Balkan region not before the 6th century, long after ancient Macedonia was homogenized with the rest of Greece. This is evident through Byzantine sources explaining the relations between the Byzantine Empire and the new neighbours, i.e. the Slavic groups. They do not have any historical, cultural or linguistic ties with ancient Macedonia and they would be really foolish if they officially claimed that they did. There is no historic or archaeological evidence connecting them with ancient Macedonia. In any case occupying 25% of ancient Macedonia land does not give them the right to steal the Greek-Macedonian history and culture. The Macedonian civilization was part of the ancient Greek civilization. It is part of Greece's national inheritance and it cannot be used by anyone else. 

It is a shame that many countries have recognised FYROM as Macedonia, showing their ignorance to historical facts, making them non-reliable. I am sure England would not accept the Nazis state that Winston Churchill was German, or the USA would not accept its Founding Fathers being stolen by the Japanese. Why should Greece then accept this historical, cultural, linguistic and religious fallacy? However Greece is not the only country which has been bullied into this problematic relationship and status. Bulgaria is also a neighbouring country expressing its dissatisfaction. A paradigm is found here.

FYROM: change the name to enter NATO

A recent research which took place in FYROM and was conducted under the auspices of the Institute of Political Research Skopje upon the Defence Ministry's request gave some very interesting statistics. 65,9% of the people asked answered that they believe that FYROM meets the criteria for NATO membership. 24,7%, on the other hand, do not believe that the country meets the criteria. Asked if they would accept to change the constitutional name in order to enter NATO 62,2% gave a negative answer. However 30,3% answered positively and 7.6% did not answer. 

Although here I state the facts from a local and simple poll, it is important to understand that the name issue is still on going, due to many political mistakes from the past, both from Greece and FYROM. It seems that this problem needs to be solved quickly and it should please both sides, or else the Balkan region will still be unstable, politically and economically, since progress is constantly halted on many fields. 

Bulgarian academics against Fyrom...

20 Bulgarian academics, including 3 academics from Fyrom, sent a report to UNESCO asking from the international organisation  to stop the television channels in Fyrom broadcasting and abusing the Bulgarian language, the history and the culture of Bulgaria.

This report was sent to the Director General of UNESCO, Irina Bokova, stating the truths concerning the Bulgarian language, which the TV in Fyrom proclaims as 'Macedonian'.

"For the past 65 years they spread lies to all the world stating that a distinct 'Macedonian' language, Macedonian history and Macedonian history exists".  Vardarska, an are which is now part of Fyrom, was always a geographical single term used in respect with Bulgarian civilization and Bulgarian History.

The Bulgarian academics support the view that in Fyrom historical monuments, military tombs, churches and many other artifacts are destroyed, especially the ones related to Bulgaria. In their report they state that Fyrom stole their popular music, their celebrations, the Bulgarian kings, heroes, wars and their revolutionaries and they baptized them by giving them the epithet 'Macedonian'. They underlined that in the last census, there was a separate column on the Bulgarian citizens. But hundreds have been arrested and have been terrorized to stop claiming and advertising their Bulgarian descent.

It seems that Fyrom wishes to import into its own culture all the cultures, traditions, history and beliefs of its neighbours. Greece is not the only problem Fyrom has, it seems Bulgaria has 'joined the club'..who knows which other nation will follow.

This issue is to big, where mistakes took place from the breakdown of Yugoslavia, where a fake nation was created by the hegemonic powers of the West to create instability in the Balkan region, hence the massive American base in Fyrom. The saying "divide and conquer" comes to mind here.

It is ironic how many states have recognized Fyrom as Macedonia...it is like accepting that Shakespeare was Italian and Plato was Chinese..If people accept the last two then I will accept that Fyrom is rightly named Macedonia and that Alexander the Great was not Greek but a Slav, especially since the Slavs came to the region during the 6th century AD. History is not the strong point of the countries that have recognized Fyrom as Macedonia.