 In the following years, Bishop Stefan served as dean of the Theological Faculty in Skopje, spokesman for the Holy Synod of the Macedonian Orthodox Church, as editor in chief of the church's official gazette "Church Life" ("Црковен живот") and as secretary-general of the Archbishopric of Ohrid and Macedonia.In Ohrid on 9 and October 10, 1999, the "Church National Assembly" ― a congregation of clerics and laymen ― elected Bishop Stephen as head of the Macedonian Orthodox Church.Reacting to concerns that Bishop Stefan was only 44 years old when he was elected, Protodeacon Slave Projkovski said the Macedonian Orthodox Church believed in Stefan's intellectual and moral maturity.