The article focuses on the influence of the religious factor on the national identity in the post-war Yugoslavia. The main attention is paid to the state policy of supporting some religious institutions with an aim to affect the national question. The other aspect of research is the representation of the religious policy in the context of national memory as reflected in historiography. As a case study the article examines the issue of separation of Macedonian Orthodox Church and proclamation of its autocephaly from the Serbian Orthodox Church in the context of forming the socialist Yugoslavian society and Cold War discourse.