In order to survive, the feudal Ohrid Archiepiscopate gained benefits from certain taxes payable in goods and money, and free of charge labour. The free labour and taxes in kind were mainly practiced on special occasions, like holidays, religious feasts, whereas taxes payable in monies were collected in the form of fees. In addition, there was also the permanent annual tax. Thus, each Christian household paid 12 coins. The same tax was also paid by the clergy, but to the amount of one gold coin.

Folk stories transferred from generation to generation tell us that Ohrid had more than 300 churches - one church for each holiday in the year. However, after the arrival of the Turks the majority churches were ruined. According to one document, in XVII century there were 33 active churches, and in the beginning of XIX century only three town churches were in service.

There were times in the history of Ohrid Archiepiscopate when the entire territories were either seceded or alienated. The most dramatic example was that of Bishop Pavle of Smederevo who attempted to separate the Serbian eparchies from the Ohrid Archiepiscopate and re-establish the Pech Patriarchate. These efforts continued for rather a long period and lasted from 1527 to 1541. The Archbishop of Ohrid, Prohor, managed to convict these attempts three times before the Church Council. The Archbishops of Constantinople, Alexandria, Jerusalem, and Antioche followed suit.

During the rule of the Turks, the Archbishops from Ohrid used to travel to the Western European countries and to Russia to advocate for the liberation of the Balkans from the Turks. In that period certain bishops were inclined to the idea of a union with the Roman Church. The Ohrid Catholic Archbishopric was established in the middle XVII century, but in reality it never became active since the influence of Catholicism in Ohrid was futile.

In the second half of XVII century the Constantinople Patriarchate did not conceal its aspirations towards Ohrid Archiepiscopate. Due to certain disagreements between the Ohrid archpriests, the Patriarch of Constantinople promoted the Metropolitan Meletheus into Archbishop. His election led to the further internal conflicts within the Ohrid Archiepiscopate until its final abolishment. The conflicts were between the Fanariotes (pro-Greek inclined party), and the autochthonous party. In the fall of 1766, five metropolitans from the region of Ohrid signed the document with which they surrendered to the authority of the Constantinople Patriarch in Constantinople. Facing that situation, in January 1767 the Archbishop of Ohrid, Arsenius resigned from the Ohrid throne. Shortly after that, the Sultan passed a resolution for the abolishment of the Ohrid Archiepiscopate. All of its eparchies were annexed to the Constantinople Patriarchate. Also the Ohrid Eparchy, one of the 14 within the Ohrid Archiepiscopate as it was then, was abolished and adjoined to the Prespa Eparchy. Its full name was Prespa and Lychnidos Eparchy, indicating that Ohrid, once again, was renamed Lychnidos.