The Archbishop of the Autocephalous Orthodox Church of Albania, His Beatitude Anastasios Janullatos, was honored at a tribute ceremony held at the “Resurrection of Christ” Cathedral in Tirana, where his body will rest from today.
Prime Minister Edi Rama attended the ceremony alongside Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis. The event was also attended by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, hierarchs of the Holy Synod of the Autocephalous Orthodox Church of Albania, as well as clergy and hundreds of believers from all the metropolises.
In honor of Archbishop Janullatos’ legacy and the contribution he made over 33 years in Albania, Prime Minister Edi Rama delivered a speech.
“On this day marking the closing of the cycle of a life dedicated to resurrection, it must be said without any doubt that in the only dimension that mattered to him, that of faith, Anastasi came among us 33 years ago as a priest from Greece, and after 33 years, he departs from our midst as Anastasi of Albania,” said Prime Minister Rama, among other things.
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“Blessed are those who die in the Lord from now on. Yes, says the Holy Spirit, let them rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them” (Revelation, XIV, 13).
Your Holiness, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew,
Most honorable members and hierarchs of the Holy Synod of the Autocephalous Orthodox Church of Albania, Most honorable Metropolitan Joani, Overseer of the Holy Metropolis of Tirana and Durres, Honorable and most welcome friend, the Prime Minister of the Hellenic Republic, Kyriakos Mitsotakis,
The Orthodox community is in mourning today.
The Autocephalous Orthodox Church of Albania is grieving today.
Archbishop Anastasios has completed his apostolic mission, as a successor of the apostles, in service to the Orthodox faithful of Albania.
His life, remarkably long but, above all, deeply meaningful, was a life dedicated to the Universal Catholic and Apostolic Church, in the patristic sense of the word, in that plenary meaning enshrined in the Nicene Creed, formulated 1700 years ago under the patronage of Constantine the Great, Thirty-three years of evangelization in the lands of Albania, from the distant year of 1992 until today, is a profoundly significant number, not only symbolically aligned with the age of Jesus Christ.
Of these 33 years, three were dedicated to preaching the resurrection of the mystical body of Albanian Orthodoxy, and the full thirty others were spent laboring persistently, like a determined carpenter, in rebuilding the charred ruins of the Autocephalous Orthodox Church of Albania. From a purely human perspective, as well as from a profoundly spiritual standpoint, the life of Anastasios Yannoulatos was a life entirely fulfilled, for through it, the dream of a child was wholly realized.
“When I was a child,” the late Archbishop once recalled, “it was not enough for me to give something to God; I had to give myself completely to Him. I wanted my whole being to live in Christ.” As the hierarch of a historically significant social community, with great influence in the national mosaic of Albania, the person of Archbishop Anastasios and his work at the helm of the Church and its flock have been scrutinized, admired, blessed, criticized, and even anathematized. The most contradictory passions have emerged in our hood when it came to his public and civic role. Whether he wished it or not, he bore upon his shoulders even the flames of our neighborhood’s childish conflicts, which rekindled at the same time as the resurrection of the Church.
This alone testifies to the stoicism of the shepherd a quality increasingly rare in an era and a world where more and more people waver with the wind, and fewer and fewer allow the “Holy Spirit to blow where it wills” (John III, 8). Yet, beyond those fires ignited like lightning in a clear sky, on both sides of the border, lies an open wound after half a century of mortuary silence, later extinguished like a burden in a shared yard, and beyond the prejudices and chronic doubts of our Balkan neighborhood, no one and never will doubt the authenticity of the pastoral commitment of the Archbishop to the flock he found wounded, hurt, and scattered 33 years ago, and which he united with great patience and dedication into a fold that reminds one of the house restored from the flight of demons, as Jesus speaks of in the Gospel of Matthew.(XII, 43-45)
I do not intend here to deliver a eulogy or an obituary for this prelate, whom the world has greatly envied the Autocephalous Orthodox Church of Albania for, whether among honored religious figures, intellectuals committed to peace through interfaith dialogue, artisans of communication between faiths and cultures, or even among heads of state and government who knew him. I am certain that my friend, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, who honors us today with his presence and that of his esteemed delegation, entirely shares this opinion and by being present here today the prime minister not only pays tribute to the epochal figure of the Archbishop but also honors the Autocephalous Church of Albania and the state in which it now breathes freely, sending a profound message of indivisibility in life and in mourning between our two nations and peoples.
I had the privilege of being present in this very cathedral, dedicated by Archbishop Anastasios to the Resurrection of Christ-the resurrection of His mystical body in Albania-when it was inaugurated and consecrated.
It was the day of his long toil’s reward, a journey in which I had the opportunity to accompany him among others, first as mayor and later as prime minister, until he finally fulfilled the truly difficult task. That day, his immeasurable efforts bore fruit as the cathedral opened its doors, celebrated by the presence of patriarchs and metropolitans from all Orthodox churches worldwide. Such prestige and influence, on a scale far beyond our national borders, had never before been felt or embodied in the religious realm by either Albanian Orthodoxy or Albania itself. It was a solemn tribute paid by the entire Orthodox world to its Autocephalous Church and to Albania, something unimaginable without the presence, role, and globally respected personality of our Archbishop.
Today, in honoring his memory, I recall something many have seen or felt, though others have not understood or have refused to believe. Yet, in the end, he demonstrated it over 33 years and proves it again today, with his earthly body remaining here, in the land of Albania, to be buried, at his request, in this Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ— named as such by him and embodying the very meaning of his name, Anastasis (Resurrection).
Thus, on this day marking the closure of a life cycle devoted to resurrection, it must be said without any doubt: in the only dimension that truly mattered to him-the dimension of faith-Anastasios came among us 33 years ago as a priest from Greece and leaves us today, after 33 years, as Anastasios of Albania. It is difficult to find, in our historical memory, anyone-of any other nationality-who has so proudly and devotedly identified themselves, in words and deeds, with the name of Albania as Archbishop Anastasios.
I know that many among us, Albanians, may disagree with what I have just said. But let be patient and let them reflect with an open heart, freed from prejudices or suspicions of neighbors, and look only at his deeds, for just as a good tree is known by its fruits, so too is his identification with our Albania evident beyond any ambiguity.
Today, the name of the Archbishop of Albania is heard in the sacred diptychs of all liturgical languages of the Orthodox ecumene, ranked immediately after the patriarchal sees and the two oldest autocephalous churches— those of Cyprus and Greece. Hearing this liturgical honor, it is impossible not to be grateful to the man we bid farewell today, especially when remembering that after 23 years in the flames of the atheist inferno, the Autocephalous Orthodox Church of Albania was but a shadow of a memory. With the spirit given to it by its shepherd, Anastasios of Albania, this Church today constitutes a fundamental asset of Albania’s independence, integrity, and sovereignty— a Free Church in a Free State.
How moving, in the stoic coherence of his pastoral life, and how equally shattering for all his skeptics and doubters, does his statement sound today, in the presence of his lifeless body—the body of the restorer of the Autocephalous Church of Albania a statement he made publicly only recently, in an interview given to the Greek press, a statement that now sounds more Albanian than the Albanian of anyone who had prejudged and doubted the Archbishop of the Albanian Orthodox Church as a Greek, simply because he was Greek by nationality:
“My successor will be Albanian. I have been traveling the world since 1963. I have learned to respect others as they are, to consider their rights. Imagine if we had a similar situation in Greece: would we accept that the Church of Greece be led by a Bulgarian or a Serb? Of course not! I take it as a given that my successor will be Albanian. We did not go to Albania to build a colony; we went to establish an autocephalous church of Albania. It is not part of the Church of Greece; it is one of the 14 autocephalous Orthodox churches of the world.”
What a man, what a shepherd, what a reconciler and peacemaker, what a Greek by nationality and Albanian by statehood! The martyred dignity of this church and its leader-washed with the sweat and blood of the great suffering of Kristofor Kisi, Damian Kokoneshi, Irene Banushi, and so many others- was fully restored by Archbishop Anastasios on the altar of its rebirth. He granted the Autocephalous Church of Albania, its clergy, and its faithful the opportunity to take up the torch from this triumphant athlete of Christ and carry it forward in full freedom, irreversible independence, and guaranteed security.
If one only wishes, there is much to learn from the legacy of this man, who, with rare wisdom, rejected hundreds, perhaps thousands, of invitations to hostility, duels, and polemics, which came at him relentlessly from all sides, until the very last day of his life. He, who was not a native and who therefore might have had even greater legitimacy to lament discrimination and mistreatment, instead chose to follow the guidance of the Apostle Paul—or Pavlos, as the Orthodox call him:
“Though I am free and belong to no one, I have made myself a servant to everyone, to win as many as possible for the word of the Lord” (1 Corinthiaas 1%, 19).
Highly erudite like few others and open to the great cultures of the world, the Archbishop of nine languages-who, in our conversations, took pleasure in exchanging words on the jewels of the Bible or secular literature in the moments that remained after lamenting the troubles of the Church-would surely not hold it against me. On the contrary, I am convinced he would smile if I bid him farewell with a passage from De Profundis by Oscar Wilde:
“Most people live for the love and admiration of others. But we should live to love and admire others. If someone gives us love, we must accept that we are unworthy of it. No one is worthy of being loved. The very fact that God loves man tells us that in the divine order of things, eternal love is given precisely to those who are eternally unworthy of it. If this seems too bitter, let us reverse it and say that all people are worthy of being loved, except those who truly deserve it.”
Most beloved Orthodox faithful gathered from all corners of the country and beyond, Today, the Orthodox community, not only in Albania but everywhere, is in mourning. Today, the Autocephalous Orthodox Church of Albania is in mourning.
But let us say again, with Saint Paul— or Pavlos: “Rejoice in the Lord always! I say it again, rejoice!” (Philippians IV, 4).
You have lost in this life the archbishop of 33 years, who, through his passing in the Lord, “changed life” — an expression he considered one of the most beautiful in the Albanian language-but you have gained Anastasios of Albania.
You have gained an advocate, up there, beside the Lord, whom the liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom so beautifully calls “Friend of mankind.” You have gained the example of a servant of reconciliation on earth, whom it now falls upon all of you to follow.
May peace be upon the soul of Anastasios of Albania for eternity, and may the sorrow of this day bring into every heart the consolation of the Lord of Life.
Amen.
