Department for External Church Relations
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Metropolitan Anthony of Volokolamsk congratulated the Primate of the Albanian Orthodox Church on the 30th anniversary of his enthronement
Metropolitan Anthony of Volokolamsk, Chairman of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate, sent his congratulations to His Beatitude Archbishop Anastasios of Tirana and All Albania on the 30th anniversary of the beginning of his Primatial ministry.
The text of the congratulatory message is given below:
His Beatitude Anastasios
Archbishop of Tirana and All Albania
Your Beatitude,
Please accept my cordial greetings on the 30th anniversary of your accession to the See of Primate of the Albanian Church.
Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture (Ps 37:3). You respond to this call of the Psalmist by your church ministry, showing true obedience to God. For many years now, by your work and the example of your own life you have been calling new members into the fold of the Christ’s Church, being a good shepherd and true steward of the vineyard of Christ.
Your decades-long experience as active practical theologian and the high moral authority you enjoy in the Orthodox world give you strength to bear witness to Christ even in unfavourable circumstances. Your statements in defence of the unity of the Church and her canonical order on such burning and thorny issues as the Ukrainian schism are met with our profound gratitude – as the genuine voice of God’s truth and conciliar mind of the Holy Church.
Particularly notable is the contribution you have made to the restoration of the holy Albanian Orthodox Church. Invoking the inexhaustible Divine grace and having unceasing hope in the omnipotence and mercy of the Lord, you worked to revive the faith of Christ in the territory of Albania and today we can speak of the resurrection of Orthodoxy in these lands.
The hardships our two fraternal Albanian and Russian Local Churches suffered in the past century were in many ways similar. They both underwent hard ordeals and had to revive ecclesiastical life, each in her own land, on the blood of countless confessors and new martyrs, on the ruins of churches and monasteries. That is why the Russian Orthodox Church sincerely rejoices at the success of your Primatial labours and prays for the strengthening of Orthodoxy in Albania.
On the 30th anniversary of your enthronement I prayerfully wish you good health, strength and God’s blessing in your endeavours aimed at building up the Local Orthodox Church entrusted to you by God.
With respect and love in the Lord,
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/+Anthony/ Metropolitan of Volokolamsk Chairman Department for External Church Relations Moscow Patriarchate |
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