His Beatitude Archbishop Anastasios (Yannoulatos) of Albania Has Fallen Asleep in the Lord

On January 25, in Athens, at the age of 95, Archbishop Anastasios (Yannoulatos) departed to the Lord. He was a renowned missionary who revived the Albanian Orthodox Church after its devastation under communism. He was a participant in the international Orthodox movement "Syndesmos" (from Greek Σύνδεσμος — "union, connection"), founded by Russian émigrés, as well as the Greek theological brotherhood "Zoe" (from Greek ζωή — "life"). He established spiritual schools and translated liturgical texts into African languages.

"Archbishop Anastasios had to revive the Albanian Church almost from scratch," said Fr Georgij Kochetkov, a Candidate in Theology and the Founder of St Philaret’s Institute, reflecting on the passing away of this remarkable church figure in an interview with Stol media project. "Everyone who lived in socialist Albania and wished to identify as Christian was either repressed or lived under threat of repression, meaning that people had grown accustomed to living in fear. When you come to plant blooming flowers not just in a desert, but in a desert that was once a flourishing garden and has become a barren wasteland — this is even more challenging. This makes the missionary service of Archbishop Anastasios all the more remarkable, not to mention his efforts to revive the church and support the best in the people despite all life’s contradictions."

"Archbishop Anastasios was very attentive to people. How could it have been otherwise? What kind of missionary would he have been if he weren’t attentive? I remember when we first entered the archdiocesan building and sat down. When Archbishop came in, I felt his calm, peaceful, yet very perceptive gaze directed at each person. It was as if he were trying to sense who was before him," shared Fr Georgij, recalling his meeting with the Archbishop in 2010 during a trip to Albania with a group from the Transfiguration Brotherhood and representatives of St Philaret’s Institute.

A full version of the interview is available on the Stol media project website.