“…truth, love, repentance and humility…the believer’s weapons against the demonic powers…”
With an atmosphere of joy and spiritual devotion, His Beatitude, Archbishop of Tirana, Durrës and All Albania, Anastasios, today led the consecration of the Holy Church of the “Annunciation of Theotokos” in the city of Këlcyra. He celebrated together with the Metropolitan of Gjirokastra, Demetrios, as well as with many other clergy of this Metropolis. Since early in the morning hundreds of believers, among them many young people from the parish of Këlcyra, and also from the whole region of Përmeti, filled the courtyard of the Church, taking part with their prayers in the holy act of the Consecration, with the litany procession of the holy relics and the sanctification of the Holy Table.
Then the Divine Liturgy continued, during which the Choir of the Byzantine Music School of the Holy Archdiocese of Tirana gave a highly spiritual dimension to all the services.
The new church was consecrated by Archbishop Anastasios (the fourth within the past few weeks), traversing the boundaries of Albania, after the Consecration of the Cathedral of Tirana; then the “Nativity of Christ” Church in Shkodra, the Church “Resurrection of the Lord” in Pogradec, and “Forty Saints” in Aliko, and ending in Këlcyra in the “Annunciation of Theotokos” Church. The church which was built during the period 1994-1996, it is a basilica with a dome, and an area totaling 300m2. This church is located in the center of the town.
At the end of the Divine Liturgy, Archbishop Anastasios spoke to the believers about the order (tipiko) of the consecration and sense of the presence of the Orthodox Temple in the life of the worship of the community, and in the city in which he lives and is active, as well as on the Gospel of the day. The Archbishop urged the believers to really live their faith and to be armed everyday with weapons which render the demonic powers (which are also present in human society today and try to pull it into corruption and injustice), powerless and harmless. These weapons are: truth, humility, love and repentance. They should be cultivated unceasingly with prayer in this new Orthodox Church. And once again the Archbishop reiterated his fatherly commandment saying that we, the Orthodox Christians, should not content ourselves just with the joy of having the buildings of the worship, new or reconstructed, but to be careful every day to build ourselves as temples of the living God.
In the Spiritual Center next to the church there followed the traditional celebration by the parish of the Annunciation, in an atmosphere of joy and filled with traditional songs of Përmeti.
It must be remembered here, that few years ago Këlcyra’s City Council, in recognition of the initiative of Archbishop Anastasios to be build this beautiful church in their city, decided that the street in front and in the central square of the town was to be named “Archbishop’s Anastasios Street”.
The Vice President of the Parliament, Mr. Vangel Dule and other dignitaries were also present on this special joyful day for the believers of Këlcyra for the consecration of their Church.
For all the Metropolis of Gjirokastra, the presence of Archbishop Anastasios and the dual consecrations constituted a special festive note and occasion for a deeper worship experience during the gathering for the Feast of the Dormition of the Theotokos, so that people also called this feast the Summer Easter. This was a special occasion for dozens of believers in these areas, who live and work mostly in Greece.
Këlcyrë, 17 August 2014
Photo: Deacon Stefan Ritsi
