Celebration of the 70th Birthday of His Holiness Kirill, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia
A representation of our Church led by Archbishop Anastasios attends the celebration
On Sunday, November 20th, 2016, at the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow, a magnificent Divine Liturgy was celebrated on the occasion of the 70th Birthday of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Russia. In attendance were the highest state authorities, hundreds of bishops and clergy, thousands of believers, as well as representatives from all the Orthodox Churches. Presiding over the Liturgy were His Beatitude Theodor, Patriarch of Alexandria, His Beatitude Theophilos, Patriarch of Jerusalem, His Holiness, Irenaeous, Patriarch of Serbia, His Holiness and Beatitude Iliya, Patriarch of Georgia, His Beatitude Chrysostomos, Archbishop of Cyprus, His Beatitude Anastasios, Archbishop of Tirana and All Albania, His Beatitude Sava, Metropolitan of Warsaw and All Poland, His Beatitude Rostislav, Metropolitan of Czech Lands and Slovakia, etc.
After the Divine Liturgy, a meeting was held on the grounds of the Cathedral in which the participants of the liturgy congratulated Patriarch Kirill on his 70th birthday.
On November 21st, at the Patriarchal residence in St. Daniel’s monastery, His Holiness, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia met with His Beatitude Anastasios, Archbishop of Tirana and All Albania, who was in Moscow for the celebration of the Patriarch’s 70th birthday. Metropolitan Nathanael of Amantia and Deacon Spyridon, who accompanied His Beatitude, took part in the meeting together with His Beatitude.The Russian Orthodox Church was also represented by Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, Chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for External Church Relations (DECR); Bishop Flavian of Cherepovets and Belozersk as well as other clergy.
His Holiness Kirill addressed Archbishop Anastasios saying, ‘Dear brother, I greet you here, at the residence of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, with a special feeling and express my cordial gratitude to you for attending the celebration of my 70th birthday. You said today that we have known one another for forty-eight years now. Being young people in 1968, we participated in Syndesmos General Assembly, whose role at that time was very important. Since that meeting in Rättvik in Sweden, we often met at various international conferences. Many times when we had the opportunity to cooperate, we managed to reach important compromises, especially in drafting quite difficult texts, which helped in turn to find common ground after heated discussions. Thus, we, the Orthodox, have been witnessing our unity. I am grateful to God for our cooperation.’
Also, Patriarch Kirill highly praised the role of Archbishop Anastasios in the revival of the Orthodox Autocephalous Church of Albania and added, ‘… I was your guest at a time when the wounds of persecution in Albania had not been healed yet in the body of the Church and I saw your wonderful job. Time never tells on you; your energy and mobility are almost identical to those of 48 years ago. I wish you to maintain spiritual and physical strength in order to continue your active approach to life and work for the good of the Church of Albania and of all Orthodoxy for many years.’
Archbishop Anastasios expressed his gratitude for the great gift of friendship granted to both of them by God: “This friendship is like wine, which becomes even better as time passes. We still maintain such special and friendly relations, though I am much older than you. I felt at home in the meetings of the World Council of Churches and in other conferences that you have attended. I was confident as I always knew that we would arrive at joint decisions. Therefore I keenly felt your absence at the Synod of Crete and I express my regret…God has granted us the greatest gift of faith thanks to which our Church was preserved despite the harsh persecution. Such kind of faith bears good fruit”, said the Archbishop. Then he added, ‘You have rightly noted our hard work in Albania. At that time we were planning our missionary activity and I wrote many books, also about Russian missionaries … I wanted to write about them and to follow their example, and I did it in Albania. Your love has always been great support to me, and I believe that the presence of the people in our lives is always more important than books.’
At the end of the meeting, which was held within a warm and brotherly spirit, Archbishop Anastasios gave to Patriarch Kirill a handmade Silver Blessing Cross specially made for the occasion. Whereas His Holiness Patriarch Kirill presented Archbishop Anastasios with liturgical vestments sewed for him, a crozier and a copy of the Patriarch’s collection of writings in nine volumes. Metropolitan Nathanael received a crozier and a book by His Holiness.
The Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church consented to the proposal of Archbishop Anastasios to translate his Collected Works into the Albanian language for the students of the Theological Academy.
