This evening, Sunday, April 29th, 2018, a festive artistic concert was organized in the amphitheater of the Cultural Center of the Resurrection of Christ Cathedral in Tirana. This concert was organized to honor His Beatitude and Holiness Kirill, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, and the Delegation that accompanied Him, with the presence of Archbishop Anastasios and members of the Holy Synod.
The center of this event was the presentation of the Russian language translation of the book To the Ends of the Earth, a study on missions, written by His Beatitude Archbishop Anastasios. Many of the chapters of this book are dedicated to the evangelization of the Slavic people by Saints Cyril and Methodius, as well as works of Russian missionaries in the Far East.
In their speeches, the two Primates re-emphasized the idea that Orthodoxy, true to the commandment of the Lord and to her Tradition and history, is not complete if she does not engage in missionary work in today’s world to all people and all nations. Patriarch Kirill congratulated Archbishop Anastasios as a missionary not of words, but for his efforts in the continent of Africa and in Albania, where the fruit of the ceaseless efforts he has made has been the revival of the Church from the ruins of her persecution and her continuous development.
The program of the festival continued with religious musical arrangements interpreted by the “Shën Joan Kukuzeli” Byzantine Music Choir of our Church and the Synodal Choir of the Moscow Patriarchate.
Groups of young adults and schools of our Church preformed songs and dances with religious themes and traditional cultural arrangements.
A short documentary was also shown highlighting the 27 year journey of the Autocephalous Orthodox Church of Albania, after communism, under the direction of Archbishop Anastasios.
