In the early part of January, the area around Shkodra in Northern Albania was flooded, displacing thousands of people and causing massive damage to crops and livestock. The Orthodox Autocephalous Church of Albania responded immediately to the needs of those affected by the floods. After Sunday Divine Liturgy in Tirana, His Beatitude, Archbishop Anastasios called upon the faithful to give as much as possible, first making a donation himself as an example to those in attendance. This occured in all the main Orthodox Churches when the hierarchs and priests asked all the faithful of different ages and social levels to come together with their brothers who had been affected by this tragedy. 613,520 new lek (about $6,050) were gathered , 170,000 (about $1,670) of which were gathered in Tirana alone.
On February 3rd the donations were put into a bank account opened especially for this purpose. His Grace, Bishop Andoni of Kruja, accompanied by Fr. Aleksander Petani and Fr. Nikolla Petani, went to the Shkodra municipal offices to meet Mayor Lorenc Luka who expressed his admiration for this valuable act of solidarity shown by the Orthodox Faithful.
The mayor informed them of the current conditions of the affected areas. He said that this catastrophe had passed without claiming any human lives and that all those who had been displaced by the floods had returned to their homes and the situation was beginning to normalize.
This was the second donation that the Orthodox Church gave for the flooded areas of Shkodra within a short period of time. The first donation was in the form of 5 tons of food, clothing, beds, etc and was given to the Emergency Staff in the first moments of the catastrophe.
February 4th 2010
Press Office of Orthodox Autocephalous Church of Albania
