A training was held at the Resurrection Cathedral in Tirana on 15-16 November 2013, with the theme, “The Environment, Our Common Home”, in order to facilitate the contribution of Albanian Orthodox Youth in their community life. This training was organized in cooperation with the Philanthropy Office of the Orthodox Church, “Diakonia Agapes”. There were young people, catechists, coordinators and directors of Orthodox groups from the Dioceses of our country present at this training, along with student representatives from the Theological Academy in Durrës.
The activity was organized within the framework of the project, “Young People Working Together for a Better Future”, which has been functioning for several years in our Church, financially supported by HEKS, Switzerland. This project aims to promote positive youth participation in community life. Its main activities consist in training and workshops for fundraising, community outreach and environmental protection, education of young people active in youth groups, and support of youth initiatives for relevant activities.
The 15th November session, with the theme, “The Environment and Our Role in Interacting with Creation”, was divided into two main presentations. The first presentation focused on the responsibility each and every Christian has to refer creation back to the Creator (God). The participants delved into the issue of the ecological crisis as a spiritual problem and came to understand as the Metropolitan of Pergam, John Zizioulas says: “Unless we attack man’s self-centeredness by stressing that man exists in creation not in order to posses it, but in order to refer it to God, the ecological problem will increasingly be with us, and the consequences will be very serious indeed. Only when man learns to be the priest of creation can we hope to adopt the right attitude for the solution of the ecological problems we are facing today.” The second presentation introduced participants to some basic concepts about the environment and environmental education, especially for children and youth.
The program for 16 November session continued switching the emphasis from learning to action in an attempt to mobilize the youth of our Church to make a difference. Two representatives from Green Line Albania came and shared the, “Let’s Clean Albania” initiative with the youth. After their presentation, the youth broke up into groups to brainstorm about how to mobilize their respective cities into action. Every group decided to participate in the “Let’s Do It Albania” initiative. After the presentation the youth expressed their willingness to participate in this initiative, and were divided into groups and exchanged ideas aimed at the realization and mobilization of this initiative within their cities.
This initiative is a nationwide movement to dedicate Friday, November 22nd as a day when the citizens of Albania take action to voluntarily cleaning their country. The Orthodox groups decided to start by cleaning the area surrounding the churches in their cities. Diakonia Agapes will support the youth groups with everything needed for the smooth running of the event in order for the efforts of the Orthodox youth to be successful and become participants and active members in the community. Let’s go and mobilize the youth activity, “Let’s Clean Albania”, as a continuation of fulfilling our role as stewards of creation.
Stephanos Ritsi
