News from Orthodoxy in AlbaniaOccasional Publication of the Orthodox Autocephalous Church of AlbaniaNumber 3
News from
Orthodoxy in Albania
Occasional Publication of the Orthodox Autocephalous Church of Albania
Number 3, February 18, 1997
Articles in this Issue:
· A Call for Hope in the Midst of Chaos
· For More Hope in the Future
· Diverse International Effort Supports Church Work
· Diaconia Agape Ministry Offers Hope to a Suffering World
A Call for Hope in the Mist of Chaos
Albania has been in the headlines of the news recently, and many of our friends have been worried. The situation is quite serious with many people angry, sad, depressed and on the verge of despair.
Many prayers are needed for the people, along with the government leaders. All the religious communities designated Sunday, February 16 as a day of prayer for a peaceful and just solution to the problems facing the country. His Beatitude Anastasios, Archbishop of Tirana and All Albania, issued a press release which stated the position and opinion of the Orthodox Church.
Here is a summary for those who are unaware of the dilemma con-fronting the country. Over the past two months, the country has fallen into turmoil by the collapse of a number of “pyramid” investment schemes. Some experts estimate that as many as 80% of Albanian families have invested their money in these get-rich-quick investment companies that were promising up to 100% interest (one company even offered 300%) within a three or four month period. Some of these companies have been functioning for the past three and four years.
Over the past month, five of the larger companies have collapsed and partial compensation has been announced for only two of the firms, whose assets were frozen in state banks. Thus, tens of thousands of Albanian families have lost all their money and have fallen into a desperate economic situation.
In response to these problems, many people have taken to demonstrations and protests in the streets. One of the major southern cities, Vlore, is in total anarchy at the present moment. Police have fled the city, allowing for massive violence and destruction. Four civilians have been killed, including a three-year-old child, one police officer shot, and hundreds injured. Other cities have also participated in demonstrations, and the situation is still far from being over.
One of the saddest consequences of all these affairs is a total air of despair among the people. Many families have lost their homes. Other families have lost all the money their children have saved as immigrants over the past years. One student at the seminary shared how he had lost all his sheep (120 total), which he bought from the money he saved while working in Greece for two years. He invested all the money and now has nothing. Another man recently sold his house, lost all the money in the schemes, and now lives in a 2m x 4m room in a basement of an apartment. Another older man, whose three sons have been working in Greece for the past five years, had $40,000 invested in these firms. A rise in suicides has occurred. Several days ago there was reported a story about a woman from Pogradec who had invested all her family's money in one of the companies without her husband’s knowledge. Once the companies fell, she felt she couldn’t tell her husband and instead stepped in front of an oncoming train. And the stories continue.
Many foreigners are saying that the people here were ignorant, naive, or greedy. In some cases this may be true. Other cases show that it was simply a combination of desperation, hope and naiveté. People on pension received $40 a month, which isn’t enough to buy food and pay for electricity over a month. Some of these people saw the investment firms as their only hope. They sold their homes and invested money in hope of simply getting a little extra money to supplement their meager pension. Once they got their return, then they would once again buy a home, and have a little extra money to survive month by month. Now, they have no money and no home.
Whatever the story, the bottom line is that now many people have fallen into total despair. Not only have they lost their life savings, but they see their country in chaos. Numerous students are expressing their loss of hope for the future. They were hoping that Albania was moving forward, and yet now they see it back where it was in 1990-91. Not only is there economic disaster, but also the threat of instability in the government, and possible civil war. Many are once again seeing that their only option is to leave Albania and go to Greece, Italy, or some other place in Europe or America.
It is so sad to see this utter depression, to talk with students who at one time were idealistic and hopeful for the future, but now are resigned to the fact that their only hope is leaving Albania.
Of course, this is the time for the Church to identify and empathize with the people, to show compassion and love, to offer the eternal message of hope, and overall, to loudly proclaim in word and deed the Good News of our Lord Jesus Christ. In the midst of every Cross the Church always awaits the coming Resurrection.
Please pray together with us that the Almighty Trinity may empower, enlighten and direct the Church to be a beacon of hope and light to this country, her leaders and all the people, so that a just and peaceful solution can be found for the present situation.
For More Hope in the Future
Throughout these years of democracy, the Orthodox Autocephalous Church of Albania has tried to stay close to the people, supporting and comforting them, and speaking to them through the language of eternal truth. She reminds all people about the duty of solidarity, integrity, responsibility, zeal for work, forgiveness, and proper selection of those who seek the trust of the people.
At this critical time, the Church joins in the great trial of thousands of defenseless people, and is obliged to remind every side that to transcend this new trial, all forms of misinformation and violence must be abandoned. Violence gives birth to hatred, and hatred darkens the mind and heart, leading everyone in a vicious circle of exploitation and upheaval.
To transcend this crisis, all sides need to have more calmness, more truth, a greater disposition for reconciliation, more collaboration, and mainly more justice and love in the effort of compensation. It is not fair that the victims are the innocent and uninformed people.
At the same time, we invite believers, especially on the coming Sunday, February 16, to intensify their prayers that God enlightens all those who are engaged in these issues to face them with integrity, sincerity and wisdom. Faith in the God of truth, justice, power and peace will help find the right solutions and see the future with more hope.
+Anastasios
Archbishop of Tirana, Durres and All Albania
Tirana, 12 February, 1997
Diverse International Effort Supports Church Work
From the beginning of the effort to revive the Orthodox Autocephalous Church of Albania in 1991, Archbishop Anastasios has used a variety of international co-workers to labor beside their indigenous counterparts in serving our Lord Jesus Christ in Albania. Priests, monks, nuns, laymen and laywomen, teachers, theologians, doctors, nurses, architects, engineers, iconographers, musicians, and many common believers all have offered their special talents in whatever way is needed to build up the Church.
Missionaries from Greece and the United States provide the majority of long-term missionaries, while short-term workers have included Orthodox who are Albanian-American, English, Finnish, Russian, Kenyan and youth groups with members from Poland, Romania, France, Holland and Spain.
At the present moment, there are 23 Orthodox missionaries working in Albania. This includes three married priests, two presbyteras, five hiermonks and two monks, three nuns, five single laywomen, three laymen, and two missionary children. A theologian from Kenya will be arriving within a month, and four other missionaries will be arriving during the latter part of the summer. While several of the missionaries working at the present moment are only here for several months, the majority have been in Albania for two or more years.
Archbishop Anastasios has given a directive from the beginning to all these missionaries to work alongside Albanian counterparts, training, cultivating and aiding the indigenous believers to take over leadership roles.
Although Orthodoxy is the majority Christian faith (the last religious census before the communist era showed approximately 21% of the population as Orthodox, 10% Roman Catholic and 69% Muslim), Orthodox missionaries are greatly outnumbered by other missionaries. Presently, there are more than 400 long-term Protestant missionaries (with possibly more than 1000 short-term workers), and approximately 150 foreign Roman Catholic priests, with more than 200 missionary nuns and laypeople.
Most of the Orthodox missionaries have been sent by various monasteries or mission centers, specifically Porefthentes Mission Center in Athens, the Orthodox Christian Mission Center in St. Augustine, Florida, USA, St. John the Baptist Monastery in Kareas, and various monasteries from Mount Athos.
“Diaconia Agape” Ministry Offers Hope to Suffering World
January 1997 begins the fifth year of ministry for the “Diaconia Agape” Office and overall social branch of the Orthodox Autocephalous Church of Albania. This ministry acts as the social and developmental arm of the church, expressing God’s sacrificial love for all humanity, irrespective of race or religion. It works together with people, especially the poor and marginalized, to develop hope, confidence, self-initiative and concrete solutions to their critical needs.
During the first two years of its work (1992-1993), the Diaconia Agape ministry’s focus was on the delivery of relief aid (food, medical supplies, clothing and assistance) during the early desperate years of democracy. In 1993 the office delivered 172 tons of food and milk, along with 2,500 boxes of clothing and blankets to the needy. Assistance was offered to orphan-ages and schools.
By 1994, focus of the office slowly began to shift from relief aid to developmental projects. Programs targeted agriculture, health, women, youth and the unemployed. St. Luke’s health clinic in Tirana was founded. A children’s nursery school was established. An income-generating coffee roasting store began to support the Women’s group of Tirana. Pilot agricultural and develop-mental projects began.
The office expanded and diversified its outreach in 1995 by developing seven rural water projects which assisted 131 village families. A revolving credit program began to help villagers in their agricultural projects.
Over the past year, many of the projects expanded into other areas. Nursery schools began in the cities of Durres, Korca and Kavaja. Construction began for the new Health Center of the “Annunciation” in Tirana, which will be a five-story, 1800 square meter building. Along with this health project, other clinics were in the process of being established in Korca, Kavaja, and Gjirokaster. Other projects included a dental clinic, eighteen water projects, a pharmacy, a women’s rural health and development program, a wood processing shop, a vegetable pickling project, eleven tractor projects, a fertilizer distribution center, a fuel distribution center, five crop diversification contracts, an appropriate paper based technology program and ten animal husbandry contracts. Assistance was offered to an NGO orphan society, the paraplegic Association, Association of Disable Women, as well as numerous schools, and a national Church foreign language program.
Since its inception, the Church has distributed millions of dollars of aid through this Diaconia ministry. Parial support of the overall work has come from several ecumenical sponsors, including the World Council of Churches, HEKS of Switzerland, DanChurchAid of Denmark, Diakonisches Werk of Stuttgart, ICCO of the Netherlands, Christian Aid of England and Europe Desk of the Netherlands.
Fr. Martin Ritsi, a missionary priest from the USA, was the director of Diaconia Agape from 1992-95. In October, 1995, Penny Panayiota Deligiannis, another American missionary, became director. On the national and regional levels, six full-time Albanian workers serve on the staff of the office.
Historical archive bulletin. Source: http://www.orthodoxalbania.org:80/nb3.htm — Wayback 20001001011431.