Head of Albanian Church refuses to participate in the Council of Primates
Archbishop Anastasios, Head of the Albanian Orthodox Church, is not going to Jordan because “the Synaxis of Primates will complicate the situation rather than help it.”
Archbishop Anastasios (Yannulatos) of Tirana and all of Albania refused the invitation of Patriarch Theophilos III of Jerusalem to take part in the Council of Primates in Jordan, which is convened to resolve the “Ukrainian issue”. A letter from the Primate of the Albanian Orthodox Church dated January 8, 2020 was published by the ORTHODOXIA.INFO resource on February 10.
In his letter, the Archbishop recalled that he himself had previously pointed out the necessity of convening an All-Orthodox Council, urging that this be done by the Ecumenical Patriarchate in order to prevent an obvious threat of a painful split, and that “the initiative to heal the new reality undoubtedly belongs to the Ecumenical Patriarchate. But all the Local Orthodox Churches, all without exception, are responsible for contributing to reconciliation.”
“The proposal to meet in Jordan, as is now obvious, instead of healing prospects, will complicate the situation that goes beyond the prescribed treatment. We cannot participate in the proposed synaxis,” the Primate of the Albanian Church noted in his reply.
Recall, on January 29, 2020, Archbishop Anastasios of Tirana and All Albania met with a delegation of the UOC. At the meeting, the Primate of the Albanian Church spoke about his attitude to the religious situation in Ukraine and emphasized that "schisms are overcome by Ecumenical Councils, not by letters or anything else."
