Head of Albanian Church expresses words of support to Lavra abbot
Archbishop Anastasios called the current persecution of the Orthodox in Ukraine absurd.
On August 11, 2023, His Beatitude Archbishop Anastasios of Tirana and All Albania sent a letter to the abbot of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, Metropolitan Pavel of Chornobyl, in which he expressed words of support at the backdrop of the ongoing painful trials, the press service of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra reports.
“With deep sorrow we follow the painful trials of your beloved Eminence and your God-chosen flock. We empathize with your sufferings and, to the best of our ability, share, where appropriate, our testimony of atrocities against the pious Orthodox holy clergy, the pious people, as well as the glorified shrine – the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra. We pray that the Lord will strengthen you, so that you 'you commend yourselves as servants of God in every way: in great endurance; in troubles, hardships and distresses; in beatings, imprisonments and riots; in hard work, sleepless nights and hunger' (2 Cor. 6: 4-5)," noted Archbishop Anastasios.
“Our thoughts and prayers are unceasingly with you, so that having joined the throng of the New Martyrs, you will also be able to withstand the current absurd persecution of the Orthodox ‘… in the Holy Spirit and in sincere love; in truthful speech and in the power of God; … genuine, yet regarded as impostors; known, yet regarded as unknown; dying, and yet we live on; beaten, and yet not killed’ (2 Cor. 6:6-9),” wished the Primate of the Albanian Church.
As the UOJ reported earlier, the Primate of the Albanian Church supported Metropolitan Jonathan.
