EDITOR’S NOTE (Nick Stamatakis). You can watch the 6hr funeral service of AB Anastasios in the Cathedral of Anastasis in Tirana and make your inferences about the symbolism of the service. At first glance, it seems that the usual arrogance of Pat. Bartholomew was placed under certain limits. Also, please read the reports in the second part of this post, explaining that as Anastasios was lowered into a crypt, the faithful sang “Christ Is Risen”!!
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Archbishop Anastasios was buried – He was accompanied to the special crypt with the hymn “Christ is Risen”
The late Archbishop Anastasios was taken to his final resting place earlier today in Tirana, Albania, amidst a climate of great sadness.
The funeral service began at 12 noon Greek time, led by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew. The Metropolitan Church of the Resurrection was packed with people, specifically Orthodox patriarchs, archbishops, representatives of churches and the Vatican, heads of religious communities in Albania, and the political and state leadership of Albania.
A crowd of people gathered outside the church, watching the funeral procession and bidding farewell to the enlightened hierarch with tears in their eyes.
Watch the entire ceremony here:
” Orthodoxy in Albania is losing one of its main pillars ,” Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople said with emotion at the funeral.
” A sad duty. The great pillar of the church in Albania has fallen. His great love was the missionary mission ,” he said, among other things.
“We dare to hope”, these three words, I think, summarize the life and work of the hierarch we are saying goodbye to today. Because it was precisely courage and hope that always guided Anastasios on this wonderful journey of his. A journey firmly alongside man and his rights. Sometimes as a humble missionary in Africa of hungry children. Sometimes as a silent supporter of students in Greece of the dictatorship. And of course as a great restorer and persistent pioneer of Orthodoxy in Albania. We bow to this greatness of a unique personality because the Archbishop of Tirana, Durres and all of Albania was at the same time an intellectual of the faith, but also a simple servant of his neighbor .
” In other words, a shining example of wisdom, but also of action. His passing creates an irreplaceable void, not only in his homeland and in our community, not only in all the places where the heart of Hellenism beats, for which he has been a true beacon for decades, a beacon of love and service. Courtesy and simplicity, persuasion and effectiveness. A beacon of Orthodoxy. And of Orthodox Christian life, faith .”
” Most people here know, of course, well what Anastasios achieved from the first hour he arrived in Albania, in the distant 1991, in a deserted country, after the passing of an authoritarian regime. And yet, drawing strength from his deep faith, he founded the Orthodox Autocephalous Church, established more than 400 parishes, built and rebuilt hundreds of churches, ordaining 145 new clergy, while at the same time establishing dozens of educational, health and charitable institutions, a small, perhaps a great miracle among the ruins .”
” The Archbishop has always been a bridge of friendship between our two peoples and a link of communication between our two states. He could justly be called the diplomat of love in a mission which he himself served with moderation and awareness and at the same time with unyielding dynamism .”
” On behalf of our family, I would like to thank you for the love you surrounded our uncle. You know how much he loved the people he lived with for about 30 years. The people of Albania. Love, dedication, justice, truth, humility, struggle, courage, hope. These are what distinguished him. Let us try to follow his example ,” said the niece of the deceased.
