During afternoon hours on Saturday May 10^th, the sacred of Saint Vlash in Durrës welcomed women of the Orthodox Women’s Organization of the Diocese of Tirana. The paschal atmosphere gathered women coming from the following district: Tirana, Durrës, Kavaja, Elbasan, Gramsh, Lezhë and Shkodër.

They began their activity praying during Saturday vespers and chanted the dismissal hymn of Myrrh-bearing Women. After Vespers, Bishop Andoni preached about worship in the Church and the participation of women in it. “For every orthodox believer, the life in Christ is closely related to the worship in the Church” – he pointed out.

Later on, he focused mainly on the Divine Liturgy and the role of the Myrrh-bearing Women in proclaiming the news of Christ’s Resurrection explaining that it was the women who first spread the good news. Bishop Andoni asked how are they to act today? “Women- he said, play a great role in family life”. It is the women who are to instruct their children to search services; it is women who are to raise pious children. They have played and still continue to play an important role in spreading the good news in the same way as the Myrrh-bearing Women.

Mrs. Rajmonda Shqevi, the women in charge of Orthodox Women’s Organization of the Diocese of Tirana, spoke about how Scriptures consider women. Later, an activist of this Organization, from Tirana, Leonora Koço talked of the voluntary contribution of women in Tirana.

On the Sunday of Myrrh-bearing Women, the women attended the worship and feast services praying and chanting together in the church of the monastery dedicated to Saint Vlash. The conference provided many opportunities for conversation new friendship and the new experiences as the celebration continued.

At noon, Bishop Nikolla spoke to the women attending the conference and said: “the women went courageously to the tomb. They were the first to go there and the first to receive the news of Chirst’s resurrection and again the first to spread the good news. Women continue to spread the news of Resurrection. Women are not behind men in any aspect: in asceticism, in fasting, in praying, in spiritual knowledge etc. The Christian women should be an example, an icon of the all-holy Mary, both in the community and in the family; sacrificing for the family, loving her husband, her children and relatives. She should know how to behave in the family and society.

In church we cleanse our heart from all evil thoughts and we fill our mind and heart with love, kinship and tranquility. When we have these, there is peace among us. The wish “Christ between us” accompanied all activity organized by the women of Orthodox Women’s Organization of Diocese of Tirana. Thus, when we meet with each other we say: “Christ between us” – said Sofika from Kavaja. Whereas 23- year old Alketa from Cerriku said: “to be a Christian means to love the Lord, to love and to be loved”.

The meeting ended with a concert given by the children of Orthodox Children’s Home “Shpresa” (Hope) near the monastery of Saint Vlash and with the prayer that each Orthodox Christian women should have in her life: “To love God, her life, her husband, her children and relatives and to become the icon of Myrrh-bearing Women in the way in which they loved God and spread the news of Resurrection.

By Julia Pjetri

Translated by Joan Baba

Edited by Anastasia (Pamela) Barksdale