The Youth Conference of the Tirana Diocese in Lezha
With the blessing of Archbishop Anastasios, a
Tirana Diocese Youth Conference to
ok
place for the first time in
Shëngjin, Lezha. On the weekend of November 11-13, about 100 young people came
together from Kavaja, Durrës, Elbasani, Shkodra and Tirana to participate in
this conference. The theme was “Accepting the Gifts of God” and the conference
combined church and cultural activities, making it a more diverse program.
On the first day the youth got to know each other, after having been divided into separate groups named after the gifts of the Holy Spirit.
The next morning, on Saturday, the director of the Theological Academy, Bishop Ilia Katre, had been invited to give the first talk. He stressed: “The gifts of God are for our life in order to make us happy and in this way God leads us towards His everlasting life. You as youth have the possibility to make changes in today’s society and in the future, beginning with your devotion”.
He
spoke about three gifts from God: faith, time, and nature. “We Orthodox
Christians confess Christ, who was crucified for our salvation. Our Church
accepts the mystery of Christmas, which is unexplainable according to the human
mind having transcended the borders of human logic. His will calls for a
response from us for the faith which He offers us. We accept the gift of faith,
following the commandments of the Lord with our mind and way of living and we
thank Him for this gift.”
Meanwhile for the gift of time, His Grace Ilia said “God has given it as a very precious thing for the development of mankind, of the relationship between them in society and in the world that surrounds us. It is a mistake to waste time which God has given us. Time is golden and indispensable but it is limited. We don’t know when our time on earth will end, therefore we should be careful and accept this gift with gratitude towards God and fill it with creative acts for our wellbeing having as a focus this thankfulness towards God.” For the third gift, nature, he emphasized that this also is a gift of God’s love for us to live happily with gratitude and in harmony with nature. We should be careful with the environment, living and working with respect for this creation of the Creator, with responsibility for it because it belongs to all of us and thus should protect it.
After the first talk the fourth year students
of the Theological Academy made a presentation about the
academy for the conference participants. Later the youth spent time playing
sports, and in the afternoon a second talk was held by Father Justin, with the
theme “Freedom and its Limits”. Fr. Justin said that freedom is a very
important thing for people. God is fully free and part of this freedom he has
given us as well. The freedom of God makes us worthy to ascend. The devil
offers us enslaved freedom, but no man is free except he who lives in Christ.
In the evening of the same day a recreational program was organized, prepared by each group. On the last day of the conference the youth attended the Divine Liturgy in the new church of Lezha. In the end they had a picture taken together with the Archbishop as a memento of the first conference in this city.
Isidor Koti
Përktheu: Kristiana Muça dhe Georgia Gilman