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Resurrection of
Christ” School Begins New Semester
The “Resurrection of Christ” School of Theology
begins its second semester of classes following the exam week of January 21.
The President of the School, His Beatitude Anastasios, Archbishop of Tirana
and All Albania was there to offer words of encouragement to the students.
The Archbishop was also reviewing the progress on the ongoing construction
of the new 2800 sq. meter seminary complex. This is the first year that the
school has moved into its two million dollar compound at the holy sight of
St. Vlash, Durres.
The 49 students currently attending the
seminary were grateful for the visit of their spiritual father, and for all
that has been done over the past six years. Since the arrival of Archbishop
Anastasios to Albania in 1991, a top priority of the Orthodox Autocephalous
Church of Albania has been the establishment of a school to prepare priests
and lay leaders to serve the Orthodox communities around the country. The 46
year atheistic regime had totally destroyed all the infrastructure of the
Church in Albania. More than 1600 Orthodox churches and monasteries had been
closed and destroyed. The clergy dwindled from more than 440 in the 1940’s,
to only 22 surviving priests and deacons in 1990. Today, only eight of them
still live. Archbishop Anastasios understood the desperate shortage of
clergy, and had the vision to focus firstly on the training and preparation
of indigenous men to share the Orthodox faith and offer the Holy Mysteries
among the people of Albania.
Thus, in March 1992, classes began for the
“Resurrection of Christ” School of Theology. With some old theologians from
Albania, together with teachers from Greece and America, the school started
classes in an old, rented “workers camp.” With little electricity, heat, or
running water, 45 students began studying and learning about their Orthodox
faith. Some of the more promising students were ordained in the midst of
their studies, filling an immediate need of the hundreds of thousands of
Orthodox believers throughout the country. The first year class finished
their studies in the summer of 1994. Each succeeding year a new class
entered into the school.
Since it inception, three classes have
finished their studies, with approximately 80 students being ordained as
priests or deacons, 10 students doing further studies in Greece, and six
students preparing for the monastic life at the Nativity of the Theotokos
Monastery in Ardenica. Presently, 49 students live at the seminary and
attend classes. All students have finished high school, and seven of them
have finished university. Approximately half of the students are married.
The school offers a three year course in
the basics of the Orthodox tradition, teaching the Holy Scriptures, Church
History, Patristics and Lives of Saints, Liturgics, Dogmatics, Ethics,
Byzantine Music and a foreign language, along with more practical courses of
Teleturgics, pastoral care and preaching for the third year students. The
daily life of the students includes morning and evening prayer services,
combined with five hours of instruction. Third year students weekly make
pastoral visits to the local old age home, hospital, and school for
handicapped children. Some students participate in offering catechism to the
local children and youth of the area. Other students pass their free time
learning iconography or additional byzantine music.
Investment Schemes
Leave Albania in Turmoil
In recent weeks, Albania has plummeted into
turmoil by a number of “pyramid” investment schemes that have collapsed.
Some experts estimate that as many as 80% of Albanian families had invested
money in these get-rich- quick investment companies, which were promising up
to 100% interest within three and four month periods.
Five of the companies have collapsed over
the past three weeks, however, and partial compensation has been announced
for only two firms, whose assets were frozen in state banks. Thus, thousands
of Albanian families have fallen into a desperate economic situation.
The Albanian newspaper “Dita Informacion”
recently held an interview with Archbishop Anastasios concerning this
problem. Part of the interview is below.
Interviewer - The phenomenon of usury has
become a major problem in Albania today. Since this is an issue which now
concerns almost all Albanians, what can you say about it?
Archbishop Anastasios - There are economic laws of the
free market system, especially concerning the circulation of money. When
these laws get broken, then many victims suffer. Unfortunately, the victims
are often the weakest and least informed ... Now is a time when we must show
great sympathy and compassion to such people...
Has the Orthodox Church taken part in any
of this money with interest?
Archbishop Anastasios - Even though the Orthodox
Autocephalous Church of Albania has quite large social and technical
services, we have avoided all temptations to place money in any such pyramid
schemes.
What does the Bible and the Orthodox Church teach
in relation to such issues?
Archbishop Anastasios - The Church has always been
against any lending of money with an exaggerated interest. Instead it has
taught about the productive use of talents and gifts through creative and
active work ... The Orthodox Church has always emphasized a zeal for work, a
struggle for truth and integrity and a condemnation of every form of
exploitation and disinformation.
Highlights of January
50,000 People in Berat for Epiphany Celebration
In the month of January, Orthodox believers
throughout the country witnessed and participated in a variety of special
events for the Orthodox Autocephalous Church of Albania. During this brief
time, Archbishop Anastasios blessed the foundations of two new churches,
ordained to the diaconate two students who graduated from the seminary last
year, and traveled from Vraka, one of the northern-most towns in Albania, to
Saranda. Following are some of the highlights of the past month.
January 1, 1997 -- Archbishop Anastasios
celebrated the feast of St. Basil and the new year in the Church of St.
Paraskevi in the southern city of Permet. At the end of the service, His
Beatitude informed the believers that by the grace of God the Church of St.
Paraskevi would be rebuilt by the end of 1997
January 5 - Archbishop Anastasios was in the port
city of Durres for the Eve of Epiphany. This day also marked the 115th
anniversary of the birth of Theophan Noli, the renowned personality of
Albania. After the liturgy, the Archbishop received political
representatives and various personalities from the city, as well as members
of the Fan Noli Assosiation. All thanked the Archbishop for his great
endeavors toward the revival of the Orthodox Autocephalous Church in
Albania, and for the spiritual enrichment of the Albanian people as a whole.
January 6 - Albanian television estimated
50,000 people of all religious backgrounds gathered on both sides of the
Osum River in Berat to witness the blessing of the waters by Archbishop
Anastasios for the feast of Epiphany.
January 12 - A one year memorial service
was held in Tirana for Dimiter Beduli, the last surviving theologian from
the pre-communist era. Beduli greatly helped in the re-establishment of the
Church during the past five years of democracy.
January 17 - Archbishop Anastasios attended
the dedication ceremony of a new 10 meter cross that stands as a testimony
to the glory of God and the Christian presence in the area of Patos (near
Fier).
January 19 - Archbishop Anastasios blessed the
foundation stone for the new Cathedral of St. George in the city of Fier,
and ordained to the diaconate Llazar Çullaj, a graduate of the “Resurrection
of Christ” seminary. The cathedral will be built in a basilica style, 44m x
23m, with a dome of 24m and a bell tower of 30m.
January 22 - On the feastday of St. Anastasios
the Persian, Archbishop Anastasios celebrated the Divine Liturgy in Tirana
and ordained Socrat Lako, another graduate of the seminary, to the diaconate.
January 26 - Archbishop Anastasios performed the
Divine Liturgy in the city of Shkodra. Afterwards, he traveled to Vraka, a
town on the Montenegran border with a significant Slav population. Here he
blessed the foundation stone for another new church. January 30 - A Vigil
organized by the youth of Tirana was held in the Cathedral of the
Annunciation in honor of the Three Hierarchs and Education Day for Orthodox
students. Archbishop Anastasios offered a blessing and words of
encouragement to the 120 students present.
January 31 - The Archbishop made a pastoral
visit to the city of Saranda, and surveyed the construction progress of the
new cathedral.
Student
Groups Share Gospel and Reach Out to Needy
Students from the “Resurrection of Christ”
Seminary, from the “Sons of Light” Orthodox youth group in Tirana, along
with some of the young men at the monastery of the Nativity of the Theotokos
in Ardenica, have been participating in a weekly ministry of evangelism and
outreach to different areas of Albania.
Every week, at least nine small groups of
youth share the Gospel by offering catechism lessons to children, secondary
school youth, and university age students in the cities of Tirana, Durres,
Kavaja, Elbasan, and Lushnje, along with seven other villages in the
surrounding areas. These students receive lessons and instruction from the
Archdiocese Office of Catechism, or from the “Resurrection of Christ”
seminary, and then share these lessons in the different areas.
In addition to the groups of catechism,
other groups of youth have been created to bring the love of Christ in
concrete ways to the less fortunate and needy people of society. Remembering
the words of our Lord, when he said, “I was hungry and you fed me, I was
thirsty and you gave me to drink, I was in prison and sick and you visited
me,” these students have made a weekly commitment to visit various
institutions in Tirana, Durres and Kavaja. Every week, five groups of
students from the seminary visit an old age home, school for the handicapped
children, and hospital. During these visits, they simply try to bring a
loving presence and listening ear to people who have been abandoned by
society.
The youth group of Tirana has also
incorporated this witness of love in their weekly life by visiting a School
for the Blind, and a School for Handicapped children every Sunday afternoon.
Many of the students had never visited such
institutions before. At first, many where afraid or embarrassed. They
thought that they would not be accepted by the people unless they brought
some presents. They learned quickly, though, that the people they visited
longed mostly for a friend, a person from the outside world who would talk
with them, listen to them, and take an interest in them.
Many of the students have agreed that the
experiences have agreed that the experiences have blessed them in ways they
could never have imagined before.
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