In a certain way the tradition repeats itself, but in a celebration like Pascha, that is traditional among centuries it speaks differently each year, as it was speaking for the first time. Not forgetting that this is not a passage taken out of any book or a usual inscription over the overflowing streets of our cities. It starts and ends there, in the message of the Word, that has as leitmotiv the celebrations of the Holy Week in Tirana, until the triumphal end, the Resurrection of Christ. It was a time filled with messages to think seriously of life. The center of all these days was the Gospel in which the strange and miserable events with a warming end were read. 

Every day, hundreds of believers in Tirana attended the services in the “Annunciation of the Virgin Mary” church. The services of these celebrations were led by His Beatitude, Archbishop Anastasios. Every day, he gave a message from the Gospel, reflecting also the situation that our country experiences each day and which needs to overcome not only economically, but also spiritually.  

In the messages that Archbishop Anastasios gave to the believers, he emphasized that usually we all exclude ourselves from the people that our outside (not members of) the church, remembering so the Pharisees who were religious people but acting against the Lord. They were people of hypocrisy and arrogance. He said that this is a risk that today threatens every religious environment and for this reason we all have to be very careful, because in this case exists an interest to be shown only externally and inside us to be filled with hypocrisy. The division between the appearance and interior is a serious problem. Our church emphasizes that if we are starting to be righteous inside in front of God we will also show it externally to people around us.

During Holy Week, the church remembered the righteous Joseph and Job who had a resistant character and honored God.

“In our tradition, much is spoken about nobility, but we shouldn’t look at the others but at ourselves when Lords says: “Poor you”. All this serves to examine ourselves in order to become humble because we hear Lord saying to us: “because who will exalt himself will fall but who will humble himself will be exalted.” The magnet that attracts the grace of God is humility, while the deceit and hypocrisy keep away the grace. Let each one of us avoid the external facade and became sincere. Let each one of us use the talent given by God in order to transmit the message of the Resurrection in this country which needs more courage and optimism.”

During Holy Week, the church remembers the example of the man who feels deeply the weakness that is inside him, but he has a spiritual power to come out of the abyss of sin to the high and light sphere which is the love of God.

In the message of the Gospel of this day Archbishop Anastasios emphasized: “We should behave with love for every human being, because we do not know what God thinks and how He acts. This is a very important thing. We have to be attentive for some things that come our way. We shouldn’t shirk them for a later time. We should pay attention to the moments that God grants us because the Lord asks us to do something more than what we do usually and these moments hold the eternity. It is important to determine our weakness.

A variety of spiritual illnesses exist and we shouldn’t remain in generality, but we have to specify our illness and we have to ask for God’s grace. Let us make a greater effort in order to become conscious for our spiritual illness. When we receive the Holy Oil we will pray for our physical and spiritual health. In doing so, we taste Pascha. Pray unceasingly, in everything give thanks to God and this is the Orthodox moral. We rejoice because we connect with the One that is the joy of life.”

After this journey filled with commandments and important messages for life, which were given in front of the believers of the capital city by Archbishop Anastasios during the late hours of Holy Saturday, thousands of believers filled the church and the area around and also the area at Kavaja street at the square where the message of the Resurrection of Christ would be given.

For all the people that could not enter into the church to attend the services during Holy Week, in the church’s courtyard loudspeakers and a large screen were put that transmitted views from the service inside the church.

On the platform, build up only for the good news in  Kavaja street, the message of Archbishop addressed to all the Orthodox believers of Albania and also the Resurrection passage from the Gospel of Mark was read. When the hour – hand was at 00:00, the warm exclamation “Christ is Risen” was heard followed by the joyful sounds of the bells and wishes of the believers, who hold candles in their hands, and pecked the red eggs wishing one another prosperity and joy in life. 

Afterwards the service of Resurrection continued in the church, which as every year was transmitted directly from Albanian Public Television. This year  other electronic and press media also showed interest and they widely transmitted the message of the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ and of the other festive ceremonies organized in our church.

The joyful atmosphere of the Resurrection of Christ continued with the same rhythm late into the morning, where in the Archdiocese of Tirana a reception was held where famous personalities of our country, believers of different ages, etc. were invited to extend their well wishes for this celebration.

The chairwoman of the Albanian Assembly, Mrs. Jozefina Topalli, who along with her greeting for the Pascha’s feast said she appreciated the contribution of the Archbishop of the Orthodox Church of Albania in the development of the Albanian society.

Representatives of political parties, diplomats and cultural representatives greeted Archbishop Anastasios and all Albanian Orthodox believers on this joyful event. The Prime Minister, Mr. Sali Berisha, along with Mrs. Berisha came around 12:00 to wish the Orthodox community on the feast of Pascha. “Let us become spirits of Resurrection in our environment” was this the wish, which Archbishop Anastasios addressed to the Prime Minister Berisha, who later wishing said: “I have come to wish all Albanian Orthodox believers and the Albanian believers in general on this blessed day, in this great day, in this Resurrected day. So, hope and inspiration for every man, more trust in yourselves, in God, and in the future”.

In the conversation that he had with Archbishop Anastasios he insured that the government will take the responsibility to solve as soon as possible the problem of the properties of the religious communities. “What it has been done is only a small piece of the large debt that the society and the state have to you and to the religious communities in general. I want to guarantee that what is in the hands of the government, no effort will remain undone, in order that the religious institutions gets back the properties that belong to them – and rapidly” – emphasized  Prime Minister Berisha.

For the problem of the properties documents that have been taken from the mortgage, which should be returned to the City hall, Archbishop Anastasios clarified saying that we have to go to the essential part of the issue and not at its external points. The reversion of the properties to the communities must be based on the list of the state’s confiscation and not based on the list of the mortgage because the mortgage itself has come in existence after the confiscations. And the properties are not only the lands, but everything that belongs to the communities, including here also the archives, etc. We should make clear to these communities that this is the truth, because the problem is not the law but the truth and we should find an immediate way to give a solution to this problem. 

At the end of this warm reception Archbishop Anastasios, after expressing joy that the Prime Minister had come to the Archdiocese of Tirana, in order to wish the Orthodox community said: “We know your effort for the resurrection and life here in this country and we want to express with all our heart, that God may give you strength, so that you may develop a society of righteousness, a creative society and a progressive one, because Albania is at the head of the European countries and not at the end.”

During the reception the chorus and the players of the Radio Ngjallja created a warm atmosphere playing classical, traditional and ecclesiastical music.
 

 Isidor Koti & Sonila Dedja
 Translated by Gabriela Bezhani and Christine Pappas