In the morning of December 24 at the Archdiocese a special atmosphere was created as a beautiful new tradition of singing Christmas carols by different age groups took place. One of the first groups was a group of children and their parents from Himara, which is many hours away from Tirana. The group was well prepared, and upon seeing Archbishop Anastasios they were overcome with joy, immediately forgetting the rigors of their long journey. They sang the Christmas songs in Greek and His Beatitude was pleased to sing along with them.  As a gift each child was delighted to receive an assortment of candies and a book with illustrations according to their age. At the end of their visit a picture was taken of the children together with His Beatitude.

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 The Orthodox youth of Tirana was the next group to visit.

“I can see the progress you have made in creating and keeping this tradition,” said His Beatitude. “Every thing we do should be beautiful and joyful. I would like to give each of you as a gift for Christmas the New Testament, which has just been published in the modern Albanian language. Also together with that you will receive the small New Year’s calendar of 2006, so that you may read the daily passage from the Epistle and Gospel readings, as they are read daily in the Morning Services of the Church. Every day we need to take in our material food; in the same way we also need our spiritual nourishment. These times in which you are living are difficult, but also beautiful times, and that is why we need direction, inspiration, and also strength. Before we start the new day we need to spend a little time in prayer and reading, and I can guarantee that you will surely feel the difference.

I wish, from the depth of my heart, that your lives may be filled with the Light of Christ who is the Sun of Righteousness. Let us keep this Light inside of us.”

With these words as a guiding light the youth left asking for the blessing of their Good Pastor.

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 Immediately afterwards, a group of small children arrived singing Christmas songs with His Beatitude waiting for them at the front door with a big smile. As they entered they started to sing the songs which they had prepared, creating a very beautiful and angelic atmosphere of Christmas.

Upon completing their songs His Beatitude asked the children and their leaders about their catechism lessons which take place every Saturday in the Church of the “Annunciation.”  Together the children explained how they had learned about the Lord Jesus and the new songs they memorized, while also describing the different games they played.

“You have learned a lot of things,” His Beatitude said to them, “and I’m sure that you will learn a lot more.  And what is most important is that you are learning about God and His Word.”

In the end, together with the blessing of His Beatitude every child received as a gift “The Bible for Children”—a book with illustrations and advise for reading the Bible, so that they may learn more about Christ and our faith.

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The final group to arrive was the Orthodox Women’s Group, which also came singing Christmas songs. On behalf of the many people who had been assisted by the Archbishop and many other Orthodox believers through the ministry of the women’s group, they gave the Archbishop many warm wishes and expressions of gratitude. They informed His Beatitude of the philanthropic work of the Church taking place in the hospitals, asylums, and prisons, which was spreading the love of God to the people there.

His Beatitude was pleased to hear about the work which was being done and promised that he would try to offer even more support according to his abilities.   He reminded the group that although we face many difficulties, we will strive to overcome them by putting our hope as always in God.

“Let us continue our work, because God has saved many good things for those who work with Him.”

 Isidor Koti
   Translated by Fr. Andon Merdani, Deacon Hector Firoglanis