Bilateral Dialogues: Rome 2009
Benedict XVI – Anastasios of Albania

Address of his holiness Benedict XVI to his beatitude Anastasios Archbishop of Tirana, Durres and all Albania

Vatican, 4 December 2009

Your Beatitude,

“Grace to you and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Thess 1:2). I am pleased to extend a fraternal welcome to Your Beatitude and to the other distinguished representatives of the Autocephalous Orthodox Church of Albania accompanying you today. I recall with gratitude, in spite of the sad circumstances, our meeting at the funeral of the late Pope John Paul II. I also remember with satisfaction how my same venerable Predecessor had the occasion to greet you in Tirana during his Apostolic Visit to Albania.

As is well known, Illyricum received the Gospel in Apostolic times (cf. Acts 17:1; Rom 15:19). Since then, Christ’s saving message has borne fruit in your country down to our own day. As the very earliest writings of your culture bear witness, through the survival of an ancient Latin baptismal formula along with a Byzantine hymn about the Lord’s Resurrection, the faith of our Christian forefathers left wonderful and indelible traces in the first lines of the history, literature and arts of your people.

Yet the most impressive witness is surely always found in life itself. During the latter half of the past century, the Christians in Albania, both Orthodox and Catholic, kept the faith alive there in spite of an extremely repressive and hostile atheistic regime; and, as is well known, many Christians paid cruelly for that faith with their lives. The fall of that regime has happily given way to the reconstruction of the Catholic and Orthodox communities in Albania. The missionary activity of Your Beatitude is recognized, particularly in the reconstruction of places of worship, the formation of the clergy and the catechetical work now being done, a movement of renewal which Your Beatitude has rightly described as Ngjallja (Resurrection).

Since it acquired its freedom, the Orthodox Church of Albania has been able to participate fruitfully in the international theological dialogue between Catholics and Orthodox. Your commitment in this regard happily mirrors the fraternal relations between Catholics and Orthodox in your country and offers inspiration to the entire Albanian people, demonstrating how it is possible for fellow Christians to live in harmony.

In this light, we would do well to emphasize the elements of faith which our Churches share: a common profession of the Nicene–Constantinopolitan creed; a common baptism for the remission of sins and for incorporation into Christ and the Church; the legacy of the first Ecumenical Councils; the real if imperfect communion which we already share, and the common desire and collaborative efforts to build upon what already exists. I am reminded here of two important initiatives in Albania, the establishment of the Interconfessional Biblical Society and the creation of the Committee for Interreligious Relations. These are timely efforts to promote mutual understanding and tangible cooperation, not only between Catholics and Orthodox, but also among Christians, Muslims and Bektashi.

I rejoice with Your Beatitude and with all the Albanian people in this spiritual renewal. At the same time, it is with gratitude to Almighty God that I reflect on your own service to your country and on your personal contribution to fostering fraternal relations with the Catholic Church. Be assured that we, for our part, will do all that we can to offer a common witness of brotherhood and peace, and to pursue with you a renewed commitment to the unity of our Churches in obedience to the New Commandment of our Lord.

Your Beatitude, it is in this spirit of communion that I am pleased to welcome you to the city of the Apostles Peter and Paul.

Adress of his beatitude Anastasios

Your Holiness Benedict, Pope of Rome,

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. By his great mercy we have been born anew to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” (1 Pt 1:3). Today is a historic day for the Autocephalous Orthodox Church of Albania It is the first time that an official delegation from our Church has visited the Church of Rome and has the honour and joy of personal communication with Your Holiness; Whom we know as a profound thinker, an outstanding theologian, defender of peace and justice, a champion of solidarity between peoples and a creative ecclesiastical leader.

In the 20th century, the Autocephalous Orthodox Church of Albania was subjected to one of the most terrible persecutions. From 1944 until 1967, this took the familiar form of the pressures that all the Churches in Eastern Europe suffered. But from 1967 until 1990, the Church in Albania was literally brought to “the gates of Hell”. The Constitution banned all religious expression and, together with relentless persecution, brought about the Church's complete dissolution.

By the grace and power of God, our Church has been built afresh, and has brought together all the Orthodox Christians in Albania, irrespective of ethnic background. She has grown systematically: by fostering the liturgical life, preaching, catechism and the translation and publication of Christian literature; by training and ordaining more than 140 Albanian cler-gymen; by the construction of 145 new churches; by the restoration of 70 more and the repair of another 160 churches and ecclesiastical centres; and, above all, by intense efforts to bring the younger generation to Christ. At the same time, she is making an active contribution to the progress of Albanian society, with significant initiatives in the areas of health, education, social welfare, agricultural development and culture. (...)

We entirely share the emphasis You placed in Your first Encyclical Letter Deus caritas est on the fact that "everything has its origins in God's love, everything is shaped by it, everything is directed towards it" - And also the declaration in Your last Encyclical Letter Caritas in Veritate, that "God gives us the strength to fight and to suffer for love of the common good, because He is our All, our greatest hope". Certainly, the outstanding mission and responsibility of every local Church is to offer love, thus linking people to the source of love. No other social structure or institution is in a position to replace it. “Speaking the truth in love” we are called to “grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ” (Eph4:15).

Let us not be troubled over the future. Because we see that the future belongs to Christ. That He is the One, "who is and whe was and who is to come, the Almighty" (Rev 1:8). And He is coming again; from the future!

We know, Your Holiness, that, throughout Your long academic and ecclesiastical service, You have supported, as You still do, faith in this unique assurance, with Your profound thought, Your unfailing generosity of spirit, Your prophetic foresight. From the Church in Albania, which has suffered so much, please accept our warm thanks for the honour of today's audience, our cordial and sincere best wishes.

From the bottom of our hearts we entreat that the Lord God, through the prayers of the All-Holy Theotokos, guides the thoughts and actions of Your Holiness, so that You may, though Your life and work, radiate the light of Christ onto the contemporary world, which is thirsting for love, peace and hope. May Your works be abundant and gloriously bountiful!