Archbishop Anastasios, an ecumenical movement leader credited with helping to revitalize the Orthodox Church in Muslim-majority Albania, has died at the age of 95.
Archbishop Anastasios died in Athens, Greece on Saturday, reported La Croix International, having been hospitalized in the city earlier this month due to what was described as a “seasonal virus.”
“Albania today mourns the loss of his beatitude, the Archbishop of Tirana, Durrës, and All Albania,” said Albanian President Bajram Begaj, as reported by Reuters.
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“[His] dedication, and love for the people, contributed to its strengthening and paving a new path for the Albanian Orthodox faith, especially following a challenging period.”
Born Anastasios Yannoulatos in 1929 in Piraeus, Greece, Anastasios became head of the Albanian Orthodox Church in 1992, shortly after it was relegalized after the fall of communism.
During his over 30 years in church office, Anastasios was credited with reopening around 400 parishes and expanding the church’s involvement in charitable efforts, reported La Croix.
The archbishop has also been involved in ecumenical efforts, going at least as far back as the World Conference on Mission and Evangelism held in Mexico City, Mexico, in 1961.
World Council of Churches Acting General Secretary Ioan Sauca sent the archbishop a letter in 2022 congratulating him on marking 30 years as head of the Albanian Church.
“We join our Orthodox sisters and brothers in Albania and all around the word, and we give thanks for You, Beatitude, as you celebrate this year thirty years of both struggle and joy, despair and hope, tribulations and great achievements in leading the Church of Christ in Albania,” wrote Sauca.
“We give thanks to God, Beatitude, for all your efforts during three decades to bring the Orthodox Church of Albania from darkness to the light of Christ; from death to resurrection in Christ; from total destruction to an exemplary growth in Christ.”
Anastasios was hospitalized in Tirana, Albania, in December with a viral illness. He had previously been hospitalized in November 2020 for two weeks with COVID-19.
Earlier this month, the archbishop was transferred from Tirana to Evangelismos Hospital in Athens, where he received multiple prominent guests, among them Archbishop Ieronymos of Athens and all Greece; Kyriakos Pierrakakis, Greece’s minister of education and religious affairs; and Sokratis Famellos, leader of the Greek left-wing political party Syriza.
“The purpose of our visit was to receive updates on the Archbishop’s health, express our love, and share our hope for his recovery. We also wanted to extend our support to the medical and healthcare staff,” Famellos said, according to The Orthodox Times.
