Head of the Albanian Church: Filaret under anathema could not ordain

Primate of the Albanian Orthodox Church, Archbishop Anastasios of Tirana and All Albania. Photo: vzcz.church.ua

On January 29, 2020, during a meeting with the clergy and laity of the UOC, the Primate of the Albanian Orthodox Church, Archbishop Anastasios of Tirana and All Albania, spoke about his attitude to the "Honorary Patriarch" Filaret Denisenko, reports the Greek outlet “Romfea”.

In particular, Archbishop Anastasios said that he has known Denisenko for a long time: “We are about the same age as Bishop Filaret. I have known him since he was a member of the World Council of Churches and represented the Russian Church.”

The Primate of the Albanian Orthodox Church recalled that "when a person puts himself first and only then puts Christ, this leads to great tragedies".

Archbishop Anastasios emphasized that “from the moment Filaret was excommunicated and anathematized, he could not perform ordinations”.

In his opinion, “sacraments are not what we do personally (from ourselves – Ed.) but what we do when we represent the Church. You can’t say that the Holy Spirit comes when you yourself left Him a long time ago".

For this reason, the head of the Church of Albania said, "we remained in the position that you know and did not recognize (the OCU – Ed.)."

As reported earlier the Primate of the Albanian Orthodox Church, Archbishop Anastasios of Tirana and All Albania spoke about his attitude to the religious situation in Ukraine.

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