Albanian Church rejects Phanar’s accusations of supporting Russian propaganda

Members of the Holy Synod of the Albanian Church. Photo: wikipedia.org

On August 30, 2023, the Holy Synod of the Albanian Orthodox Church refuted allegations from Phanar-affiliated sources of supporting Russian propaganda, as reported on the official website of the Church of Albania.

The published statement reads: "Falsehoods are periodically presented to support the fictious mendacity that the Orthodox Autocephalous Church of Albania is ‘under the influence of the Russian Orthodox Church’. An article of this vein was recently published online in English and titled ‘Let us be good, let us be in fear of God’."

"The author of this article is Ilias Damianakis, a resident of the U.S.A. and an Archon of the Ecumenical Patriarchate as he himself notes," emphasized the Synod of the Albanian Church.

In one paragraph of his article, Damianakis claims that "international oligarchs" have contributed to the rebuilding or restoration of over 250 churches in Albania. Because of this, Damianakis writes, the Albanian Church has "to lean more towards these endeavours rather than strictly adhering to Orthodox canonical principles".

From the context of the text, the term "international oligarchs" implies Russian influence. The Albanian Church Synod stated that such claims are "a malicious and flagrant lie".

The Synod presents real facts: "During her reconstruction from the ruins, over 160 churches (large and small) have been built, 68 churches and monasteries that are designated as cultural monuments have been renovated and restored, and over 170 preexisting churches have been restored. None of these buildings are connected to ‘international oligarchs’ of Russian origin."

The Synod described such statements by the Phanar as "a fabrication to support the falsehood that the Church of Albania ‘finds herself within the funnel of Russian propaganda’".

"The Holy Synod of the Orthodox Autocephalous Church of Albania takes its decisions, always, with a constant concern for the unity of Orthodoxy and its convincing witness in the modern world," emphasized the Church of Albania.

As earlier reported, a Phanar-affiliated website published an offensive article about the head of the Albanian Church.

Following this, the Synod of the Church of Albania called on the Phanar to condemn the insults by its cleric, and later, the hierarch of Crete condemned his cleric who had offended the Archbishop of Albania.

However, the Phanar cleric who insulted the head of the Church of Albania refused to apologize.

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