Any conversation with Archbishop Anastasios of Albania is interesting and useful. The titanic efforts of the past 30 years to bring the Orthodox Church of Albania back from the abyss in challenging conditions made even harder by the (continued) fluctuations in the Greek-Albanian relationship have made him a wiser man than he was when he first set foot in the Balkan country, full of experience from his years as a missionary in East Africa.
Archbishop Anastasios is absolutely aware of where he is and what his role requires of him, yet he has never hesitated to raise his voice for the greater good in the face of adversity. At every level. I remember him intervening at several extremely difficult moments in Greek-Albanian relations to reconcile and assuage the nationalist passions on both sides.
Nevertheless, the blood flowing in his veins is Greek and this makes him especially sensitive to the plight of helpless elderly Greek Albanians struggling to survive the trials of the pandemic in the remote mountain villages of Albania’s south, without the support of the younger generation that has immigrated. With pensions of just 60 euros, they have to fork out 200 euros or more to be tested for the coronavirus at Albanian health centers with shaky reputations if they want to travel to Greece and seek medical treatment in Ioannina, Preveza, Kastoria or other cities near the border.
Archbishop Anastasios confessed to me that he metaphorically knocked on several doors in Athens asking for a temporary testing center to be set up on the Albanian-Greek border in order to help these elderly residents get the treatment they need, but “none has opened so far.” So, let’s just stop pretending: We are the ones emptying the villages of the Greek minority in Albania.
Source: Kathimerini
