Tirana, Albania, September 4, 2023
The Albanian Orthodox Church has had a number of unpleasant run-ins with the Patriarchate of Constantinople and its representatives in recent years, and especially just in the past month.
Despite the fact that the Church of Albania and its primate His Beatitude Archbishop Anastasios have historically been close with Constantinople and Patriarch Bartholomew, because they have raised their own voice on various issues lately, they have become targets of attack for propagandists whose faith centers on Constantinople.
Most recently, the Albanian Church issued a statement denouncing the false claims of Elias Damianakis, “Archon Maestor” of the Patriarchate of Constantinople. Although a talented iconographer, Damianakis is better known for his diatribes against anyone who is not 100% in agreement with any given Constantinople political action, which he often expresses through memes in which he quotes himself.
In this, Damianakis is much like Archimandrite Romanos (Anastasiadis), who recently attacked Abp. Anastasios for standing up for the persecuted hierarchs of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
Unsurprisingly, Damianakis took the usual tactic of accusing the Albanian Church of being under Russian influence.
The Albanian Church’s recent statement about Damianakis reads:
Essential Refutation
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 “Στῶμεν καλῶς, στῶμεν μετά φόβου”. 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. Within this article which refers to the interests of Russians to expend their influence within the Orthodox Church, he states “While the efforts of international oligarchs with vested interests have contributed to the rebuilding or restoration of over 250 churches (in Albania), their focus seems to lean more towards these endeavors rather than strictly adhering to Orthodox canonical principles”. As the context indicates the term “international oligarchs” implies Russians. This is a malicious and flagrant lie.
The Orthodox Church of Albania, in her official reports, has published the 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. Accusations of this kind are simply 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.
Issues between Constantinople and the Albanian Church began when the latter refused to recognize the former’s anti-canonical actions in Ukraine, instead remaining in communion with the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
The Albanian Church even authored two in-depth letters to Pat. Bartholomew, dismantling arguments in favor of the creation of the schismatic “Orthodox Church of Ukraine” (see here and here), for which Abp. Anastasios was verbally assaulted by hierarchs of the Church of Constantinople.
More recently, the Albanian Church vigorously protested Constantinople’s choice of bishop for its Albanian Diocese in America, noting that (now) Bishop Theophan (Koja) was in fact the instigator of a schism in the Albanian Church during the early years of its revival.
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