The Veneration of Saint Asteios (Asti) in Albania

The Church of Durrës (ancient Dyrrachium), one of the most important Churches in Albania, was founded by Paul the Apostle, although an ancient tradition says that the first to pass through was Saint James, on his way to Spain. Near Durrës, where the town of Shijak (Saint James) now stands, there was a large cathedral dedicated to Saint James, just beyond the hill, where according to tradition he had given his first sermon. According to old documents, in 58 AD, the Church of Dyrrachium had about 70 Christian families.

The 11th Century Chapel of Saint Anna, known as "Panagiopoula", in Northern Epirus

At the foot of Mali i Gjerë, or Platyvouniou, at the exact location southwest of the Byzantine settlement of Koukoulia, there is a remarkable chapel dedicated to Saint Anna, the mother of the Theotokos.

A Byzantine structure unknown to many, dominates intact within the other ruins of the ancient Greek and later Byzantine village, since the beginning of the 11th century AD.

This particular Christian church was for many years - according to the testimonies of locals - the main church and the ossuary of this city. Its construction is different from the well-known Byzantine, with the direction of the sanctuary facing the South. There is also a small vault with porphyry and plinth above the interior door, which can be compared to relatively early Byzantine Christian monuments.

Photo of the Relics of Saint Kosmas the Aitolos from the Archdiocese of Tirana

The relics of St. Kosmas the Aitolos rest in a simple wooden coffin in the Archdiocese of Tirana for security reasons. The skull was stolen by Austrian-Hungarians in 1917 and is likely located in a museum in Vienna. Other portions of his relics are in Orthodox shrines throughout the world.

 

The Tomb and Relics of St. Kosmas the Aitolos 

 

 

Churches in Albania: 150 Built from Scratch, 70 Restored and 160 Preserved

 

By Fr. Elias Makos

From the moment that the Archbishop of Albania, Anastasios, took over the responsibility of the Orthodox Church of Albania, until today, for about three decades, 150 new churches have been erected, 70 churches-monuments have been restored, while 160 have been repaired.

Moreover, more than 70 large buildings were erected or purchased and reconstructed, to house metropolis buildings, schools, nurseries, hostels, laboratories, clinics, youth centers, etc.

The whole construction project amounts to 450 buildings.

Ruined 15th Century Byzantine Church in Albania is Restored

By Fr. Elias Makos

The Byzantine Church of the Holy Trinity in the Opar area of ​​Korce, at the exit of the village of Agia Triada, at the peak, apart from being an architectural ornament, is also a typical example of the reconstruction of the Church of Albania from 1991 onwards.

A building of the 15th century, from the decay of time and abandonment in the years of communism, it had collapsed to a great extent.

It was literally in ruins. The perimeter walls and the roof were damaged, with the result that whole parts of its original form had collapsed to the ground.

As with other monuments, Archbishop Anastasios secured money and the church was restored.

Vespers in the Ruins of a Church Dedicated to the Virgin Mary in a Deserted Albanian Village

17 kilometers from Berat in Albania, on the outskirts of Mount Tomor, in the uninhabited village of Melisova, there is a ruined church dedicated to the Nativity of the Theotokos, where yesterday evening, for the Leavetaking of the feast of the Nativity of the Theotokos, a priest and three laymen celebrated Great Vespers.

Saint Neilos Erichiotis, also known as the Sanctified (+ 1334)

St. Neilos the Sanctified (Feast Day - January 2)

Venerable Neilos Erichiotis, also known as Neilos the Sanctified, was born in 1228 in Constantinople and was a descendant of the imperial family of Laskaris. He became a monk at a very young age at the famous Monastery of Akimiton, where he changed his name from Nicholas to Neilos upon tonsure. Many years later he went on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem.

From Saint Kosmas to Anastasios of Albania

Maximos Harakopoulos

August 31, 2014

Romfea.gr

United the congregation responds to the call of the Deacon and they say with one voice the "Our Father" in Albanian.

To my mind come the words of the Regional of Epirus, Alekos Kachrimanis, along the journey from Ioannina, Greece to Kolikontasi, Albania where the Monastery with the grave of Kosmas the Aitolos is.

In 1991, when Archbishop Anastasios liturgized for the first time as Patriarchal Exarch in Albania, with the mission of resurrecting the Albanian Church from the ashes, many Albanians were sitting cross-legged in the pews smoking and chatting.

The Honoring of St. Kosmas is an Old Tradition for Albanians

The 19th century fresco of Saint Kosmas in the monastery dedicated to him.

After attacking Archbishop Anastasios, after attacking the people that work for the Orthodox Autocephalous Church of Albania, after spreading all sorts of slander and lies about the Orthodox canons and statutes, after defaming the history of faith, it is now the turn of our saints. Specifically, most recently the articles that have appeared in certain media, in which they speak evil about one of the most revered saints among the Albanians and beyond – St. Kosmas (martyred in 1779).

Albanian Officials Order Seizure of Church in Permet

On August 16th, the day after the feast of the Dormition of the Theotokos, government officials in Permet, Albania violently seized and looted the Church of the Entrance of the Theotokos into the Temple, and prevented worshipers from entering.

The church has existed there since the early 17th century. In the 1960's communists turned the church into a cultural center. The Supreme Court of Albania ruled in 1996 that the building belongs to the Orthodox Church, and liturgical services resumed and have continued there since.

Yesterday, from the Cathedral of the Resurrection in Tirana, Archbishop Anastasios was particularly critical of what happened in Permet. Among other things, he said: "We are reliving the nightmare of 1967 when the communist party thought they could uproot forever the religious faith of the Albanian people," and he added, "We cannot allow the desecration of our churches in the 21st century, in this Europe of freedom and human rights." Archbishop Anastasios also made the following comment: "If one of us Orthodox took a Koran from a Mosque and threw it on a truck, would there not would be a revolution? Justifiably! But then they say to us why are we complaining? Of course we are protesting." The Archbishop also stated: "We do not know the details of who is behind this, but it is a great insult." And he wondered: "Who are those who want to bring us back in time?" (The video of this sermon can be seen here.)

A Greek report on what happened can be seen here. Metropolitan Kosmas of Aitolia calls this "an insult to Orthodoxy and Greece," in an effort to encourage Greece to get involved in this issue.

Below are videos of what took place together with an official declaration by the Orthodox clergy and photos.

OFFICIAL DECLARATION

From the Clergy of the Holy Metropolis of Gjirokaster

Today in Permet the Orthodox Community witnessed the most brutal violation of the very notion of democracy or human rights; in particular the right to religious freedom as sanctioned by the Constitution, as well as violation of the most basic conditions that must be guaranteed within the framework of a state that ensures equal rights.

This morning, Friday, August 16, 2013, while all the Orthodox Community continued to observe the great feastday, the Dormition of the All-holy Virgin Mary – often called “the Summer Pascha”, paramilitary groups (with the aid of municipal employees and the silent support of municipal authorities) inflicted many forms of violence on the clergy and faithful of Permet, on the pretext that they were responding to a judicial issue.

Our entire Church stands behind the faithful of the “Entrance of the All-holy Virgin Mary into the Temple” parish in protest today because:

- the clergy of this city were beaten barbarically.

- the faithful were violently prevented from entering their church in order to carry out the duties of their faith.

- many church articles were stolen on the pretext of executing a judicial decision which had not been implemented in the proscribed time frame.

- grave sacrileges were committed as those who forcefully entered the church handled sacred church items (icons, sacred vessels used for worship, etc).

Those in power that speculate different legal procedures in fact aim at the violent removal of the faithful from their place of worship. The State, on the other hand, has ratified the Agreement between the Council of Ministers and the Orthodox Autocephalous Church of Albania with specific laws, where particular priority is given to securing the freedom of the Church to use its holy places for worship purposes.

We raise our voices in protest and at the same time declare that we are determined to continue our efforts, with whatever means and methods possible, that our right to the property and free use of the parish church, “Entrance of the All-holy Virgin Mary into the Temple”, be completely secured.

These dark forces which have committed today’s violent acts are without any control of a state of law and the spirit of tolerance and social cohesion. We demand that they receive the rightful punishment set forth by the Law.

An Atheist's First Easter

By Niko Ago

Coincidentally, the first time I came to Greece in 1992, it was the week after Easter. It must have been Thursday. The "odyssey" of my trip was about to end, and Kalambaka was a temporary stop before Thessaloniki, initially, with a final destination in Drama. Arriving at the foot of Meteora, and after a week hiking with a backpack, there were left only memories of food and an empty Coke bottle. Hunger, fatigue and insomnia claimed equally the total dedication of my mind, with final triumph being the first.

Bravely and with the little Greek I knew, like an "old" immigrant, my older brother and I approached the first house we encountered. Soon we emerged with two bags of Easter dishes. It would be inaccurate if I did not speak of the great surprise that I tasted. Even if that hunger did not provide the luxury of a traditional and historical approach to food, some things left you anything other than indifferent. The colored eggs, however, were a special surprise. It was at such a level, that at one point I wondered if the chickens on this side of the border laid them completely red. The vision of the pears and other summer fruits in the heart of Spring, were both majestic and hearty. If you think about the fact that in the village we waited till August to try them, being without the importing of "capitalist products", there is no explanation.

From 1969, when Enver Hoxha proclaimed Albania an atheistic land, tearing down religious churches as "medieval ruins", and imprisoning or humiliating religious workers of all faiths, as "instruments of the enemies of the revolution" - by implication he abolished religious celebrations and abolished traditions. The few who insisted on remembering them did so silently, risking imprisonment even if "the party" found shells of colored eggs in the garbage. Others were convinced by Marxism that "religion is the opium of the people". For a better understanding, even Hoxha stated that "if there is a God, let him come down and punish me". And since nothing happened in the hall, he became believable to many.

Even though no one spoke to us about the religious custom, and it was hunger that "introduced" us to her, this can be described as the first Easter of an atheist, who would later learn that faith for people is a fundamental right. It is an expression of freedom and must be recognized for everyone, regardless of ideology, origin, or color.

Niko Ago is an Albanian and has worked for many years as a journalist in Greece. He now lives in Sweden.

Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos

The Tomb and Relics of St. Kosmas Aitolos

By John Sanidopoulos

In the Albanian village of Kolikontasi of Great Mouzakia in Northern Epirus, in the historical Church of the Entrance of the Theotokos, lies the tomb of St. Kosmas Aitolos, the Equal to the Apostles. Today the Monastery surrounding the church goes by the name of St. Kosmas.

The Monastery of Saint Kosmas Aitolos was built between August 1813 and June 1814 by Ali Pasha of Tepelena when he acquired the Pashalik of Berat. When Ali Pasha entered Berat he remembered Fr. Kosmas, who was martyred there, and invited Metropolitan Ioasaph II of Berat to build a Monastery in the Saint's name and transfer his relics there, because he considered him to be a true man of God.

The relics of St. Kosmas rest in the Archdiocese in Tirana for security reasons. They rest in a simple wooden coffin. The skull was stolen in 1917 by Austria-Hungarians and likely rest today in a museum in Vienna. The lower jaw is in the Monastery of Saint Nicholas in Andros. His right hand rests in the Church of Saint Kosmas in Konitsi. Also, portions of relics of his fingers and toes rest in many places, such as Ioannina, the Monastery of Dousikou, and other places. Portions of his relics were also given by Archbishop Anastasios of Albania to the Church of Greece, which rest in the Metropolitan Cathedral of Athens. Another portion is in the Monastery of Saint Kosmas in Aitoloakarnania.

In 1984 Professors Panagiotis Christopoulos and P.B. Paschou visited the area by special permission of the Albanian regime, and brought publicity to the shrine.

As for how the Monastery survived the atheistic regime of Enver Hoxha, Christos Mitros from the city of Fieri, Albania has revealed the following, after his baptism as an Orthodox Christian:

"When in 1968 the law of the Albanian state prohibited any religious event, there came an order from Tirana to destroy the churches and for the crosses to disappear from the Christian graves. The Fieri police commander took with him a competent crew and went to the Monastery to destroy it. Knowing the devotion of the Greeks to St. Kosmas, he instructed to begin the work by demolishing first the tomb of the Saint. When workers gave the first blow to the church monument, then a loud roar broke the stillness of the area and a strong fire sprang from the grave of the Saint. Terrified bystanders fled and did not return despite threats coming from Tirana and despite the reassuring statement of the commander that supposedly a forgotten World War 2 bomb exploded. Therefore they did not desecrate the tomb of St. Kosmas and the grace-filled relics remained there as a balm on the wounds of Christians and the hope that the 'the desirable will come'" (Archimandrite Timothy Iliaki, The Supplication Canon to Saint Kosmas the Aetolian, New Philadelphia 1997, p. 61).

Read also: Προσκύνημα στον Tάφο του Αγίου Πατροκοσμά του Αιτωλού

 

 

 

 

Video: The Consecration of the Cathedral of the Resurrection in Tirana

Read about the consecration at this link: Cathedral of the Resurrection in Tirana Consecrated

Cathedral of the Resurrection in Tirana Consecrated

The third largest Orthodox church in Europe was consecrated today, 24 June 2012, in Tirana, Albania, after 8 years of construction and an investment of millions of euros. The consecration of the Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ was attended by many political and religious figures, including Archbishop Anastasios of Tirana, Durres, and All Albania, President Bamir Topi, Prime Minister Sali Berisha, opposition leader Edi Rama, representatives from the Ecumenical Patriarchate, Archbishop Demetrios of America, the leader of the Albanian Archdiocese of Boston, and a large number of clergy and laity.

The Cathedral is in the central square of Tirana and was added to existing buildings which belong to three historical periods: the Turkish occupation by the Mosque of Etem Beu (1794) and the clock tower (1822); the "Italian" decade of the 1930's-40's which are the Town Hall and the other ministry buildings; and the Communist period from which came the operas, the national museum, the central bank, etc.

Thus the clock tower, which measures at 35 meters and is a registered trademark of Tirana, will not be alone anymore, as a few meters south will stand the bell tower of the Cathedral at 46 meters.

The land area is about five thousand square meters, and the church itself occupies 1660 square meters. This consecration coincided with the 20th anniversary of Anastasios of Tirana as Archbishop in Albania.

The complex, besides many works in marble, is divided into several parts. The ancient church in the northwest corner is dedicated to the Birth of Christ, then to the east side is the seat of the Holy Synod, while inside the premises has a cultural and conference center, amphitheater and library. 

 

Monastery of Saint Marina Atop Mt. Langa in Albania

Atop Mt. Langa in Albania overlooking Lake Ochrid, there is a monastery dedicated to St. Marina with a portion of her miraculous relics. Countless miracles have occurred and still occur in this monastery, whose witnesses are not only Christians but many Muslims as well. So much did the Turks have respect for this holy place that they never dared disturb either this holy place or the property of this monastery. At one time a Turk was the guardian of the monastery.

At Easter, Albanians Recall ‘Dark’ Communist Past

Orthodox Christian and Muslim shepherds share an Easter meal in front of the house of shephard Anastas Karaj in the village of Selta in central Albania. Easter bread, fresh olives, puff pastry and goat meat are all part of the traditional Easter meal.

Eckehard Pistrick
April 6, 2012
The Washington Times

On Easter in the small mountain village of Selta in central Albania, the Orthodox Christian villagers will don their Sunday best.

They will pick a goat to slaughter, bake traditional Easter bread and make the ultrathin sugar-soaked Baklava pastry for their traditional feast, never complete without glasses of homemade brandy.

As locals welcome Easter, they say they can’t help remembering the country’s “dark” communist past where religion was banned and even an Easter egg could land you in jail.

“It was a depressing time,” said Anastas Karaj, 60, a shepherd from the village.

“Everything religious was banned, and you could only celebrate secretly at home. If you were caught, you could end up in prison or labor camp. And if government informants found pieces of painted eggshells on your compost heap, they could take you away.”

In 1967, dictator Enver Hoxha proudly proclaimed “Europe’s first atheist country.” During his 41-year Stalinist regime, more than 1,600 churches and monasteries were destroyed. Priests were kidnapped and sometimes murdered.

After he died in 1985, there was a slow revival of religion that included the construction of churches and mosques, said Armanda Kodra-Hysa, an ethnographer at the Institute for Cultural Anthropology at the Albanian Academy of Sciences in Tirana.

“In the early 1990s, there was a true missionary wave of Baptists, Mormons, Evangelicals, Jehovah’s Witnesses and Seventh Day Adventists,” she said.

“Religion was generally booming, even among the established religions [of Islam and the Orthodox and Catholic churches]. There was almost a competition over which religion was able to mobilize the majority of believers.”

Still, in Albania, which is officially 70 percent Muslim and 30 percent Christian, religion has a growing significance only to a point, analysts say.

“A lot of people in Albania claim a religious affiliation or origin, but this often has limited role in the everyday life of the majority,” said Dimitris Dalakoglou, an anthropologist at Britain’s University of Sussex who specializes in the Albania.

Ms. Kodra-Hysa added that practicing believers are still a minority.

“It was especially the young who felt magically drawn to religion from atheism,” she said.

The Orthodox Church of Albania has no money for the small village churches, leaving the upkeep to volunteers.

Residents of Selta recently put a roof on the village's tiny church, which lacked one for two decades. The church has no electricity, but villagers glue candles into cracks in the walls to provide light.

The church is lovingly used. During Easter services, women clad in white headscarves sing hymns during services, even if many don’t know the words.

Mr. Karaj said Easter is a time to celebrate and his close friend Arif Hoxhollari from the neighboring Muslim village will come over to dine, to drink and sing.

The two are inseparable, working the summer pastures together as shepherds.

Although Mr. Karaj is Christian and Mr. Hoxhollari is Muslim, they say their religious differences do not matter. They visit each other on religious holidays and weddings.

“Luckily, in the whole country, the relations between religions, between Muslims and Christians are fairly peaceful and people understand and respect each others’ faith,” said Mr. Karaj. “I have married my two daughters to Muslims. It doesn’t bother us.”

Mr. Hoxhollari added, “In the olden days, we only used to marry among our own kind: They didn’t get our women, and they didn’t give us theirs. Never!

“But for the last 20 years, we’ve had good relations. We slaughter our animals for our feasts. We come together and celebrate as a family. This is also a kind of liberation.”

Just before Easter, Mr. Karaj strolled through his village. In the distance, the rattling clang of the old, broken village bell rang out.

In communist times, even the bell was misused, ringing early in the morning as a collective wake-up call to summon villagers to work.

On Sunday, it will ring to bring villagers together to celebrate the rebirth of Christ.

See also: Easter in Albania Photo Gallery

Saranda: An Albanian City Dedicated To the Forty Martyrs

Saranda or Sarandë is the capital of the District of Sarandë, Albania, and is one of the most important tourist attractions of the Albanian Riviera. It is situated on an open sea gulf of the Ionian Sea in the Mediterranean 2 nautical miles from the Greek island of Corfu. The city of Saranda has a population of about 30,000 (2001 estimate). Alongside its ethnic Albanian majority, Sarandë is home to an ethnic Greek minority and is considered one of the centers of the Greek minority in Albania.

Sarandë's current name derives from the name of the Byzantine Monastery of the Agioi Saranda (Greek: Άγιοι Σαράντα), meaning the "Forty Saints" and honoring the Forty Martyrs of Sebastea. Under Turkish rule, this became Aya Sarandi and then Sarandoz. Owing to Venetian influence in the region, it often appeared under its Italian name Santi Quaranta on western maps. This usage continued even after the establishment of the Principality of Albania, owing to the first Italian occupation of the region. During the second occupation in World War II, Benito Mussolini changed the name to Porto Edda, in honor of his eldest daughter. Following the restoration of Albanian independence, the city employed its Albanian name Saranda.

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The Church of the Forty Martyrs

On the hill above Saranda, affording a magnificent panorama, is located the extraordinary Church of the Forty Martyrs. The hill has views down over the bay of Saranda and along the Ksamili peninsula to Butrint, and there are equally breathtaking views inland to Phoenicê and the mountains range beyond.

The church was built in late antiquity, in the late 5th or early 6th century, probably by a Holy Man, and designed to be an important place of pilgrimage. The site was first investigated in the 1920s by the Italian Archaeological Mission; sadly, it was bombed by Allied or German forces during the Second World War, and probably dynamited for use as an Albanian military area in the late 1950s, hence only a fraction of the monument now remains.

The Church of the Forty Martyrs was a large 40-metre long church with an extraordinary ground plan: a large eastern apse and three wide apsidal bays opening off the nave on each side. Great round-headed windows, five to each bay, lit the interior. This was a sophisticated building, roofed with a series of domes and semi-domes. On the north and west-facing exterior walls of the basilica still survives the votive inscriptions fashioned of red tiles set into the masonry, recording the names of founding benefactors – both male and female – who contributed to the cost of the construction.

In a later phase an outer narthex was added, designed to be prominent to seafarers passing through the Ionian Sea north of Corfu and, specifically, to those in Saranda below. Further, the interior walls were redecorated throughout. In particular, within the multi-chambered subterranean chapels of the crypt recent conservation has revealed elaborate painted programmes, including an episode in which Christ pulls at the beard of a nimbed saint. This second phase of decoration probably belongs to the later 9th or 10th centuries.


The main relic chambers, reached by narrow passages, lay on the south side at the end of a long vaulted hall. Traces of a line of saints and a painted cross were discovered around the two fenestellae beyond which the relics were located. A modest bath-house to the north was probably where pilgrims would have bathed before visiting the relics.

The unusual plan of the basilica is paralleled in late antique multi-apsed triclinia, such as the banqueting hall of the Palace of Lausos in Constantinople, and some related features are found in early Christian martyria. However, as a church this building is unique, designed to enshrine and promote the relics of widely venerated saints. In the age of Justinian in the 6th century it must have been one of the most visually striking pilgrimage basilicas in the central Mediterranean.

Entry to the church can only be gained by contacting the Institute of Monuments either in Saranda or Tirana.

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An Orthodox View of Contemporary Economics, Politics, and Culture

In 1967, following two decades of progressively harsher persecution of religion under communist rule, Albanian dictator Enver Hoxha triumphantly declared his nation to be the first atheist state in history. Hoxha, inspired by China's Cultural revolution, proceeded to confiscate mosques, churches, monasteries, and shrines. Many were immediately razed, others turned into machine shops, warehouses, stables, and movie theaters. Parents were forbidden to give their children religious names. Anyone caught with bibles, icons, or religious objects faced long prison sentences. In the south, where the ethnic Greek population was concentrated, villages named after saints were given secular names. For the religious, a long nightmare of persecution and martyrdom was to follow.

Hoxha's campaign destroyed life and property, but could not kill the spirit. The government eased its official policy of religious persecution in the late 1980s and finally lifted the ban on faith observances in December 1990. Today, Albania's religious roots are being watered again. The Muslim majority (about seventy percent of the population) is rebuilding its institutions, as are the Orthodox Christian and Roman Catholic minorities.

In 1991, into this milieu of despair and destruction, came Anastasios, the newly appointed Archbishop of Tirana and all Albania. Anastasios, a former dean of theology at the University of Athens and an expert on world religions, set to work heroically rebuilding the Orthodox Church. According to one count, 1,608 Orthodox churches and monasteries were destroyed during the communist persecution.

In Albania, Anastasios turned the Marxist program upside down; he focused not on the state, but the person.

"The secret of substantive change, the guarantee of change, and the dynamic through which change occurs all lie hidden within the process of restoring and purifying the human person," he says.

Anastasios' ecumenical vision for social change, seen through the lens of Orthodox theology, has been admirably captured in a new collection of essays from St. Vladimir's Seminary Press titled Facing the World: Orthodox Christian Essays on Global Concerns. The essays, published during a period of 30 years, touch on topics such as human rights, Islam, globalization, and Church and culture. The book serves as an excellent introduction to the Orthodox mindset, and its interpretation of divine life and worldly affairs through scripture, holy tradition, and a trusty reliance on Greek patristics.

Anastasios' understanding of social and political events is, of course, characteristically rooted in the miracle of Easter. While not denying that it was the cross that reconciled humanity with God, Anastasios points out that in Orthodox Christianity the "emphasis on the Resurrection is the crucial element in the Christian ethos of the east; it pervades every thought and action, intensifies faith in miracles, and deepens the certainty that every impasse in human life will ultimately be overcome."

And what better place to hope for miracles than in Albania?

Laboratories of Love

In the essay "Orthodoxy and Human Rights," Anastasios takes a critical view of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the United Nations in 1948, and the later development of these declarations into exhaustive lists of economic, social, and political rights. Anastasios makes an important distinction between rights declarations, and their enforcement through legal and political forms of coercion, and Christianity's preferred method of persuasion and faith. "Declarations basically stress outward compliance," he says, "while the gospel insists on inner acceptance, on spiritual rebirth, and on transformation."

Anastasios reminds us of Christianity's contribution to the development of political liberty. "Human rights documents," he says, "presuppose the Christian legacy, which is not only a system of thought and a worldview that took shape through the contributions of the Christian and Greek spirit, but also a tradition of self-criticism and repentance." Those words should be hung from banners everywhere new constitutions and declarations are being drafted.

Anastasios rightly discerns the secularizing motive and thrust behind much of what passes for human rights activism these days. He points out that a predominant ideology behind these declarations advances the "simplistic" view that people are radically autonomous beings, capable of advancing on their own innate abilities. This strict reliance on logic, the "deification of rationality," is but a short step to the logical denial of faith in a living God. Anastasios asks: Are human rights simply and merely an outcome of human rationality, or are they innate to the human personality?

"Rights declarations are incapable of inducing anyone of implementing their declarations voluntarily," he concludes. "The hypocritical manner in which the question of human rights has been handled internationally is the most cynical irony of our century."

Anastasios' solution to the problem of human rights is thoroughly Orthodox: "The power and means for promoting worldwide equality and brotherhood lie not in waging crusades but in freely accepting the cross." He urges a radically personal solution, one that takes as its model the saint, the martyr, and the ascetic. Here Anastasios draws on the traditional Orthodox understanding of freedom, which is ordered and tempered by ascetical practice, self-control, and placing limits on material desires. Churches are to become "laboratories of selfless love," places where the Kingdom of God is manifest on earth. "Our most important right is our right to realize our deepest nature and become ‘children of God' through grace," he says.

Lest this approach be interpreted as a justification of passiveness and quietism, Anastasios also urges Christians to exercise their ethical conscience in the world. "Christians must be vigilant, striving to make the legal and political structure of their society ever more comprehensive through constant reform and reassessment," he says.

Globalization and the Church Fathers

In his essay on "Culture and Gospel," Anastasios reminds us of Christianity's emphasis on the "immeasurable importance of the human person and personal freedom." At the same time, he rightly warns of an interpretation of life that sees everything from a material, economic perspective. This tension between personal freedom and a distrust of the exclusively economic view carries over into his essay on "Globalization and Religious Experience." Here, unfortunately, he falls into an interpretation of economics and trade as functions of, as he puts it, "several hundreds of multinational corporations with power over the worldwide production and distribution of goods and information." He claims that the disparities between the "privileged" and the "deprived" are growing wider everywhere and cites one writer who claims that "only 20 percent of the population derives any benefit from free commerce."

Anastasios' distrust of economic globalization puts him at odds with the experience of Orthodox cultures - indeed back to the Byzantine era - which were always energetic traders. Indeed, one the biggest factors in the globalization of trade in the twentieth century was the remarkable growth of Greek merchant shipping on a global scale. Still, it is not wealth itself that Anastasios condemns, but what he perceives as powerful and rapacious economic powers that hoard it and consume it. In this, his outlook is entirely consistent with the views of wealth and poverty formulated by the Greek fathers.

In "The Dynamic of Universal and Continuous Change," Anastasios cites numerous Patristic sources to show that wealth is best understood in the context of stewardship. "If you exceed what is reasonable in wealth, you fall short to the same degree in love," said Basil the Great. And St. John Chrysostom: "Failing to give the poor some of what we possess is the same as robbing them and depriving them of life; for the things we are withholding belong to them, not to us." Greed is the culprit. And that is a vice even the poor can succumb to. "Many of the poor, who lack material wealth, happen nevertheless to have extremely greedy intentions," Chrysostom said. "The fact that they are poor does not save them, for they are condemned by their intentions."

Anastasios' cure for the ills of secular human rights movement-a personal dedication to living out the Gospel-is really the only cure for the world's economic evils or for that matter any other social ill. The root problem is selfishness, that pervasive evil. Such a solution may seem naïve or simplistic to the secular minded. And even the religious would not go so far as to put the lawful regulation of society on the honor system. Yet, outside of coercion and control, what else has ever worked?

Anastasios points out that spontaneous, brotherly love is Christianity's quintessential message:

"We have a duty to live out conscientiously the mystery of our faith - at the heart of which lies the rediscovery of the one, universal and divine koinonia - so that we can offer, without seeking anything in return or any worldly reward, the kind of genuine love that reveals the life of the Trinitarian God."

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St. Kosmas Aitolos and the Church of St. Spyridon in Vuno, Albania

The village of Vuno in southern Albania is situated in the hills, ascending to about 300 meters (980 ft), which is why it likely derives its name from the Greek word vouno, which means "mountain". It has many churches scattered throughout the village.

St. Kosmas Aitolos, the Equal to the Apostles, came to this village in 1778 to teach Orthodox Christianity to the people, establish a church which would unite the scattered Orthodox Christians, and build a school for their education. It was the wish of the Saint to have this church dedicated to St. Spyridon the Wonderworker, and for all the Christians to gather here every Sunday for the Divine Liturgy. Following this proposal, the people complained to the Saint that they didn't have the funds to build a church, being burdened by the heavy taxes imposed on all Christians by the Ottomans. Fr. Kosmas told the people to go to the sea in Jali the next morning where they would find all the material needed to build the church. They did this and returned with the necessary materials, and undertook the task with joy and obedience.

Next to the church a school was built for the education of the village children, and a cypress tree was planted which still stands today.

The Greek school of Vuno in 1909

Radical Islam On Rise In Balkans

Konstantin Testorides
September 19, 2010
The Associated Press

SKOPJE, Macedonia -- An online music video praising Osama bin Laden has driven home a troubling new reality: A radical brand of Islam embraced by al-Qaida and the Taliban is gaining a foothold in the Balkans.

"Oh Osama, annihilate the American army. Oh Osama, raise the Muslims' honor," a group of Macedonian men sing in Albanian, in video posted on YouTube last year and picked up by Macedonian media this August. "In September 2001 you conquered a power. We all pray for you."

Although most of Macedonia's ethnic Albanian minority are Muslims, they have generally been secular. But experts are now seeing an increasing radicalization in pockets of the country's Islamic community, particularly after armed groups from the ethnic Albanian minority, which forms a quarter of the population of 2.1 million, fought a brief war against Macedonian government forces in 2001.

It's a trend seen across the Balkans and has raised concerns that the region, which includes new European Union member Bulgaria, could become a breeding ground for terrorists with easy access to Western Europe. Many fear that radicalized European Muslims with EU passports could slip across borders and blend into society.

At the center of the issue is the Wahhabi sect, an austere brand of Islam most prevalent in Saudi Arabia and practiced by bin Laden and the Taliban.

"Wahhabism in Macedonia, the Balkans and in Europe has become more aggressive in the last 10 years," said Jakub Selimovski, head of religious education in Macedonia's Islamic community. He said Wahhabis were establishing a permanent presence in Macedonia where none existed before, and that "they are in Bosnia, here, Kosovo, Serbia, Croatia and lately they have appeared in Bulgaria."

It is the first time a high-ranking official in the former Yugoslav republic's Islamic community has agreed to speak openly about the presence and threat of radical Islam.

In Bulgaria, nearly one-sixth of the population of 7.6 million are Muslims who adhere to conventional Sunni beliefs. Ethnic peace has been maintained in the last 20 years. As elsewhere in the Balkans, however, Wahhabi incursions have led to a struggle for control of religion and Islamic community-owned property.

Large amounts of money, allegedly from Muslim organizations abroad, have been spent in Bulgaria since the mid-1990s for more than 150 new mosques and so called "teaching centers" to spread Wahhabism.

According to Bulgaria's former chief mufti, Nedim Gendzhev, some Muslim organizations were aiming to create a "fundamentalist triangle" formed by Bosnia, Macedonia and Bulgaria's Western Rhodope mountains. Local newspaper reports say radical Islam is being preached in different cities and villages in southern and northeastern Bulgaria.

In 2003, Bulgarian authorities shut down a number of Islamic centers on the grounds they allegedly belonged to Islamic groups financed mainly by Saudi Arabians that possibly also had links to "radical organizations" such as the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt. Official statements said that the centers were shut down "to prevent terrorists getting a foothold in Bulgaria."

However, centers where radical brands of Islam are preached continue to to crop up in the country, said political analyst Dimitar Avramov.

"Along with the three official Muslim schools, there are at least seven other which are not registered and not controlled by the state," he said, adding that in the last 20 years some 3,000 young Muslims have graduated from these schools.

In neighboring Serbia last year, 12 Muslims - allegedly Wahhabis - from the tense southern Sandzak region were sentenced to up to 13 years in prison for planning terrorist attacks, including on the U.S. Embassy in Belgrade. The presence of radical Muslims in Sandzak, the poorest region of Serbia, is linked to the advent of mujahedeen foreign fighters who joined Bosnian Muslims in their battle against the Serbs in Bosnia's 1992-95 independence war.

In Bosnia, the issue of Wahhabi influence is one of the most politically charged debates, with Bosnian Serbs maintaining there is a huge presence of Wahhabis in the country and Muslim Bosniaks downplaying the issue and at times claiming it does not exist.

Juan Carlos Antunez, a Spanish military specialist in religious extremism with years of experience in Bosnia, estimates there are about 3,000 people in Bosnia who have embraced this interpretation of Islam and only a small fraction of them are a potential security threat.

In a study prepared for the Sarajevo-based Center for Advanced Studies in May, Antunez argued that Bosnia's official Islamic Community has been successful in curbing Wahhabi influence. Although it did not aggressively ostracize the Wahhabis, it strictly controls the appointments of imams in mosques and lecturers in Islamic educational institutions in the country.

Ahmet Alibasic, a lecturer at the Faculty of Islamic Studies in Sarajevo, said most Wahhabis in Bosnia refrain from criticizing the Islamic Community and were even calling for unity among Muslims.

"Their influence reached its peak in 2000, but it has since started falling and it continues to fall," Alibasic said, adding that measures taken by Bosnian authorities after 9/11 had a significant effect as the movement began to lose power after the closure and banning of several Islamic, mostly Saudi-backed, charities which funded the movement.

In Albania, the issue is also charged. Ilir Kulla, former head of the government's department on religious issues, insisted the Wahhabis had not caused any problems in Albania.

Kulla said hundreds of young Albanian men had been educated in universities in the Middle East, including in Saudi Arabia, and were now mosque leaders, but that there had been no attempt by Wahhabis to challenge the leadership of the country's Muslim Community, which he insisted was still moderate.

But in Macedonia, the increasing clout of radical Islam is causing a rift in the country's Muslim community, with a power struggle developing within the country's official Islamic Religious Community between the moderate mainstream and the emerging Wahhabi wing.

"A destructive, radical and extremist current has appeared with an intention of taking over the lead of the Islamic religious community," Selimovski said.

Authorities in Macedonia are reluctant to confirm any threat of radical Islam in the country. But a government official, speaking on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the topic, did acknowledge that "radical groups and their followers are being closely observed."

Last year, three ethnic Albanian brothers originally from Macedonia were implicated - along with a Jordanian, a Turk and a Kosovo Albanian living in the U.S. - in an alleged plot to attack the U.S. Army's Fort Dix military base in New Jersey. No attack was ever staged on the base, which is used largely to train U.S. reservists bound for Iraq.

"Macedonia is part of the international coalition in the fight against terrorism and it cannot be excluded from the responsibility to observe and respond to any possible activity or emerging of terrorists," Interior Ministry spokesman Ivo Kotevski told the AP.

Moderate Muslims say the Wahhabi sect now controls five mosques in Skopje even though the Islamic Religious Community has suspended the man they claim is the sect's leader, Ramadan Ramadani, as imam of the Isa Beg mosque in Skopje, and prohibited him from organizing prayers.

But Ramadani, who has launched a petition seeking supporters to overturn the current Community leadership, rejects any accusation of radicalism, saying his opponents are scaremongering.

"They need my name to have somebody to frighten people," Ramadani said. "I do not know any individuals or structures here that could be defined as Wahhabi. It is the attempt of political labeling and stigmatizing people who want reforms."

Ramadani insisted that Macedonia's Islamic community had nothing to do with the online song supporting bin Laden, and denied Macedonian media reports that it had been played in mosques there.

"Bin Laden is nothing for the Muslims in Macedonia," Ramadani said. "He is not our hero."

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Associated Press writers Veselin Toshkov in Sofia, Sabina Niksic in Sarajevo, Dusan Stojanovic in Belgrade, Llazar Semini in Tirana, Nebi Qena in Pristina and Elena Becatoros in Athens contributed to this report.