The position on the Ukrainian issue has already been expressed by our Synod, - Primate of the Albanian Orthodox Church

The Primate of the Albanian Orthodox Church, His Beatitude Archbishop John, spoke on the Ukrainian church issue. The first hierarch drew attention to the fact that the creation of the OCU split world Orthodoxy, noting that the Synod of the Albanian Church expressed its position on this issue and it remains unchanged. He said this in an interview with ekirikas.com.

“It was a tragedy that divided many Churches. Our position has already been expressed in the decisions of our Synod. We have nothing more to add,” — said the First Hierarch.

The Primate of the Albanian Church added that his predecessor, Archbishop Anastasios, made great efforts to reconcile the Local Churches, which were divided due to the Ukrainian church crisis. He noted that the efforts of the previous Primate of the APC bore fruit at least because his funeral service was attended by representatives of all the Local Churches.

“We made every possible effort to reconcile because Archbishop Anastasios was a man of vision and knew what would happen. He largely took into account the position of both sides. He was one of the important people who united the Primates during the Pan-Orthodox meetings. I was with him and observed all this. I cannot say for sure what needs to be done to overcome the division, but I believe that the most important thing is to have good will. If there is good will, maybe we can find a solution that will benefit everyone. The funeral service for Archbishop Anastasios was attended by representatives of all Orthodox Churches. I was so happy to see them all together. At the time, I thought that Archbishop Anastasios had united them even after his death,” — Archbishop John added.

Earlier we reported that the Albanian Orthodox Church published a statement in support of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. The AOC criticized the legislative initiatives of the Ukrainian authorities to ban the UOC and expressed support for the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in a period of difficult trials. The statement was published on the official website of the Albanian Church.