His Grace Asti is enthroned as Metropolitan of Berat, Vlora and Kanina/ Archbishop Janullatos: A wonderful man

2024-11-21 21:50:00, Aktualitet CNA

His Grace Asti is enthroned as Metropolitan of Berat, Vlora and Kanina/

His Grace Asti was enthroned this Thursday as the Metropolitan of Berat, Vlora and Kanina.

The service took place with the participation of the Members of the Holy Synod of the Autocephalous Orthodox Church of Albania.

The ceremony was performed in the cathedral of "Saint Dhimtri" in Berat and in the presence of hopeful people, religious and political representatives.

Archbishop Anastas Janullatos described His Grace Asti as a wonderful man who has served the Church for more than 20 years as a deacon, archdeacon, priest, auxiliary bishop.

The speech of Archbishop Anastas Janullatos:

It brings to my mind moments 33 years ago when for the first time I had the joy of coming to Berat, many young people had decided to succeed the new Archbishop and in the following years I had the great blessing of the presence and cooperation of these chosen people. Asti was one of them and today it is a great joy to remember that Asti's father was from Berat. I am very happy and grateful for this family chosen for Zoi Bakallbashi and his wife Jolanda who gave us this wonderful man to be in the service of the Church.

His Grace Asti is enthroned as Metropolitan of Berat, Vlora and Kanina/

Archbishop Anastas Janullatos

For more than 20 years he has been in the service of the Church as a deacon, archdeacon, priest, auxiliary bishop and I am very grateful and want to thank God for the many gifts he has endowed him with.

I am very convinced that he will continue the excellent work of his predecessor, his brother Ignat who with great devotion served in this Holy Metropolis and that he will take care that he will always be in the place and in the form of Christ because this is the role of the Bishop.

On behalf of all of us who are here and welcome this beginning of his work in this Metropolis, I want to congratulate him but also remind him that his work must always be a work of faith.

May his struggle always be a struggle of love. May his hope always be associated with patience. The role of the Bishop is not at all easy these days, even more so in such an important place as this city and this Metropolis. And when his choice was made, some words came to mind that are a guide for all of us. This source was described by the Apostle Paul in his Letter to the Ephesians:

Grace Asti

"Therefore I kneel before the Father from whom every creature in heaven and on earth derives its life. May God grant you according to the riches of His glory and through His Spirit strengthen you spiritually. May Christ dwell in your hearts through faith in so that rooted and established in love you may understand with all the saints what is the breadth, the length, the height, the depth of the love of Christ the love of Christ which passeth all knowledge, that ye may be filled with all the fullness of God, that he may do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, because of the power that worketh in us. To him be glory through the Church, and through Christ Jesus for him all generations forever and ever, Amen." (Ephesians 3:14-21).

This is the secret of a successful life of the Bishop but also of every Christian.

Much love, more length, breadth, and depth in love because this is the meaning of life according to God.

These things are not easy, just as everything precious is also difficult, but our hope rests on the constant presence of the Lord Jesus Christ who is the head of our Church. Therefore with this patience we stand in the words of the Apostle Paul who gives glory to God in the life of lives. Amen.

We pray that our congratulations accompany the pastoral work of our dear brother Asti at every step./ CNA