Life and living testimony of faith/ His Beatitude, John celebrates his 70th birthday

2026-01-01 09:14:00, Aktualitet CNA

Life and living testimony of faith/ His Beatitude, John celebrates his 70th

On January 1, 2026, Archbishop of Tirana, Durrës and All Albania, His Grace Joan, celebrates his 70th birthday, a special jubilee that marks not just an age, but an entire life lived as a living testimony of God's grace, loyalty to Christ, and humble service to the Church and the hopeful people.

Born in Tirana on January 1, 1956, in a closed, persecuted, and officially atheist Albania, His Beatitude grew up in the darkest years of the communist dictatorship, at a time when faith was forbidden by law and religious expression was punishable by imprisonment, exile, or even death. However, as he himself testifies, “they could not close the door to God.”

His first encounter with Christ occurred miraculously, through reading the New Testament in French; a time when possessing a Gospel was more dangerous than having dynamite.

The words of Christ restored to him the lost joy of childhood and ignited a deep spiritual thirst, which would guide his entire life.
In complete secrecy, in the basement of a private house of the Hero Priest in Bestrovë, Vlorë, Father Kozma, in 1974 he was baptized and became part of the underground Orthodox Church – a small but living Church, nourished by martyrdom, sacrifice and unwavering faith.

In those circumstances, the joy of Christ was experienced with a rare intensity, which Archbishop Joan himself has described as "unrepeatable".
After the fall of the communist regime, he studied theology in the United States of America at the "Holy Cross" Theological Seminary in Boston, supported by the Albanian Orthodox Church, but with a clear promise: to return to his homeland as soon as the Church reopened its doors. And so he did. In a spiritually and materially destroyed Albania, he returned to serve, choosing difficulty and sacrifice. He became one of the closest collaborators of Archbishop Anastasios, being at his right hand in all the challenges, sufferings and persecutions as a faithful and worthy son of the holy Church and its Chief Shepherd.

For 27 years, His Beatitude Bishop Joan served as Metropolitan of Korça, becoming a father figure to dozens of priests, thousands of believers, and the entire city. Under his pastoral care, the Metropolis of Korça was transformed into a vibrant spiritual, cultural, and social center. The restoration of the city's historic cathedral "Life-Giving Source" is not only a construction project, but an act of restoring the historical memory and spiritual identity of Korça.

As a member of the Holy Synod of the Autocephalous Orthodox Church of Albania, under the leadership of His Beatitude Archbishop Anastasios, His Beatitude Ioannis has been a witness and collaborator of the miraculous revival of the Church in Albania – a revival that many call a miracle of modern times.

His teaching is deeply based on the Gospel and the teaching of the great Fathers of the Church: "Without sacrifice there is no joy, without the cross there is no resurrection, without love there is no life."

He reminds us that "hatred destroys everything, while selfishness is the opposite of love. Only by seeing the icon of God in every human being can one truly be called a Christian."