One year anniversary of the death of His Grace Demetrius/Archbishop Joan: His memory, an act of faith, hope and gratitude

2026-06-28 11:23:00, Aktualitet CNA

One year anniversary of the death of His Grace Demetrius/Archbishop Joan: His

His Beatitude, Archbishop of Tirana, Durrës and all Albania, Joan, led the Morning Service and Divine Liturgy today at the "Resurrection of Christ" Cathedral in Gjirokastra, where His Grace, Metropolitan of Gjirokastra, Archbishop Dhimitri, who passed away a year ago, was commemorated.

Archbishop Joan, during his sermon before the faithful, stated that the memory of Bishop Dhimmitri has not departed from the prayer of the church and the conscience of those who knew and collaborated with him.

His Beatitude John emphasized that God preserves in his love those who lived, served, and strived in his church.

Archbishop Joan said that the memory of the late Metropolitan Dhimitër invites people to renew their awareness that life has meaning when it becomes a gift.

"Today we gathered to commemorate the first anniversary of the repose in the Lord of the late Metropolitan Dimitar. A year has passed since the day he surrendered his soul into the hands of God and departed from us. But his memory has not departed from our hearts, from the prayer of the Church and from the conscience of those who knew him, collaborated with him and received pastoral care from him. The Church does not remember her reposed simply as a painful return to the past. She remembers them before God in the light of the resurrection of Christ. For us, the memory of a reposed hierarch is not only human reverence, but also an act of faith, hope and thanksgiving.

We believe that God, who is the God not of the dead but of the living, preserves in his love those who lived, served and strived in his church. The late Metropolitan, Dimitar, was a worker of the church, with humility, with perseverance and with love for the people of God. The episcopal ministry is not a human honor, but a cross. It is a responsibility before God and before people. It is daily devotion, prayer, patience, care for souls, willingness to bear the burden of others. He carried this cross faithfully, knowing that the shepherd does not belong to himself, but to Christ and the Church. In the history of the Autocephalous Orthodox Church of Albania, each service takes on a special meaning. Our Church arose from the grave wounds of persecution, from the imposed silence, from the destruction of churches and from the dispersion of the believing people.

Its reconstruction was not done with big words, but with faith, with tears, with sacrifices, with hard work and the dedication of many people, known and unknown, in whom we always honor the work of the late Archbishop Anastasios. Within this path stood the late Metropolitan Dimitri, as a brother and co-communionist, as a shepherd, as a member of the synodal body, as a man who gave his contribution to the stability, unity and spiritual progress of the church. It is not easy to summarize a person's life in a few words. Even more so the life of a clergyman and hierarch. Much of the ministry of a shepherd remains hidden. The prayers that are made in silence, the concerns that are kept undisclosed, the decisions that are made with the fear of God, the wounds that he tries to heal, the people he comforts, the souls he strengthens.

These are not always written in chronicles, they are written in the memory of God. Therefore, today we do not simply stand before the memory of an absence. We stand before the mystery of life and death, before the truth that we do not have a permanent city here, we are walking towards the eternal kingdom. The memory of the late Metropolitan Dimitar invites us to renew our awareness that life has meaning when it becomes a gift, that church service bears fruit when it is built on humility, that death does not have the last word because the last word belongs to the risen Christ.

"The Apostle Paul teaches us that if we live, we live for the Lord, and if we die, we die for the Lord. So whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. This is a great consolation for the church. We do not belong to oblivion, we do not belong to corruption, we belong to the Lord. And those who served at the holy altar, who shepherded the people of God and who struggled on the path of the church, surrender with faith to his infinite mercy. With gratitude, therefore, today we remember the late Metropolitan Demetrius, we thank God for everything that was offered to the church through his ministry ," said Archbishop Ioan. /CNA