The Election of Archbishop Joan/Ferdinand Samardzi: His Story is Bright

2025-03-24 19:23:00, Aktualitet CNA

Journalist Ferdinand Samarxhi spoke about the election of His Beatitude Joan Pelushi as Archbishop, following the passing of Archbishop Anastasios Janullatos.

Invited to Rudina Magjistari's show, Samarxhi recounted the entire ordeal of Archbishop Joan's suffering, calling him one of the figures who contributed to the establishment of the Orthodox Church.

Samarxhi said that Archbishop Joan has a bright history, as alongside Archbishop Anastas, they laid important dogmatic foundations for the path of Albanian Christianity, which has special values ??in the history of Christianity.

"He was born on January 2, 1956 and in 1975 he would be secretly baptized, they would create the underground church. Think that at that time if you mentioned the word God you would end up behind bars, while he was baptized in the wild communist darkness. So it was a light that was born in his heart for the love of Christ and he would receive a love that he would face, would experience the wild ordeal of the cross and he would produce and work in Albania.

Then in the year '90, seeing the light in Christ that required him to further serve Christ, to enter his pastoral path, he would go to the United States of America, he would study there precisely in the '90s when all Albanians, whoever left, called it a great glory or victory, this man, this cleric, with love for Christ, embracing that difficult path of the cross that prevailed the values ??of the most extreme love for the cross, he would return to Albania and contact Archbishop Anastasius where, with his great desire, he would return to Albania and immediately become a lecturer at the Theological Academy, then he would serve and within that year he would become exarch, then dean of the Theological Academy and in 1998 as Metropolitan of Korça.

So a biography of the way of the cross, escalating in growth, in his walk of devotion towards Jesus and this is an excellent diagram unlike all other clergy.

The great fate that the archbishop prepared an Albanian synod and the synod unanimously selected him beforehand, when the final farewell would be given to Archbishop Anastas for all the magnificent work he did, which is a glorious work that history will always be proud of, he will be called the archbishop's vicar, he will be appointed before the Holy Synod appoints him, elects him by decree. A week ago you saw that it was decreed and on the 28th the enthronement will take place where the greatest patriarchs of the whole world will come.

They will come, they have requested with insistence, just as a large part came during the funeral ceremony and in the election by the Holy Synod you will see that telegrams have arrived from all the hierarchs, the greatest patriarchs of the Christian world, of Catholicism, of Orthodoxy, everywhere.

"The history of Bishop Joan is very bright in his field. He is an academic, he has published, he has translated, he is the author of dogmatic books of the Christian faith. Alongside Archbishop Anastas, they both laid important dogmatic foundations of the path of Albanian Christianity that has special values ??in the history of Christianity," said Samarxhi./ CNA