Yanoulatos says he was asked to stay in Albania

TIRANA, May 21 – Orthodox Archbishop Anasstassios Yanoulatos said that he remained in Albania after he was asked by local orthodox believers to re-create the church in the country after the fall of communism.
“Orthodox Albanians asked me to stay in Albania,” said Yanoulatos in an interview to Deutsche Welle radio station.
Yanoulatos said they asked him to stay at a very difficult moment for Albania, following the fall of communism. At the time he was a full-time professor at the Athens University.
Also, he received the approval from the Greek orthodox leadership and also from the Albanian government of the time. Following that he was elected based on a constitution passed by all the orthodox believers in 1994.
“I am not in Albania to create a colony,” he said, adding that there were only three Greek orthodox priests and 136 Albanian ones in the Albanian Autocephalous Orthodox Church.
“Mother Teresa left the Balkans and went to India. She was a person of trust and love,” said Yanoulatos. “The archbishop left his country and the beautiful opportunities he had in Greece and all around the world and came to Albania to share difficulties, pain, and problems.”
Yanoulatos explained the attack on his post from some radical Muslims or atheists.
“The criticism comes from some typical voices of the radicals who see dangers and enemies,” he said.
“We cannot accept that lawmakers who are Muslims or atheist show the way or advise the Orthodox Church,” he said.
The archbishop said that Albania was not a typical Muslim country. The figure comes from a census in World War II which showed about 68 percent of the population was Muslim, 22 percent Orthodox and 10-11 percent Roman Catholic.
“Now in Albania you don’t have a typical Muslim nation,” he said, adding that the Orthodox Church was a bridge with the neighbors.
Yanoulatos highly praised the religious tolerance, or as he called it, “cooperation and fraternity” as a unique example in the region.
“Naturally, many people say that this is the only country in the Balkans with such relations,” said Yanoulatos.