Fr. Martin Ritsi Leads Delegation At Archbishop Anastasios’ Funeral in Albania

On Thursday, January 30, Fr. Martin Ritsi, Executive Director of the Orthodox Christian Mission Center, led a delegation of Mission Center Board, staff, and missionaries at the funeral service commemorating the life and falling asleep of His Beatitude Archbishop Anastasios of Tirana, Durrës, and All Albania at the Holy Resurrection Cathedral in Tirana, Albania.

Fr. Martin––together with Board member and former missionary, Fr. Luke Veronis, and Assistant Missionary Director, Rev. Dr. Stephanos Ritsi––participated in the Hierarchical Divine Liturgy, Funeral, and Interment services with Orthodox clergy from throughout the world. His All Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, who presided, was joined by the presiding hierarchs of the autocephalous Churches of Alexandria, Jerusalem, Cyprus, Greece, and Bulgaria, as well as hierarchical representatives of seven other autocephalous Churches, other visiting hierarchs, and members of the Holy Synod of the Orthodox Autocephalous Church of Albania including His Eminence Joani, Metropolitan of Korca, who is the Locum Tenens of the Archiepiscopal Throne of Albania. Also in attendance were the Prime Ministers of Albania and Greece, the President of Albania, the General Secretary of the World Council of Churches, and other dignitaries.  

Fr. Martin reflected, “Walking in a church procession, surrounded by hundreds of people through the streets of Albania, reminded me of times past as we processed during Pascha and Holy Week or in the earliest days in protest to take back a church in Tirana that had not yet been returned following the fall of Communism. This time, though, I was carrying our spiritual father with my fellow Albanians to the Cathedral on our shoulders and in his casket. It was a moving moment. The crowds throwing flowers attested to the love people have for him and all he has given to the resurrection of the Church in Albania.” 

After his passing away in Athens on January 25, His Beatitude was transported to the Resurrection Cathedral in Tirana on Tuesday, January 28 to lay in state until the funeral, where a vigil Liturgy was conducted and Fr. Veronis was asked to preach the sermon. Also in attendance were current missionaries serving in Albania, Dr. Nathan and Gabriela Hoppe, Dr. Jeffrey and Caryn Macdonald, and Hannah Valentine. Dr. Hoppe is the longest tenured missionary at the Mission Center, having served in Albania for over 27 years, while the Macdonalds have been serving in Albania 12 years. Joining the delegation was also Anastasia Pamela Barksdale, who served 14 years in Albania as a missionary and is currently the Parish Engagement Coordinator for the Mission Center. 

Frs. Martin, Luke, and Stephanos have a long history with Archbishop Anastasios, dating back to his time as Locum Tenens Archbishop of Irinoupolis (East Africa) in 1987. While Fr. Stephanos was a child in Kenya at the time, Frs. Martin and Luke worked side by side with Archbishop Anastasios as missionaries in East Africa before joining him in Albania. After being a “missionary kid” in both Kenya and Albania, Fr. Stephanos returned to Albania to become a missionary after completing his degrees in the United States. Before returning to the United States to assume his current role, Fr. Stephanos worked in the Archbishop’s office in Tirana. 

Fr. Luke, Director of the Missions Institute of Orthodox Christianity at Hellenic College/Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology, stated, “The direction of my life changed when I met Archbishop Anastasios in Nairobi, Kenya as part of the first Mission Team in 1987. My life’s path went from a future in mathematics to instead following the priesthood and missionary service. Cross and Resurrection summarize the life and ministry of Archbishop Anastasios. He accepted whatever cross God gave him in life and then proclaimed the Good News of the Risen Christ and lived in the light and hope of His Resurrection every day. The first words he learned in Albanian were ‘Krishti u Ngjall’ (Christ is Risen!), and everything he has done in Albania, along with his witness in Africa and the entire world, has been an attempt to bring the light of the Risen Christ to a world of darkness.” 

Fr. Martin concluded: “I remember once in speaking with His Beatitude of the afterlife, he smiled subtly and said, ‘While I don’t know what it will be, I do know the Lord is always full of unexpected and wonderful surprises.’ Looking at his body in the casket, he had that same peaceful smile, assuring us in this time of his passing and of transition in Albania, that yes, the Lord truly is a God of surprises. He is with us and does wonders.” 

May the memory of His Beatitude Archbishop Anastasios be eternal! 

To learn more about the life and legacy of Archbishop Anastasios, click here.  

To view the recording of His Beatitude’s funeral services, click here