“Many years, Your All-Holiness!
“We assure you that the place we wish to occupy is that of Aaron and Hur, who, when the hands of Moses grew heavy, held them up, one on one side and the other on the other; that is, the place of those who support, of those who work for the peace, reconciliation and unity of the Church.
“The Church of Albania has tasted and continues to taste the fruits of your labors, your love and your prayers,
“Anastasios had repeatedly identified the gatherings of the Primates of the Local Orthodox Churches as one of the most important achievements of Patriarch Bartholomew’s tenure.
“We are convinced that his soul rejoices at seeing the Primates of the Churches meet in a spirit of brotherhood and unity,
“Archbishop Anastasios is “no longer physically among us,”
“The Church of Albania had been persecuted, devastated and appeared dead; but it had not died,
“We have been witnesses to your efforts for the unity of the Church, to your labors and struggles. And what we have seen with our own eyes and heard with our own ears, we testify to today with gratitude,
“Today, after sixty-five years, we do not simply praise a man; we praise and thank God, because time has revealed the wisdom of His Providence and confirmed the calling,
“no one present at the ordination in 1961 could have known where the young deacon’s path would lead.
“Here you received the first degree of the priesthood. Not to be served, but to serve; not to seek human glory, but to shepherd the spiritual flock of the Church of Christ,
“two forms of longing had converged there 65 years ago: love for one’s birthplace and the response to the call of the heavenly Father.
“Longing for return, according to Homer, is not simply a memory, nor a passing nostalgia. It is a force that sets one’s entire being in motion,
“the gathering, just days before the Feast of the Dormition of the Theotokos, allowed those present to share not only in the Patriarch’s joy but also in his profound longing to return to his native island.
“deep joy and sincere emotion