“Ioannis Paleokrassas was a man of rare quality, genuine, authentic, with simplicity and kindness. He was an intact, fair, and great family man. With his exquisite wife Natalia, they created a beautiful family”, says, among other things, Archbishop Anastasios of Albania in his farewell message for Ioannis Paleokrassas, “a true man of the God of love in the service of society and its multiple needs”.
And he continues: “Ioannis Paleokrassas was very creative. In all the positions he took, often leading, in Greece or abroad, he was distinguished for his responsibility, originality, creative thinking, consistency, and efficiency. His political and economic activities have already been highlighted by many relevant political and social entities. And something less known: he was a valuable collaborator in pioneering spiritual initiatives, from our youth we know to our later years: in the English edition of the first Orthodox Foreign Mission Magazine “Porefthentes” in 1959, until the last decades in the administration of the University College “Logos” and the hydroelectric project of the Church of Albania.
Ioannis was distinguished for the exceptional breadth of his thoughts, interests, and horizon. He was a man of the world. He has worked in various regions (England, USA, Ghana, Greece, Belgium), in leading positions, perfectly representing Greece, and offering his rare experience and insightful judgment.
It does not take much effort to establish that the source of strength and fruitfulness of one’s life was the conscious orthodox faith. He studied, pondered, experienced the mystery of the Christian revelation summarized in the verse “God is love, and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him” (1 John. 4.16 And he himself struggled to “stay” constantly “in Christ Jesus” with a resurrected mind.
We praise God for the great gift he has given us, a true man of God of love in the service of society and the multiple needs of its members, may his memory be Eternal!”
Source: ANA-MPA
