Archbishop Anastasios of Tirana, Durres, and All Albania sent a message of condolence for the passing of Metropolitan Jonah of Kampala, emphasizing that “he lived with devotion to the Orthodox faith and worked in the Church with apostolic zeal, prudence, and endurance.”
Find below the message of the Archbishop of Albania:
We were deeply saddened to get informed of the repose in the Lord of the Blessed Metropolitan Jonah of Kampala and All Uganda. He was a dear student at the Theological Seminary of the University of Athens and a close associate of ours during his ministry in East Africa, when we ordained him a deacon (1981) and a presbyter (1982). Grandson of Fr. Ovadias, one of the founders and pillars of Orthodoxy in Uganda and Kenya, has lived with devotion to the Orthodox faith since childhood and worked in the Church with apostolic zeal, prudence, and perseverance. In the forty years of his priesthood he took care to present himself as a deacon of God “in great endurance… in the Holy Spirit… in the power of God…” (II Corinthians 6: 4-8), creating his ecclesiastical Province with a creative spirit.
Expressing our deepest condolences to Patriarch Theodore of Alexandria and All AfricaTrisagion and to the very dear Orthodox of Uganda, we performed a Trisagion in the chapel of the Holy Archdiocese of Tirana. May the Lord of peace and supplication rest the chosen soul of the most beloved brother Jonah and may He raise worthy leaders of Orthodoxy in Africa.