A new “episode” in the confrontation between the Church of Albania and the Archon of the Ecumenical Throne Ilias Damianakis has been developing in the last few days.
The Church of Albania with a new statement clarifies – again – that “it is not under the influence of the Russian or any other Church and does not accept any kind of external guardianship. Nor does it certainly tolerate suggestions and lessons from unqualified controllers of members of other local Autocephalous Churches”.
The “confrontation” between Archon Damianakis and the Church of Albania began when a month ago I. Damianakis published an article in which he claimed that “while the pursuits of international oligarchs with vested interests have contributed to the reconstruction or restoration of 250 churches, their goal is focused more towards pursuits than towards adherence to canonical principles”.
The Church of Albania stressed that “as stated by the rest of the context of the text, the term “International Oligarchs” implies Russian origin.
In today’s statement, the Church of Albania notes that “this gentleman did not admit that he spread fake news to support the malicious fiction that the Church of Albania is under Russian influence and he did not apologize.
Instead, in a new post he tries to convince that the reaction of the Holy Synod of the Orthodox Autocephalous Church of Albania is allegedly due to a mistranslation of the term “international oligarchs”.
“Some think too highly of themselves”, says the Church of Albania in its statement, “and have become inspectors, prosecutors, and judges of the local Orthodox Churches.
The way they target those who have a different position on the serious ecclesiastical issue of Ukraine is not in line with Orthodox ethics nor with the basic ethics of any dialogue. This new ecclesiastical tactic is in immediate need of stopping.
The Orthodox Church of Albania is not under the influence of the Russian or any other Church and does not accept any kind of external guardianship. Nor does it certainly tolerate suggestions and lessons from unqualified controllers and members of other local Autocephalous Churches. It is sufficient to be inspired by the Gospel and to act in accordance with the Orthodox Tradition,” the statement concludes.
