Pope and Patriarch Theodore II of Alexandria and All Africa, having received with joy the news of the election of Archbishop Ioannis of Albania from Metropolitan of Korça to Archbishop of Tirana, Durrës, and All Albania, has sent him the following Congratulatory Patriarchal Letter:
Your Beatitude, Archbishop of Tirana, Durrës, and All Albania, beloved and most cherished brother and concelebrant in Christ, Archbishop Ioannis, we greet you with heartfelt love and joy.
The news of your election to the Archiepiscopal Throne of the Autocephalous Church of Albania reached us like a refreshing breeze in the land of the Nile, filling us, together with the Holy Hierarchy, the clergy, and the faithful people of the venerable Patriarchal See of St. Mark, with great joy.
Your canonical election brings a sense of optimism and heralds a fruitful primatial ministry, as you succeed your recently departed and much-revered predecessor and spiritual father, Archbishop Anastasios. A man of immense ecclesiastical and spiritual stature, a distinguished academic teacher of universal acclaim, who labored tirelessly to resurrect from the ashes, to establish, to consolidate, and to ensure, as far as possible, the steadfast continuity of the Holy Orthodox Church of Albania.
Therefore, we pray with all our heart that the Lord will strengthen and support you in the high, demanding, and weighty task of your newly begun primatial ministry. We offer you our heartfelt congratulations, and as we await your Peaceful Letters, we sincerely pray that your archiepiscopal ministry may be long and untroubled, in health of both soul and body, to the glory of God and the edification of the Christ-loving flock.
Once again, we greet you with a fraternal kiss. Axios!
With brotherly love in Christ,
† The Pope and Patriarch of Alexandria,
All Egypt and All Africa,
T H E O D O R E II
Translated by Ioanna Georgakopoulou
