Albanian Church's "Resurrection" Praised by WCC; Church Nearly Perished under Communist Rule

The Ekklesia website reports today (October 14, 2010) that a meeting of the Commission of the Churches in International Affairs (CCIA)was held this week at the St. Vlash Monastery in Durres, Albania.

The meeting's host -- the Orthodox Autocephalous Church of Albania -- was highly praised by the World Council of Churches'(WCC) General Secretary, the Rev. Dr. Olav Fykse Tveit, in his address to the CCIA.

Rev. Tveit said, "The Church of Albania has become an example of the power of the cross and the resurrection, a sign of political relevance of hope and of worship, and how important it is to worship God and not humans' self-made gods."

The Albanian Orthodox Church was "resurrected" in 1991, when the Soviet Union -- as well as Albania's totalitarian regime -- came to an end. The Albanian Church was practically eliminated by the communist regime that had ruled Albania since 1944, and had declared Albania to be an atheist nation in 1967.