A Spiritual Void
July 14th 2009 10:29
I listened to an interview the other day with Archbishop Anastasios of Tirana and All Albania-before anyone goes away with the idea that I am fluent in some of the more remore languages of Europe, His Beatitude was speaking in English, which has given me thoughts of a future blog-why don't or can't English people speak other languages (question-is it just the English or do other English speaking nations also refuse to learn other languages?)
To get back to the point, The Archbishop was talking about the resurgence of Christianity in Albania since the overthrow of the Communist Government there around 1990. You will recall that Albania declared itself in 1967 to be an atheistic state and forbade any religious practices, throwing the Christian and Islamic leadership into concentration camps. In terms of the Orthodox Church (the north of Albania is Roman Catholic and the south Orthodox-this reflects how the area was divided during the times of the Roman Empire) of the hundreds of Priests, Deacons and Readers who were thrown into the camps only 20 came out alive.
What has been interesting is that less than twenty years on the Church in Albania is showing an amazing growth, seminaries are filling up not just with candidates for the Priesthood, but also with lay leaders-often women. One of the most fascinating aspects of Orthodoxy is the important role women have in the Church and it is true to say that without the women, the Orthodox Church would not have survived the persecution she recieved both in Albania and Russia. My own understanding of the Faith owes a lot to the older women of the Church-the babushkas.
What has this to do with my blog?
In the Book of Ecclesiastes, Solomon makes the comment that 'God has put eternity in the hearts of man'(3v11), which seems to imply that man has a need for God. In Albania they tried it for less than twenty-five years and it failed miserably. In Britain today with less than 10% attending Church but 76% calling themselves Christians, it begs the question where has the Church gone wrong and how does she bridge the gap between herselfand those who rightly belong to her, let alone those she should be reaching out to, the non-believer?
To get back to the point, The Archbishop was talking about the resurgence of Christianity in Albania since the overthrow of the Communist Government there around 1990. You will recall that Albania declared itself in 1967 to be an atheistic state and forbade any religious practices, throwing the Christian and Islamic leadership into concentration camps. In terms of the Orthodox Church (the north of Albania is Roman Catholic and the south Orthodox-this reflects how the area was divided during the times of the Roman Empire) of the hundreds of Priests, Deacons and Readers who were thrown into the camps only 20 came out alive.
What has been interesting is that less than twenty years on the Church in Albania is showing an amazing growth, seminaries are filling up not just with candidates for the Priesthood, but also with lay leaders-often women. One of the most fascinating aspects of Orthodoxy is the important role women have in the Church and it is true to say that without the women, the Orthodox Church would not have survived the persecution she recieved both in Albania and Russia. My own understanding of the Faith owes a lot to the older women of the Church-the babushkas.
What has this to do with my blog?
In the Book of Ecclesiastes, Solomon makes the comment that 'God has put eternity in the hearts of man'(3v11), which seems to imply that man has a need for God. In Albania they tried it for less than twenty-five years and it failed miserably. In Britain today with less than 10% attending Church but 76% calling themselves Christians, it begs the question where has the Church gone wrong and how does she bridge the gap between herselfand those who rightly belong to her, let alone those she should be reaching out to, the non-believer?
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