Archbishop of Albania: The Holy and Great Council as a witness to unity and a shared responsibility

Archbishop Ioannis of Tirana, Durrës and All Albania delivered an address at the International Conference on the Significance, Reception and Prospects of the Holy and Great Council, held in Chantilly from 5 to 8 October 2026, ten years after the Council in Crete.

Speaking before Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew and the participants, Archbishop Ioannis reflected on synodality as an expression of the Church’s unity in Christ and recalled the contribution of the Church of Albania, and of the late Archbishop Anastas, to the preparation of the Council. He called for the Council’s texts to become a common point of reference for all the local Orthodox Churches, and for the prospect of further Councils to be kept alive. He also warned of the excesses of nationalism and urged a deeper lived experience of being one Church.

The full text of the address follows: Your All-Holiness,

Most Reverend brother hierarchs,

Reverend Fathers,

Dear participants in the Conference,

I

“Praise, thanksgiving and hope fill the soul at the opening of the proceedings of the Holy and Great Council of Orthodoxy.”¹

With these words, the late Archbishop Anastas expressed his feelings at the…