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Go Forth: Stories of Missions and Resurrection in Albania
Of all the stories of the resurrection of the Orthodox Church in formerly communist lands, Albania's may be the most dramatic. Having been almost exterminated by the atheist government, the Church of Albania has arisen, under the leadership of Archbishop Anastasios, to become a vibrant and growing member of the world Orthodox community. Fr. Luke Veronis and his family served as missionaries to Albania during some of the most crucial years of this resurrection. In these pages, Fr. Luke shares stories of those years--stories of desperate poverty and of heroism, of setbacks and triumphs, of heartbreak and miracles--and calls us all to answer the Lord's Great Go Forth!
242 pages, Paperback
First published February 10, 2010
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August 20, 2011
Father Luke Veronis, from Pennsylvania in the USA, was a missionary in Albania for a little over ten years, from 1994-2004, and this is the story of his experience in that time. He was married to Faith, who joined him there and their three older children also lived there.
Since the Second World War Albania had been ruled by the communist dictator Enver Hoxha (pronounced Hodja), who in 1967 decided that Albania was to the the world's first officially atheist country, with no religion at all being allowed. So for 24 years, until 1991, no religion was allowed. Every church, jammi and tekke was closed, and either demolished or converted to secular uses.
In 1991 religious freedom was restored, but the Orthodox Church was in a bad way. Most of the clergy had been killed or imprisoned. Bishop Anastasios Yannoulatos was sent there to try to reestablish the life of the church. There could not have been a better choice; he was the most outstanding Orthodox missiologist of the 20th century.
Luke Veronis met Bishop Anastasios when on a short-term mission trip to Kenya, and this sparked his missionary vocation. He returned to America, where he studied missiology, and then returned a second time to East Africa for a longer stint. Over the next few years he led several short-term mission teams to East Africa while studying theology at Holy Chross Seminary in Brookline, Massachusetts.
After he had been in Albania for a while, Luke Veronis returned to America, where he married Faith and was ordained as a deacon, and together they returned to Albania, where he was later ordained priest by Archbishop Anastasios.
During their time in Albania there were two huge upheavals. The first was in 1997, when most of the people in the country lost all their savings in the collapse of a pyramid scheme, in which many, unused to the capitalist system, had unwisely invested their life saivings. The scheme was publicly endorsed by some prominent government leaders. When the scheme collapsed there was widespread chaos and looting, and people broke into military arsenals and stole guns. Hundreds were killed in the enusing fighting, not a few by bullets fired into the air by exuberant rioters.
The second upheaval was the influx of over a million refugees from Kosovo, who fled after the Nato bombing of Yugoslavia in 1999. Father Luke describes the church's ministry to the refugees, and how some close personal relationships were forged with them, which continued even after they had returned, or had moved on to other countries.
This book is is not a formal treatise on mission or mission history, but a kind of expanded missionary journal, with a description of Fr Luke's work, and impressions of it, and reflection on the nature of mission and the motivation of missionaries. In that sense it is more inspirational than informational, and more missional than missiological. That also, in a sense, makes me the wrong person to review the book, because part of Father Luke's story is also part of my story, since he arranged for me to go to Albania to lecture on missiology to students of the seminary at Shen Vlash, where he was the Dean, and I also met Archbishop Anastasios, and several of the people he mentions in the book.
The book also gives some personal glimpses of Archbishop Anastasios, which are also very useful, and one can see something of what drives him. The outstanding thing seems to be the heart of the Gospel, the good newsd of the love of God, and Archbishop Anastasios himself comes across as someone filled with the love of God and the desire to share that love with others.
Many know Archbishop Anastasios as a missiologist, but his writings and actions are filled with a missional spirit. Father Luke gives an example from a conference of Orthodox theological schools in 2001:
Father Luke also describes some of the difficulties and personal opposition faced by Archbishop Anastasios, and in some ways they are obstacles to Orthodox mission everywhere. When Archbishop Athanasios first went to Albania in 1991 he was regarded with hostility by the Albanian government, because he was Greek. Albanian nationalists in America spoke against him at every opportunity. On the other hand, Greek nationalists criticised him for not being Greek enough, and for re-establishing an Albanian Church rather than a Greek one.
A Romanian metropolitan tried to establish a diocese for the Vlach-speaking people, and a Greek metropolitan claimed that parts of southern Albania fell under his jurisdiction.
But Archbishop Anastasios said that where people spoke Greek (as they did in the south of Albania) they could have Greek services, where they spoke Albanian, they would have Albanian services, and where the people were Vlach, they too could have services in their own language. He inisted that there was only one Orthodox Church in Albania:
Since the Second World War Albania had been ruled by the communist dictator Enver Hoxha (pronounced Hodja), who in 1967 decided that Albania was to the the world's first officially atheist country, with no religion at all being allowed. So for 24 years, until 1991, no religion was allowed. Every church, jammi and tekke was closed, and either demolished or converted to secular uses.
In 1991 religious freedom was restored, but the Orthodox Church was in a bad way. Most of the clergy had been killed or imprisoned. Bishop Anastasios Yannoulatos was sent there to try to reestablish the life of the church. There could not have been a better choice; he was the most outstanding Orthodox missiologist of the 20th century.
Luke Veronis met Bishop Anastasios when on a short-term mission trip to Kenya, and this sparked his missionary vocation. He returned to America, where he studied missiology, and then returned a second time to East Africa for a longer stint. Over the next few years he led several short-term mission teams to East Africa while studying theology at Holy Chross Seminary in Brookline, Massachusetts.
After he had been in Albania for a while, Luke Veronis returned to America, where he married Faith and was ordained as a deacon, and together they returned to Albania, where he was later ordained priest by Archbishop Anastasios.
During their time in Albania there were two huge upheavals. The first was in 1997, when most of the people in the country lost all their savings in the collapse of a pyramid scheme, in which many, unused to the capitalist system, had unwisely invested their life saivings. The scheme was publicly endorsed by some prominent government leaders. When the scheme collapsed there was widespread chaos and looting, and people broke into military arsenals and stole guns. Hundreds were killed in the enusing fighting, not a few by bullets fired into the air by exuberant rioters.
The second upheaval was the influx of over a million refugees from Kosovo, who fled after the Nato bombing of Yugoslavia in 1999. Father Luke describes the church's ministry to the refugees, and how some close personal relationships were forged with them, which continued even after they had returned, or had moved on to other countries.
This book is is not a formal treatise on mission or mission history, but a kind of expanded missionary journal, with a description of Fr Luke's work, and impressions of it, and reflection on the nature of mission and the motivation of missionaries. In that sense it is more inspirational than informational, and more missional than missiological. That also, in a sense, makes me the wrong person to review the book, because part of Father Luke's story is also part of my story, since he arranged for me to go to Albania to lecture on missiology to students of the seminary at Shen Vlash, where he was the Dean, and I also met Archbishop Anastasios, and several of the people he mentions in the book.
The book also gives some personal glimpses of Archbishop Anastasios, which are also very useful, and one can see something of what drives him. The outstanding thing seems to be the heart of the Gospel, the good newsd of the love of God, and Archbishop Anastasios himself comes across as someone filled with the love of God and the desire to share that love with others.
Many know Archbishop Anastasios as a missiologist, but his writings and actions are filled with a missional spirit. Father Luke gives an example from a conference of Orthodox theological schools in 2001:
When one theologian tried to say that the authentic type of Orthodox missions was simply to stay where we are and shine a light so that others come to us, Archbishop Anastasios warned him that "we are in danger of creating spiritual ghettos only for ourselves and no one else. This has nothing to do with the 'apostolic, catholic' spirit of our forebears. If our theology is authentic and sincere, then it must spur us on toward missions. Orthodox theology and missiology are not separate. Our theology motivates us for mission."
Father Luke also describes some of the difficulties and personal opposition faced by Archbishop Anastasios, and in some ways they are obstacles to Orthodox mission everywhere. When Archbishop Athanasios first went to Albania in 1991 he was regarded with hostility by the Albanian government, because he was Greek. Albanian nationalists in America spoke against him at every opportunity. On the other hand, Greek nationalists criticised him for not being Greek enough, and for re-establishing an Albanian Church rather than a Greek one.
A Romanian metropolitan tried to establish a diocese for the Vlach-speaking people, and a Greek metropolitan claimed that parts of southern Albania fell under his jurisdiction.
But Archbishop Anastasios said that where people spoke Greek (as they did in the south of Albania) they could have Greek services, where they spoke Albanian, they would have Albanian services, and where the people were Vlach, they too could have services in their own language. He inisted that there was only one Orthodox Church in Albania:
Do you think the forest is more beautiful if there is only one kind of tree? All the various trees must grow freely under the rays of the sun. The key to proper development is love and freedom...
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