{"id":193131,"date":"2018-05-02T12:54:28","date_gmt":"2018-05-02T09:54:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/basilica.ro\/?p=193131"},"modified":"2018-05-02T12:54:28","modified_gmt":"2018-05-02T09:54:28","slug":"christs-resurrection-is-a-medicine-for-the-healing-of-the-world-paralyzed-by-sin-russian-patriarch-kirill-in-albania","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arhiva.basilica.ro\/en\/christs-resurrection-is-a-medicine-for-the-healing-of-the-world-paralyzed-by-sin-russian-patriarch-kirill-in-albania\/","title":{"rendered":"Christ\u2019s Resurrection is a medicine for the healing of the world paralyzed by sin \u2013 Russian Patriarch Kirill in Albania"},"content":{"rendered":"

During the Divine Liturgy celebrated Sunday at the Resurrection Cathedral in Tirana, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow said that \u2018the healing of the paralytic was meant to remind us that Christ\u2019s Resurrection is a medicine, a means to heal our mortal world, paralyzed by sin and estrangement from God.\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

On the fourth Sunday after Pascha, His Beatitude Patriarch Kirill presided over the Divine Liturgy at the Resurrection Cathedral in the capital of Albania having as concelebrant the Primate of the Albanian Orthodox Church, His Beatitude Archbishop Anastasios.<\/p>\n

Present in Albania for the first time since his election as Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church, His Beatitude Patr. Kirill offered his reflections on the healing of the paralyzed man linking this miracle to the miracle of the Resurrection.<\/p>\n

\u2018Resurrection is the utter supernatural change of human nature that one can imagine.\u2019<\/p>\n

\"Patriarhul<\/a>
Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and Archbishop Anastasios of Albania concelebrating the Divine Liturgy in Tirana, 2018. Photo: Oleg Varov \/ Moscow Patriarchate<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Patriarch of Moscow recalled that Apostle Paul was mocked by the Athenian philosophers when he preached about the resurrection of the dead: \u2018We want to hear you again on this subject\u2019 (Acts 17:32).<\/p>\n

\u2018For a pagan intellectual of those times it was incomprehensible that a man \u2013 an insignificant grain of sand in a huge cosmos \u2013 is able to surpass a fundamental law of nature like death.\u2019<\/p>\n

The revival of the Albanian Church<\/h4>\n

In his sermon, the Patriarch of Russia drew a parallel between the raising of Tabitha by St Peter as related by the Book of Acts and the history of the Albanian Orthodox Church.<\/p>\n

\u2018Over the ages, it (the Church of Albania) served its people in the most difficult conditions; it was almost completely destroyed in the terrible years of the atheist persecution, but rose again to carry its ministry for the people with new powers by the help of God,\u2019 the Patriarch of Moscow said at the 29 April Liturgy in Tirana.<\/p>\n

\"Arhiepiscopul<\/a>
Archbishop Anastasios visiting the ruins of a church in Tirana in 1991. Photo: AOC<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

He noted that the fate of the Albanian Church is associated with the patronal feast of the Resurrection Cathedral and the name of Archbishop Anastasios, which comes from the Greek word anastasis<\/em>, meaning resurrection.<\/p>\n

Resurrection is triumph over evil<\/h4>\n

\u2018For us, the resurrection is a triumph over the evil in the world, an unconditional victory over it. The faith in the crucified and risen Christ opens the way to the most effective opposition to evil, but also to the peaceful and compassionate confrontation with people.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018The force and courage of Christians do not stand in aggression or the desire for revenge, but in a gentle and unequal profession of truth in all conditions, in a desire to always serve this truth.\u2019<\/p>\n

Christian martyrdom is the victory of life<\/h4>\n

The patriarch spoke about Christian martyrdom that \u2018is not only a heroic death in the struggle for one\u2019s beliefs: it is first an act of compassion for the lost.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018We say that martyrs, by their death, bear witness to Christ.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018A martyr\u2019s way is an effort to correct, even with the cost of their own life, human untruth, to heal the spiritual blindness of their fellows through the light of the Divine Truth.\u2019<\/p>\n

Patriarch Kirill praised the martyrs by the help of whom \u2018our Churches survived during the terrible atheistic persecution of the 20th<\/sup> century: with the gentleness and the truth of their witness, they have overcome and trampled down upon death and the suffering of the fallen world.\u2019<\/p>\n

Christian martyrdom is not death, but rather the opposite, the victory of full life, the Patriarch said.<\/p>\n

Love and compassion are the weapons of the Church<\/h4>\n

His Beatitude Patriarch Kirill pointed out that \u2018the Church is not able to prevent all the pain and misfortunes that the evil human will may bring into the world.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018It can oppose evil and death with its unique and unmistakeable weapon of life \u2013 the love and compassion for the entire human race.\u2019<\/p>\n

Resurrection Cathedral in Tirana<\/h4>\n

The irenical visit culminated with the Divine Liturgy celebrated at the Resurrection Cathedral in Tirana, whose construction was completed in 2012 and which represents a model of contemporary Christian architecture.<\/p>\n

The cathedral was built on a land granted by the Albanian government as a compensation for the metropolitan cathedral demolished in 1967 by Enver Hoxha\u2019s communist regime.<\/p>\n

\"Catedrala<\/a>
Resurrection Cathedral in Tirana, Albania, 2018. Photo: Oleg Varov \/ Moscow Patriarchate<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Over the past 25 years, Albanian Orthodox Christians have restored 160 churches and have built the same number of new places of worship.<\/p>\n

The Albanian Orthodox Church revived over the past 25 years after an almost total destruction, making a notable contribution to the country\u2019s restructuring<\/p>\n

Photography courtesy of Oleg Varov \/ Moscow Patriarchate<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

During the Divine Liturgy celebrated Sunday at the Resurrection Cathedral in Tirana, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow said that \u2018the healing of the paralytic was meant to remind us that Christ\u2019s Resurrection is a medicine, a means to heal our mortal world, paralyzed by sin and estrangement from God.\u2019 On the fourth Sunday after Pascha, His…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":193041,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[670,12281,12262,5954,3701,10386,15312,54,1393,15313,1053,1288],"class_list":["post-193131","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-autocephalous-orthodox-churches","tag-albania","tag-albanian-orthodox-church","tag-archbishop-anastasios","tag-healing","tag-homily","tag-orthodox-news","tag-paralyzed","tag-patriarch-kirill","tag-resurrection","tag-resurrection-cathedral","tag-sermon","tag-visit"],"better_featured_image":{"id":193041,"alt_text":"Patriarhul Kirill al Moscovei in Albania","caption":"Preafericitul P\u0103rinte Kirill, Patriarhul Moscovei \u0219i al \u00eentregii Rusii, \u00een timpul sfintei liturghii la Catedrala \u00cenvierea Domnului din Tirana, Albania. Foto: Oleg Varov\/Patriarhia Moscovei","description":"","media_type":"image","media_details":{"width":1024,"height":576,"file":"2018\/04\/patriarhul-kirill-albania.jpg","sizes":{"thumbnail":{"file":"patriarhul-kirill-albania-360x360.jpg","width":360,"height":360,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/arhiva.basilica.ro\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/patriarhul-kirill-albania-360x360.jpg"},"medium":{"file":"patriarhul-kirill-albania-890x501.jpg","width":890,"height":501,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/arhiva.basilica.ro\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/patriarhul-kirill-albania-890x501.jpg"},"large":{"file":"patriarhul-kirill-albania-1024x576.jpg","width":1024,"height":576,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/arhiva.basilica.ro\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/patriarhul-kirill-albania-1024x576.jpg"}},"image_meta":{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0","keywords":[]}},"post":193039,"source_url":"https:\/\/arhiva.basilica.ro\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/patriarhul-kirill-albania.jpg"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arhiva.basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193131\/"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arhiva.basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arhiva.basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post\/"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arhiva.basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3\/"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arhiva.basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments\/?post=193131"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/arhiva.basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193131\/revisions\/"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arhiva.basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/193041\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arhiva.basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/?parent=193131"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arhiva.basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories\/?post=193131"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arhiva.basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags\/?post=193131"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}