Archbishop Dr Anastasios

Archbishop Dr Anastasios (Yannoulatos) of Tirana and All Albania (since 1992) :

Professor emeritus of the National University of Athens. Honorary Member of the Academy of Athens. Vice-President of the Conference of European Churches. President of the World Council of Churches (WCC). Honorary President of the World Conference of Religions for Peace (WCRP).

Born 4 November 1929, Piraeus, Greece.

Professor of History of Religions (1972-92). Dean of Theological School (University of Athens, 1983-86). B.D. and Th.D. (University of Athens). Th.D.h.c. D.D.h.c.Ph.D. h.c. from 15 Universities, University Faculties or Departments. Honorary Member of the Theological Academy of Moscow. Studied History of Religions and Ethnology at t he Universities of Hamburg and Marburg, Germany (under the “Alexander of Humbold Stiftung” Scholarship).

Studies world religions in countries where they prosper (e.g. India, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Korea, Japan, China, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania).

Languages: Greek, English, French, German. Working knowledge of Latin, Italian, Spanish, Albanian.

Deacon (1960), Priest-Archimandrite (1964). Bishop of Androussa (1972) and General Director of “Apostoliki Diakonia of the Church of Greece” (1971-1991). Acting bishop of East Africa (1981-1990). Archbishop of Albania (1992-). Moderator of the World Mission and Evangelism of the World Council of Churches (1984-1991).

Honored with many international awards, such as the Golden Medal with Laurel of the Red Cross, the Grand Cross of the Order of Honour of the Hellenic Republic, the Athenagoras Human Rights Award (New York), the Prize “for outstanding activities on strengthening Unity of Orthodox Christian Nations” (Moscow).

Author of 13 books, including Islam: A General Survey (in its 14^th ed. 2003), Universality and Orthodoxy (in its 5^th ed. 2005), translated into five languages. (In English: Facing the World: Orthodox Christian Essays on Global Concern, St. Valdimir’s Seminary Press, and WCC 2003). Published more than 230 essays and articles in eleven languages. Scholar in the field of inter-religious dialogue. He has reconstructed the Orthodox Autocephalous Church of Albania from ruins, in the midst of enormous difficulties, and he initiated important contributions to Albania in education, health care, development work, emergency relief, culture and ecology. Simultaneously he has struggled as a peacemaker within the country, and among neighbouring countries.