On Sunday, September 30, 2008, I departed on a most memorable trip. At the invitation of His Grace Bishop Ilia Katre, Bishop of the Albanian Orthodox Church in America and the blessings of the Archbishop of Albania, Anastasios, I traveled to Albania as an official representative of the Albanian Orthodox Church in America. Immediately following Sunday services, and what seemed like hundreds of farewell hugs from parishioners, I left for Albania. I was very pleased to have my cousin, Peter Thameli as a traveling companion.

We flew out of Logan Airport and after a stopover in Milan; we flew into the Tirana Airport at 11:40 AM Monday morning. A driver was waiting and drove us to Holy Resurrection Seminary and the monastery of St. Vlash just outside of Durres. The complex is beautiful and sits atop a high hill overlooking Durres and the Adriatic Sea. While it had been a monastery prior to the Communist regime, it had been completely destroyed by the Communist Government. However, today it stands beautifully rebuilt and extremely functional as a School of Theology and a monastery. Our accommodations were extremely clean and well cared for throughout our stay. For me it proved to be a wonderful opportunity to rest, pray, fast, and spend time with the students. We stayed for 5 days and spent some of the time touring upper Albania. His Grace Bishop Elia Katre, who is the Director of the seminary, gave us his personal driver along with Deacon Andon who served as our guide.

The seminary program is very well organized. The day begins with Services at 7:00 am followed by a short time for breakfast and at 8:30 am classes begin. Lunch is served at 1:00 pm followed by more classes until 4:00 pm. At 5:00 pm, everyone returns to the chapel for services followed by supper. When I was first notified of the schedule, I realized I did not have an alarm clock in my room. One of the seminary students told me not to worry since we would be awaken by the church bells which rung at 6:30 am calling everyone to services at 7:00 pm. However, the entire time I was at the seminary, I was awakened at 4:30 am by the crowing of roosters outside my window. While in Durres we visited the beautiful newly constructed church of Saints Peter and Paul. Two priests currently serve that parish. One of the priests was ordained at age 55 after the collapse of Communism in Albania. However, before being ordained and under Communist rule, he performed many baptisms in secret. If he had been caught, he would have been sent to jail for eight years and his entire family sent to a labor camp (gulag). I lectured in several of the seminary classes and also attended classes. My favorite class to attend was the class in Byzantine chant. Meals were interesting. A typical breakfast consisted of fresh bread and jam, tea or warm milk, feta cheese olives and fresh fruit picked from one of the trees on the seminary grounds. Lunch might consist of broiled red peppers swimming in olive oil, generous portions of bread, feta cheese and olives, along with tea or warm milk and of course fresh fruit. Supper might consist of a dish of spaghetti sprinkled with cheese, fresh bread, feta cheese, olives, warm milk or tea and the ever present fresh fruit.

Another very important facility located at the seminary/monastery is an orphanage named Hope House. They have approximately 35 children up to age 12 along with an excellent staff of teachers. Every evening after supper, I spent time with the children watching videos and television. I will never forget the love and respect they displayed toward me. On my last evening with the children they hugged and kissed me and made me promise to return.

After 5 days we left for Korca and on the way, stopped in Pogradec to visit with Father Todi who is the rector of one of the churches in that city. After a tour of his church, he took us for lunch on the shores of Lake Ohrid. There we dined on the famous fish called koran which is found only in that lake. Fr. Todi was a wonderful story teller and we really enjoyed his company.

We no sooner arrived in Korca when we received a number of visitors including numerous relatives of ours. Also, it was wonderful to be greeted by Father Sotir Dinka who had just returned from his visit in America. He had been in Worcester for the wedding of his niece and served with me at St. Mary’s on several occasions. In the evening I met with Bishop Joan of Korca. He invited me to participate in services Sunday morning at the new Cathedral of the Resurrection in Korca. I will never forget the experience of serving as a priest at the Altar of the cathedral. As it turned out, that particular day was the day my beloved mother had passed away a number of years ago. I was treated with the utmost respect and given the opportunity to speak to the congregation in Albanian at the end of the service. The Divine Liturgy was concelebrated by Bishop Joan, five priests and 3 deacons. I had an opportunity to chant many of the petitions in Albanian during the service along with the other clergy and deacons present. My Albanian passed the test. After the service, I again met with His Grace Bishop Joan only to then be whisked away by family and friends for an afternoon of dining and visiting different relatives.

Early Monday morning, my cousin who is an architect and lives in Korca picked us up and we drove to Boria and visited a very old church. From there, we drove to Leskovik and viewed more churches. We then returned to Korca and the museum at the old Metropolia of Korca. Here we viewed an ancient icon dating back to 880 AD. We then drove to a fish farm in Bobostichia for a fish dinner and pastries.

Tuesday morning, Father Sotir Dinka accompanied by Father Elias from the Cathedral in Korca picked me up and we returned to Bobostichia for roasted lamb and had a lengthy conversation regarding the church in Albania and America. Upon my return to the hotel, I found a member of my father’s family waiting for me. We talked and attempted to sort out our relationship. Not getting very far, he suggested we drive up to Bellovoda where his 89-year-old mother lived. The village sits on the side of a mountain and the total human population is 7 people along with a few cats and dogs. As we stopped and exited the car, I saw a very old woman dressed in black walking down the hill with the help of a cane in her right hand and to my amazement a cell phone in her left hand. It was like going back to the 13^th century and suddenly transposed back into the 21th century. With her help and the help of another village elder, we made the family connections we were searching for. Once the connections were made and she figured out who I was, she hugged me and began to cry. While in Bellovoda we saw the church of St. Athanas which had been destroyed under Communism. It was rebuilt by residents of Bellovoda working in Italy, Greece and America. In the cemetery, next to the church, I found an old tombstone dating back to 1815, which had my father’s family name on it. In the evening after returning to Korca, more visiting and dining occurred. I saw the house my mother was born in as well as the house my father built with money he made in America. Both are located in what is referred to as the "old section of Korca."

Wednesday we said our farewells to everyone in Korca hired a driver and began our trip to Tirana. We had previously contacted one of my parishioners from Worcester who was now running a business in Albania. He had been awaiting our arrival and had invited us to stay with him. The drive from Korca to Tirana took approximately four hours. The drive was very pleasant on a new highway recently completed. Tirana reminded me of New York City; the traffic was horrendous but the city itself is undergoing major rebuilding. We dined at two different very upscale restaurants while in Tirana and Deacon Andon again joined us for a tour of Tirana. I also visited and spoke with the Bishop of Tirana, His Grace Bishop Andon. He was very personable and was amazed at my ability to speak Albanian fluently. My former parishioner also arranged for us to visit the new cathedral being built in Tirana on the site of an ancient cathedral which had been destroyed during the Communist era. The chief engineer provided us with a detailed tour. The sheer size of the facility, even through it was still under construction, amazed me. On my last day in Tirana I visited a primary school for children run by the Church. The director of the school is actually an American who went to Albania as a Protestant missionary who eventually converted to Orthodoxy. I especially enjoyed sitting in on a class in the English language. The sign on the wall of the classroom read: "Only English is spoken in this room".

At 3:00 am Friday morning we awoke and had a driver take us to the airport for the flight out of Albania at 5:25 AM. We arrived at Logan Airport on Friday late afternoon (keep in mind the time difference).