Pauline & Archbishop Anastasios eat together at the Soup Kitchen
The Archbishop Visits the Soup Kitchen
On March 17th, 2005 Archbishop Anastasios visited the Soup Kitchen. It was a great day for us, to share the realization of his vision for having an Orthodox Soup Kitchen in Tirana, caring for the hungry. We are extremely grateful to the Archbishop, not only for asking us to manage this project, but also for providing the most important, and the most expensive, piece of equipment involved in the
Soup Kitchen: the beautiful building that houses our operation.
Upon his arrival, his Beatitude moved effortlessly among the people waiting for the lunch, offering a kind word here and an encouragement there. The people gravitated to him and obviously enjoyed his presence. Most Albanians, even the very poor, know the history of the Archbishop's work to resurrect the Orthodox Church after 50 years of communist rule here in Albania.
After touring the facility, and asking a lot of good questions about the operation, his Beatitude said the blessing for the lunch and we all began to eat together. He asked us what name we thought should be given to the Soup Kitchen. After some discussion, he came up with the "Shoqeria Dashurise", which roughly means "Brotherhood of Love" in English.
We continue to keep the Archbishop updated on the operation of the Soup Kitchen. We are talking about how to reach the people that come to the kitchen spiritually. We are working on a bible study program that we hope to offer to our interested patrons in the summer.
We again want to thank the Archbishop for his vision of the Soup Kitchen, his confidence in our management of the project, and finally for our beautiful building!
Archbishop Anastasios greets the people at the Soup Kitchen
