Under Archbishop Anastasios Yannoulatos’ leadership, after the fall of communism, more than 400 parishes were reopened and several new churches were built.

Archbishop Anastasios, a key figure in global Orthodoxy, died at the age of 95. He led the Albanian Orthodox Church since 1992, revitalizing it after its communist-era ban.

The body of Archbishop Anastasios of Tirana, Durrës and All Albania who died on Saturday is lying in state at the Athens Orthodox cathedral.

A woman kisses the body of the late Albania's Archbishop Anastasios during a religious ceremony inside the Athens Orthodox Cathedral, in Athens, Greece, Sunday, Jan. 26, 2025. (AP Photo/)

The late Archbishop Anastasios of Albania began his final journey today as his relic departed from the Cathedral of Athens at 10:00 a.m., accompanied by the

Anastasios' body will remain at the church until Monday morning, when it will be transported to Albania for a funeral service and burial.

Anastasios Yannoulatos, Archbishop of Tirana, Durrës, and All Albania, has died at the age of 95 in Athens, Greece.

Archbishop Anastasios, the head of the Albanian Orthodox Church for three decades, has died aged 95 in an Athens hospital after being airlifted to the Greek capital following a virus infection. The archbishop had been taken to the Greek capital on a Greek air force plane four days after being admitted to hospital in Tirana with what Church officials called a "seasonal virus".

Archbishop Anastasios, an ecumenical movement leader credited with helping to revitalize the Orthodox Church in Muslim-majority Albania, has died at the age of 95.

Greece's President Katerina Sakellaropoulou, right, and Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, second right, attend a religious ceremony for the late Albania's Archbishop Anastasios inside the Athens Orthodox Cathedral,

Archbishop Anastasios, who revived the Orthodox Church of Albania after the fall of the communist regime in the country, has died

Once known as "the North Korea of Europe", Albania is turning to its millennia-old sites and rich cultural heritage to recast its image.