Abp Joan about Gospel: "I felt the same joy that I had when I was a child"

Archbishop Joan. Photo: UOJ-USA

In an interview with UOJ in America, Archbishop Joan, the Primate of the Orthodox Church of Albania, shared the story of his conversion to faith and explained why the Gospel became for him not simply a book, but a living encounter with truth.

The Archbishop grew up in a large family – one of eight children, and the youngest among them. According to him, his childhood was filled with a special joy – a sense of security, warmth, and closeness with his brothers and sisters. He loved reading – books, stories, and legends. But as he grew older, philosophy and history entered his life, and that childhood joy quietly slipped away.

Archbishop Joan first read the Gospel in his final year of school. The book was in French – a language he had already mastered by that time. In communist Albania, finding a copy of the Gospel was extremely dangerous: possession of religious literature carried a sentence of no less than ten years in prison. Nevertheless, an acquaintance brought it to his home.

“When I read the Gospel I felt something not strange but something shocking me a little bit. I felt the same joy that I had when I was a child, and in my mind I thanked God that he brought back me the joy,” the Archbishop said.

According to him, he believed from the very first reading – without proofs, without long doubts. He described it as a “psychological truth”: when you hear something and immediately know that it is true without any need to prove it. “So, the same I felt when I read the Gospel. I was convinced that was truth in this book, and so started my journey."

Earlier, the UOJ wrote that the Albanian Primate had spoken about ways to resolve the OCU issue.

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