Archbishop of Albania Anastasios underwent emergency surgery on Friday at an Athens-area hospital to deal with severe intestinal bleeding.
The Primate of the Autocephalous Orthodox Church of Albania remained intubated at the Evangelismos Hospital’s ICU after the procedure, where he has been treated over the past week. He is reportedly in critical condition.
The 95-year-old Archbishop was first hospitalized in Tirana, Albania for flu symptoms late last month, before being flown to Athens when his condition worsened.
Anastasios, a native of Piraeus, Archbishop of Durres, Tirana and All Albania since 1992, and has been instrumental in reviving the Orthodox Church in the Adriatic country after more than 40 decades of harsh communist rule. The Stalinist regime under Enver Hoxha had, in fact, banned all religions in Albania in 1967 and outlawed public and private worship.
