Reception at Prime Minister’s office for His Holiness Kirill, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia:
Prime Minister Edi Rama: I wish you a wholeheartedly welcome! It is naturally an honour to have you with us. The Russian church, apart from religion, represents an extraordinary centre of art and culture. Andrei Rublev, Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninoff, as well as liturgies by Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninoff are for me personally a point of reference.
I am really pleased that your visit also coincides with the 110th anniversary of the Autocephalous Orthodox Church of Albania. The first Albanian Orthodox Church was the Church of St. George in Boston and its founder, Monsignor Fan Noli was ordained as a priest by the New York’s Russian bishop, Monsignor Platon. So your April-end visit to Albania is a beautiful coincidence as we celebrated birthday of the Albanian Autocephalous Church in March.
You said you were impressed by great transformations taking place in Tirana. I hope you leave with best impressions from Albania.
His Holiness Kirill, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia: Your Excellency, thank you very much for this reception! I am really impressed with these achievements and the great work that has been done here in Tirana. These are really incredible transformations. I told Mr. Anastasios today that during my second visit here – I visited Tirana for first time in 2003 – this country has been transformed and is no longer recognizable. Tirana has changed a lot and now it is a very beautiful city. I know this is your great merit because you have previously served as Mayor of Tirana. I would like to congratulate you for those great works you have done while serving in that post. I believe Tirana was lucky to be headed by a man of art for several years. As an artist you know it very well that aesthetic issues play a very big part in people’s life. Aesthetics is the outward appearance of harmony, but when talking about harmony, we are not talking only about the outside things, but also about the inner ones. I can now highlight again the close relationship between the people of art and culture and the Church’s works. Andrei Rublev has created his masterpieces because they embody his spiritual experience.
During one of my trips, I am not telling exactly where, I was offered the opportunity to look at some modern art examples there. I am not going to tell the painting’s name, but when they showed it to me and then asked what my impression of that painting was and, being an Orthodox and a faithful, they surely expected me to criticize that painting as it was far away from my culture perceptions. My response sounded strange to those people. I said that picture was powerful. I was deeply moved by it.
They asked me whether I could explain it.
Yes of course, I will explain it now. I said, this work of art embodies the painter’s mood.
Through art, as if through a small window, we can look into a man’s heart. Nothing else but the art can so clearly convey the spiritual world of the man. Therefore in no way I would say this is good or that’s bad. I say this is good if it is authentic and it has conveyed mood. If it is authentic, it’s wonderful, even if ugly in the aesthetic aspect.
