Met. Ilia of the Albanian Diocese has reposed

(gazetadielli.com) - Metropolitan Ilia (Katre) of Philomelion of the Albanian Orthodox Diocese of America passed away at the age of 85. The announcement was posted today by the Orthodox Observer News. “It is with deep sorrow and every hope in the Lord’s resurrection that His Eminence Archbishop Elpidophoros of America announces the sudden passing of Metropolitan Ilia (Katre) of Philomelion of the Albanian Orthodox Diocese of America,” the notification read. The Archbishop called his passing “a significant loss for Orthodoxy in America.”

Although he was advanced in years, the remarkable bishop was highly involved and actively engaged with the Church. The sudden departure of Metropolitan Ilia comes at a critical time for the Albanian Orthodox Diocese of America. He was ordained to the Holy Priesthood by Bishop Mark in Holy Trinity Church, South Boston and assigned to be pastor of that parish in 1962. Forty years later, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew proposed that a widowed Father Ilia be ordained bishop for the Albanian Orthodox Diocese of America of the Ecumenical Patriarchate.

In 2014, on the second anniversary of consecration of the Resurrection of Christ Cathedral, a Divine Liturgy in Tirana was celebrated by Archbishop Anastasios and other members of the Holy Synod of the Autocephalous Orthodox Church of Albania, among whom was His Grace Ilia.

In a November 2016 video, Bishop Katre and Father Emmanuel Lemelson performed the blessing of a property where a family chapel was being built in Vermont, dedicated to St. Catherine of Alexandria. It is a ceremony rooted in the tradition of the Orthodox faith.

Bishop Ilia, who has ministered in the Church of Albania, was elevated to the rank of archbishop and granted the title of Metropolitan in 2019.