In 1991, when religion began to emerge from underground, no Orthodox bishops at all had survived, and less than twenty Orthodox priests were still alive, half of them too infirm to officiate. Anastasios is a well known theologian, professor of the Theological School at the University of Athens, and a member of the Athens Academy. Besides his academic work, he has worked successfully as a missionary in East Africa. In 1992, the Holy Synod of the Patriarchate elected him as Archbishop of Tirana and all Albania. Anastasios is assigned the difficult task of reconstructing a Church totally destroyed by the fierce communist persecution.
Problems are still enormous.
There are not enough priests. The Albanian state does not allow the entrance to the country of the elected Bishops, although it allowed the entrance of non-Albanian members of the Catholic and Muslim clergy. The Church does not have a cathedral, since the old cathedral has been destroyed, and a hotel has been built upon its ruins. Monasteries have been taken away. Despite these problems, the Orthodox Church made significant progress in these last years.