On Thursday, September 18, 2014, Khader Baramki gave a lunchtime presentation in which he shared his summer field experience of serving on a short-term Mission Team in Albania. Khader, a third year seminarian studying in the Master of Divinity (M.Div.) program at St. Tikhon's Orthodox Theological Seminary, was the first student from Jerusalem to be selected to a mission team sponsored by the Orthodox Christian Mission Center (OCMC).

The mission was a part of a class entitled, “The Missiology of Archbishop Anastasios (Yannoulatos) of Albania,” taught by Fr. Luke Veronis, a professor at Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology in Brookline, MA. During this summer program, Fr. Luke takes 12 Seminarians to Albania. While there, they visit hubs of Orthodox Christian activity, including parishes, monasteries, orphanages, and education centers. Khader made stops in Tirana, Korça and Durrës, as well as other smaller towns.

While in Tirana (Albania’s capital city), Khader had the opportunity to be present at the consecration of The Resurrection of Christ Cathedral on June 1, 2014. His All-Holiness, the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I consecrated the Cathedral, together with His Beatitude, Archbishop Anastasios (Yannoulatos) and many Primates and representatives of the world’s Orthodox Churches, including Archbishop Nikon (Liolin) of the Orthodox Church in America.

Khader also shared stories of his time in Durres, where the team visited the monastery of Shen Vlash, Resurrection of Christ Theological Academy, and the “Home of Hope” Orthodox Children’s Orphanage. Their visit to the Orphanage also coincided with a visit by the Patriarch of Jerusalem, Theophilos (Giannopoulos)  III.