Christian witness to peace lies in the ability to resist violence without responding with hatred, Archbishop John of Tirana and All Albania said during the international “Prayer for Peace” meeting in Assisi, Italy, on October 27, according to Radio Ngjallja.

In his presentation, titled “Modern Martyrs: Witnesses to Goodness,” the head of the Albanian Orthodox Church spoke about Christians who preserved their faith amid persecution. He emphasized that true courage lies not in seeking to punish one’s persecutors but in maintaining love even in the face of cruelty.

As an example, Archbishop John recounted the story of Father George, a priest who lived in Albania during the anti-religious persecutions of the 20th century. Deprived of the right to celebrate services and forbidden to wear clerical garments or religious symbols, the priest earned his living by working on road repairs.

One day, several young men who knew of his priestly past decided to humiliate him. One of them drew a cross on the ground and demanded that the elderly priest step on it. Instead, Father George knelt down and lay over the image of the cross, covering it with his body.

“There was neither anger nor hatred in his gaze,” Archbishop John said, describing the priest’s reaction. His actions left the young men speechless, as they encountered a man who refused to respond to humiliation with further humiliation.

The Archbishop presented the story as an example of the distinctively Christian understanding of peace—not merely as the absence of conflict, but as the refusal to allow hostility to take possession of one’s heart.

“Do not become like those who persecute you; do not allow another person’s hatred to give birth to hatred within you; preserve the freedom to love, even when another seeks to deprive you of every other freedom,” he said, describing the essence of Christian resistance to evil.

Archbishop John stressed that accepting suffering does not mean passively submitting to injustice. Rather, it means confronting evil without adopting its methods and without surrendering one’s human dignity.

He also recalled the martyr Nicodemus, who was executed in 1722 in the Albanian city of Berat. According to the account presented by the Archbishop, the saint’s steadfastness in the face of torture so deeply impressed the elders of three neighboring villages that they abandoned their plans to embrace Islam and preserved the Christian faith of their communities.

Addressing the forum participants, Archbishop John noted that Christian history was shaped not only by major historical events but also in prisons, places of exile, poor homes and small villages, where people continued to pray despite persecution.

“Christ did not promise us a world without suffering. But He revealed to us that suffering, violence and death will never have the final word. The final word belongs to the Resurrection,” Archbishop John declared.

The international “Prayer for Peace” meeting took place in Assisi from October 25 to 27 under the theme “A Peace Without Weapons and a Peace That Disarms.” Organized by the Catholic Community of Sant’Egidio, the gathering brought together representatives of Christian churches and other religions to discuss ways of overcoming conflicts, promoting dialogue and strengthening peace.