Immediately after the statement of Blerta Josifi - the only survivor of the Josifi family - who allegedly stated that she was part of the Evangelical Church some time ago, the latter reacted to the media through its representatives.
The President of the Evangelical Brotherhood of Albania, Ylli Doçi, called it "the failure of their religion if the girls were part of the church and killed themselves." he stressed that every religion believes in resurrection, but condemns suicide.
Part of his statement (via Report Tv):
?[...] It was said at first that they were Jehovah's Witnesses. The idea of resurrection as absurd was emphasized as problematic when the fact is that all religions believe in resurrection and the very idea of resurrection is a factor of encouragement for heroic life in the face of any challenge and not capitulation before death. [...] Let us mourn the lost lives and wish them a speedy recovery, then judge the factors, analyze them wisely, and then protect the harmony and mental health of our society, which is aggravated by pandemics these days. ?
He added:
"I don't know all the people who come to church. If these families have been and are, they understand the Gospel themselves, you have to understand an Evangelist comes from the Gospel, 'good news', and the good news is 'God loves us'. If they were Gospel, they could come to church meetings, but it doesn't mean you are evangelical, what they did would be a failure of our faith. If an evangelist manages to go against his own faith, as these girls go starving to death, that's it "Failure, we encourage you to go beyond sacrifices. The victory is to stand up to any difficulties with hope. In the Bible, suicide is not glorified. I don't know what they meant."
The Secretary General of the Evangelical Brotherhood, Ergest Biti, said that "the Josifi family was a member of this religious community 15 years ago in Përmet, but when they came to Tirana, they were visitors, but not members."
"Based on the communications, they were 15 years ago in Përmet, while in Tirana they may have been visitors, but they do not turn out to be members of this church. The churches are open every day, they receive books, but they have not been part of the Church. I am a pastor in Kombinat and I have never heard of this family [...] ?
