"Some Albanians have spent 200,000 euros for a grave"; "We are dead while asleep"

 Ylli Gurra while being interviewed in Goodmorging Albanians in Euronews

In Euronews Albania, the topic "Funerals and Weddings" was discussed and a former mufti and an orthodox theologian were invited. 

Ylli Gurra, the former Mufti of Tirana, spoke on the high costs incurred by Albanians for a funeral ceremony.

In his speech, Gurra said that there are the so-called Albanian "VIPs" who have spent 200 thousand euros for a grave for their family member.

He also added that people who spend large sums of money to build a grave with imported marble take up a significant amount of space in cemeteries, forcing others to bury 2-3 people together.

"The anarchy of 30 years has accompanied the dead, not for their fault but for our fault. From time to time I go to Sharrë and Tufîna cemeteries, and we have a lot of expenses beyond the limit. There are expenses of 100,000 euros per grave. I also have names that this is not the place to mention, 200 thousand euros in expenses. They are to some extent VIP persons, but there are also normal people with 30-50 thousand euros for a grave.

Family members after a few years go to that repentance that was unnecessary. Plus they have occupied a very large space and others are forced to carry out burials on top of burials," Gurra said.

While the orthodox theologian Theologian Miron Çako stated that we die every time we sleep and wake up every time we wake up.

"Death for us is a temporary sleep. We die and are resurrected every day. Every time we lie down in bed and cover ourselves, we have a death. Sleep takes you away from reality. This is death. It leaves the physical reality and goes into another reality. Awakening is how we wake up and start the activity," he said.