Rev. Agron Mece, here pictured with his wife Vitori, was called home to heaven on September 7, 2021. Rev. Mece was the president of the Confessional Evangelical Lutheran Church of Albania and was a regular participant in CELC meetings. The following obituary was written belatedly by Rev. Luke Wolfgramm.
Agron Mece was born in Korçë, Albania, on September 10, 1952. During his childhood, Agron’s family moved to Albania’s chief port city, Durrës, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. In 1976, after completing his degree in Russian and Albanian language at the University of Tirana, Agron returned home to Durrës. Here he worked as a teacher until 1981 and then as an administrator for education until 1994. He also worked a short time as a Russian translator for an export company.
During his days in Tirana, Agron met Vitori Kasa who was studying English at the university. Agron and Vitori married on November 6, 1977. God blessed them with two children, a son, Dorian, and a daughter, Anjeza.
The Holy Spirit won Agron’s heart in a most interesting way. In the early 1990s, Vitori translated some letters from an American WELS member. This believer wanted his Albanian relatives to know about our Savior, the Lord Jesus. Moved by God’s good news, Agron and Vitori sought and eventually contacted WELS missionaries Kirby Spevacek and Richard Russow. The pastors helped nurture the couple’s new faith in Christ. In 1995, Agron and Vitori were baptized. Because there was no pastor, Vitori first baptized her husband. Agron then baptized his wife and children.
Agron immediately began hosting worship services in his home. About ten people gathered to hear Agron read sermons provided by missionaries serving in Bulgaria which Vitori translated into Albanian. Missionaries Kirby Spevacek, Richard Russow, and Greg Bey made regular trips to Durrës and began preparing Agron for public ministry.
In 1997, civil war broke out in Albania. For a time Agron sheltered the Spevaceks and Russows in his apartment. Early in 1998, he helped the American families board an Italian naval vessel and escape to safety. God protected the Meces and the Albanian believers during the crisis.
From 2003 until 2006, the Meces lived in Canada. In 2006, Agron and his family returned to Albania and bought an apartment in the capital city of Tirana. Here with God’s blessing, Agron gathered a congregation. God had provided another man to serve Durrës, seminarian Mikel Bishka. Missionary Bruce Ahlers served Albania from 2003 until 2008 and taught seminary classes for Agron and Mikel. After this, seminary rector John Vogt made regular visits and continued pastoral training. Other instructors taught classes online. Finally in 2013, Agron and Mikel were ordained at a festival worship service in Durrës. WELS mission representatives James Hoff, John Vogt, and Ron Drektrah were present at the historic ordination.
God provided strength for Agron to serve souls in Albania for more than twenty years. Those who mourn him say, “He was cut out to be a pastor.” Agron loved people and wanted to help them. During his ministry, Agron modeled the peace, joy, warmth, and generosity of God’s Son who offered himself on the cross to forgive us guilty sinners and to win eternal life for us in our Father’s heavenly home.
Late in the evening of September 7, 2021, God suddenly called Agron to eternal rest. Two days later, Pastors Nikolla and Mikel Bishka conducted a graveside funeral in Tirana. Nikolla comforted Agron’s family—his wife, children, brothers and sisters—with the words of Psalm 23: “The LORD is my shepherd. … Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.”
Agron is survived by his wife, Vitori (nee Kasa); his son, Dorian, married to Laura (nee Çyçja) with grandson, Alex; and his daughter Anjeza, married to Vincent Santiago with grandson, Vincent Jr., and granddaughter, Emma. He is further mourned by those he served in Tirana, Durrës, and other villages in Albania, as well as brothers and sisters of the CELC living around the world.
We thank our gracious God of life for adopting Agron in Holy Baptism and for calling him to proclaim his good news to the people of Albania. May our merciful Lord Jesus comfort all who mourn. And may the mighty Holy Spirit empower the pastors and people of the Lutheran Church of Albania that they may fearlessly declare God’s Son, our only Savior, to the many Illyrians still living in darkness.
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