The Autocephalous Orthodox Church of Albania (Albanian: Kisha Ortodokse Autoqefale e Shqipërisë), commonly known as the Albanian Orthodox Church or the Orthodox Church of Albania, is an autocephalousEastern Orthodox church in full communion with the other Eastern Orthodox churches. It declared its autocephaly in 1922 through its Congress of 1922, and gained recognition from the Patriarch of Constantinople in 1937.
The church suffered during the Second World War, and in the communist period that followed, especially after 1967 when Albania was declared an atheist state, and no public or private expression of religion was allowed.
The church has, however, seen a revival since religious freedom was restored in 1991, with more than 250 churches restored or rebuilt, and more than 100 clergy being ordained. It has 909 parishes spread all around Albania, and around 500,000 to 550,000 faithful. The number is claimed to be as high as 700,000 by some Eastern Orthodox sources, and higher when considering the Albanian diaspora.
The Christian religious vocabulary of Albanian is mostly Latin, including terms such "to bless", "altar," and "to receive communion". It indicates that Albanians were Christianized under the Latin-based liturgy and ecclesiastical order which became known as "Roman Catholic" in later centuries. Ecclesiastically, Christians in Albania, as part of the province of Illyricum, were under the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Rome (2nd-8th century). From 732 to 733 AD the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of Illyricum was transferred to the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople. The Great Schism of 1054 formalized the split of Christianity into two branches, Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy, which was reflected in Albania through the emergence of a Catholic north and Orthodox south.
During the late 18th century, the poverty of the Eastern Orthodox Church, the illiterate clergy, a lack of clergy in some areas, liturgy in a language other than Albanian and the reliance of the bishoprics of Durrës and southern Albania upon the declining Archbishopric of Ohrid, due in part to simony, weakened the faith among the church's adherents and reduced the ability for Eastern Orthodox Albanians to resist conversion to Islam.
Movement for establishing an autocephalous Albanian Orthodox Church
In the 19th century, Eastern Orthodox Albanians under the Patriarchate of Constantinople had liturgy and schooling in Greek, which was also the lingua franca in the South, and in the late Ottoman period their political thinking was divided: although most Eastern Orthodox Christians wished for the end of Ottoman rule, some of them - especially the upper class - desired to be part of a Greek state, some sought Greek-Albanian cooperation and a Greek-Albanian federation state or dual monarchy, and some who sought Albanian statehood. For Eastern Orthodox Albanians, Albanianism was closely associated with Hellenism, linked through the faith of Eastern Orthodoxy. However, during the Eastern crisis[clarification needed] this premise was rejected by some Albanian Eastern Orthodox Christians, because of the growing competition between the Albanian and Greek national movements over parts of Epirus. These issues also generated a reaction against Greek nationalists that drove the Albanian desire to stress a separate cultural identity.
The religious division among Albanians meant that Albanian nationalism could not be based on religion and instead Albanian nationalism as it developed tended to promote interreligious cooperation, from the point of its inception in the writings of Naum Veqilharxhi. Although the Eastern Orthodox were a minority among Albanians, the Albanian nationalist movement began among the Orthodox, and subsequently spread to other religious communities among Albanians. Eastern Orthodox Albanians especially in the diaspora and from Korçë and its nearby regions began to affiliate with the movement by working together with Muslim Albanians regarding shared socio-geopolitical Albanian interests and aims, causing concerns for Greece because it threatened the aspirations to incorporate Epirus into Greece, and because those Greeks who sought an Albanian-Greek confederation took a negative view of other foreign influences among Albanians. Although Greek schools were for a while the only way Eastern Orthodox children could become educated and at Greek schools children where they were exposed to Greek nationalism, Eastern Orthodox Albanians would instead come to play an active and often leading role in the Albanian national independence movement, often at great cost to themselves and their families.
Flag of the Albanian Orthodox ChurchDistribution of Eastern Orthodox Christians in Albania, based on the 1877, 1908 and 1918 censuses.
At the onset of the twentieth century, the idea to create an Albanian Orthodoxy or an Albanian expression of Eastern Orthodoxy emerged in the diaspora at a time when the Eastern Orthodox were increasingly being assimilated by the Patriarchate and Greece through the sphere of politics. As Eastern Orthodoxy was associated with the Greek identity, the rise of the movement caused confusion for Eastern Orthodox Albanians as it interrupted the formation of a Greek national consciousness. The Eastern Orthodox Albanian community had individuals such as Jani Vreto, Spiro Dine and Fan Noli involved in the national movement, of which some advocated for an Albanian Orthodoxy in order to curtail the Hellenisation process occurring amongst Orthodox Albanians. In 1905, priest Kristo Negovani introduced Albanian liturgy for Orthodox worship in his native Negovan for the first time, for which he was murdered by Greek andartes on behalf from Bishop Karavangelis of Kastoria, leading to the retaliatory murder of the Metropolitan of Korçë, Photios, who opposed the Albanian national movement. In 1907, Eastern Orthodox Albanian immigrant Kristaq Dishnica was refused funeral services in the United States by a local Eastern Orthodox Greek priest for being an Albanian involved in nationalist activities. Known as the Hudson incident, it galvanised the emigre Eastern Orthodox Albanian community to form the Albanian Orthodox Church under Fan Noli who hoped to counter Greek irredentism.
On March 18, 1908, as a result of the Hudson incident, Fan Noli was ordained as a priest by Russian bishop Platon in the United States. Noli conducted the Eastern Orthodox liturgy (March 1908) for the first time among the Albanian-American community in Albanian. Noli also devoted his efforts toward translating the liturgy into Albanian and emerging as a leader of the Eastern Orthodox Albanian community in the US. In 1911 he visited the Eastern Orthodox Albanian diasporas in Romania, Ukraine and Bulgaria.
Autocephaly and statutes
Bishop Fan Noli, founder of the Eastern Orthodox Autocephalous Church of Albania.Albanian Eastern Orthodox woman in traditional clothes, 1922
After Albanian independence in 1912, Fan Noli, who would become an important political figure and prime minister of Albania in 1924, traveled to Albania, where he played an important role in establishing the Albanian Orthodox Church. From September 10 to 12, 1922, the first Orthodox Congress convened in Berat, formally laying the foundations for an Albanian Orthodox Church and declaring its autocephaly. The Congress established a provisional ecclesiastical council to administer the church. Fan Noli was subsequently consecrated as Bishop of Korçë and primate of Albania, while the establishment of an autocephalous Albanian Orthodox Church was seen as an important development in maintaining Albanian national unity. At the end of the Congress, the first statute of the church was approved.
In February 1929, the Holy Synod of the Albanian Orthodox Church was established, with Visarion Xhuvani as Archbishop of Albania and overseer of the Metropolis of Korçë, Agathangjel Çamçe as Metropolitan of Berat, Ambroz Ikonomi as Metropolitan of Gjirokastër, and Efthim Kosteva as assistant to the Archbishop. On June 29, 1929, the Second Clergy–Laity Congress was held in Korçë, where a second statute, entitled the "Statute of the Autocephalous Orthodox Church of Albania", was adopted, amending the statute approved at the Congress of Berat in 1922. On the same date, the Regulation of General Administration of the church was approved. The Ecumenical Patriarchate initially refused to recognize these acts, but subsequently entered into negotiations concerning the church's status. It recognized the autocephaly of the Orthodox Autocephalous Church of Albania in 1937.
On November 26, 1950, the Parliament of Albania approved the Third Statute, which abrogated the 1929 Statute. The new statute required Albanian citizenship for the primate of the church (Article 4). With the exception of amendments made in 1992, this statute remained in force for the church.
On July 11, 1992, the 1950 Statute was amended, and in 1996 the amendments were approved by the then-president, Sali Berisha. In particular, Article 4 of the 1950 Statute, which had required Albanian citizenship for the primate of the church, no longer contained this requirement. On November 3 and 4, 2006, at the new Monastery of St. Vlash in Durrës, a special Clergy–Laity Assembly of the Orthodox Autocephalous Church of Albania was held, attended by 257 representatives, including all clergy members. At the Assembly, the new Constitution (Statute) of the church was discussed and unanimously adopted. On November 6, 2006, the Holy Synod approved the Constitution (Statute). On November 24, 2008, the Orthodox Autocephalous Church of Albania and the Council of Ministers signed an agreement, pursuant to the 1998 Constitution of Albania, regulating their reciprocal relationship. The agreement was ratified by the Albanian Parliament and became law (No. 10057) on January 22, 2009.
Persecution
The church greatly suffered during the dictatorship of Enver Hoxha as all churches were placed under government control, and land originally held by religious institutions was taken by the state. Religion in schools was banned. Similarly, Hoxha propagated that Albania was threatened by religion in general, since it served as the supposed "Trojan Horse" of the interests of the country's traditional enemies; in particular Eastern Orthodoxy (those of Greece and Serbia).
In 1967 Hoxha closed down all religious buildings in the country, and declared Albania the world's first atheist country. All expression of religion, public or private, was outlawed. Hundreds of clergy were killed or imprisoned. As a result of this policy, a total of 600 Eastern Orthodox churches were demolished (1,600 present in 1944). Other buildings of the Eastern Orthodox community forcibly seized their religious function.
At the end of the communist rule, when religious freedom was restored, only 22 Eastern Orthodox priests remained alive. To deal with this situation, the Ecumenical Patriarch appointed Anastasios to be the Patriarchal Exarch for the Albanian Church. As Bishop of Androusa, Anastasios was dividing his time between his teaching duties at the University of Athens and the Archbishopric of Irinoupolis in Kenya, which was then going through a difficult patch, before his appointment. He was elected on July 11, 1992, and enthroned on August 2, 1992.
Most parishes use the Albanian language in liturgy, while Greek is also partly used. In Greek minority areas the liturgy is accordingly celebrated in Greek.
Students are continuing their theological educations in theological universities abroad.
Church of Apostle Paul and Saint Asteios in Durrës, constructed between 1994 and 2002.
So far, 150 new churches have been built, 60 monasteries and more than 160 churches have been repaired.
Media and publishing
The Orthodox Church of Albania has its own radio station, named "Ngjallja" (Resurrection) which 24 hours a day broadcasts spiritual, musical, informative and educational programmes and lectures, and has a special children's programme.
The Orthodox Church in Albania has taken various social initiatives. It started with health care, organising "The Annunciation" Orthodox Diagnostic Center in Tirana in 1999, with some of Albania's most renowned doctors and administers health care and most contemporary health services in 23 different specialties; four medical clinics, and one mobile dental clinic. The office "Service of Love" (Diakonia Agapes) contributes to the increasing of midwives' and nurses' roles, offering training projects and assistance.
The Orthodox Autocephalous Church of Albania made extensive humanitarian contributions during the political and social crises (1992, 1994, 1997), collecting and distributing thousands of tons of food, clothing and medicine. In addition, it supported a wide range of social programs including: development projects in mountainous regions, especially in the areas of agriculture and farming; road construction; amelioration of water supplies; educational programs on health for children; construction of rural health centers and contributions for schools, orphanages, hospitals, institutes for the disabled, elderly homes, prisons (i.e. financed by the church, where would prisoners work and receive income accordingly), sports grounds, soup kitchens for the poor, and many more.
Apart from the two ecclesiastical high schools, it has established three elementary schools (1st – 9th grade), 17 day-care centers and two institutes for professional training (named "Spirit of Love", established in Tirana in 2000) which are said to be the first of their kind in Albania and provide education in the fields of Team Management, IT Accounting, Computer Science, Medical Laboratory, Restoration and Conservation of Artwork and Byzantine Iconography.
The Primate of the Orthodox Autocephalous Church of Albania is also the Archbishop of Tirana and Durrës. The current archbishop of Tirana is Archbishop Joani.
12Shkarovsky, M. V. (2007). "The Albanian Orthodox Church during the Second World War". Bulletin of Saint Tikhon's Orthodox University for the Humanities. Series 2: History; History of the Russian Orthodox Church (3 (24)): 133.
↑De Vaan, Michiel (2018). "The phonology of Albanian". In Klein, Jared; Joseph, Brian; Fritz, Matthias (eds.). Handbook of Comparative and Historical Indo-European Linguistics. Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. pp.1732–1749. ISBN978-3-11-054243-1.
↑Ramet 1998, p.203. "The Ottoman conquest between the end of the fourteenth century and the mid-fifteenth century introduced a third religion – Islam - but the Turks did not at first use force in its expansion, and it was only in the 1600s that large-scale conversion to Islam began – chiefly, at first, among Albanian Catholics."; p.204. "The Orthodox community enjoyed broad toleration at the hands of the Sublime Porte until the late eighteenth century."; p. 204. "In the late eighteenth century Russian agents began stirring up the Orthodox subjects of the Ottoman empire against the Sublime Porte. In the Russo-Turkish wars of 1768-74 and 1787-91 Orthodox Albanians rose against the Turks. In the course of the second revolt the "New Academy" in Voskopoje was destroyed (1789), and at the end of the second Russo-Turkish war more than a thousand Orthodox fled to Russia on Russian warships. As a result of these revolts, the Porte now applied force to Islamicize the Albanian Orthodox population, adding economic incentives to provide positive stimulus. In 1798 Ali Pasha of Janina led Ottoman forces against Christian believers assembled in their churches to celebrate Easter in the villages of Shen Vasil and Nivica e Bubarit. The bloodbath unleashed against these believers frightened Albanian Christians in other districts and inspired a new wave of mass conversions to Islam."
↑Islami, Selim (1984). Historia e Shqiperise (in Albanian). Vol.2, part 4. Academy of Sciences of Albania. p.145.
↑Skendi 1967a, p.174. "The political thinking of the Orthodox Albanians was divided into two categories. Those who lived in Albania were dominated by Greek influence. The majority of them- especially the notables-desired union with Greece. The Orthodox Christians in general had an intense hatred of Ottoman rule. Although this feeling was shared by their co-religionists who lived in the colonies abroad, their political thinking was different."
12Puto & Maurizio 2015, p.176."However, Greek nationalism continued to be a source of concern for Albanian nationalists later on in the century. After the creation of the Greek state in 1830, and in the light of its mounting expansionist ambitions in the second half of the nineteenth century, the Albanian desire to assert a separate cultural identity represented also a reaction against Greek nationalists, who coveted territories inhabited by Albanians in the Ottoman Balkans, especially in the fiercely contested vilayet of Yiannina, a province containing a mixture of different populations."
↑Duijzings, Ger. "Religion and the Politics of 'Albanianism'". In Schwandler-Stevens and Jurgen, Albanian Identities: Myth and History. Pages 61-62. Page 62: "nationalist rhetoric declared it [religion/millet] to be unimportant (and that religious fanaticism to be alien to the Albanian soul)", page 61:"From the beginning, national ideologists propagated a kind of 'civil religion' of Albanianism, which was epitomized in Pashko Vasa's famous and influential nationalist poem O moj Shqipni ("O poor Albania"): "Awaken, Albanians, wake from your slumber. Let us all be brothers, swear an oath not to mind church or mosque. The faith of the Albanian is Albanianism!'"
↑Meksi, Fedhon. "Veqilharxhi, babai I alfabetit edhe abetares shqiptare". 21 October 2011.
↑Enis Kelmendi (2014). "Religion in Regard to Albanian National Movement". ISSN 2308-0825.
↑Babuna 2004, pp.294–295. "The Orthodox nationalists were mainly active outside the Ottoman Empire. They made their greatest contribution to the national cause (mainly educational and propaganda work) through the Albanian colonies."
↑Vickers 2011, pp.60–61. "The Greeks too sought to curtail the spread of nationalism amongst the southern Orthodox Albanians, not only in Albania but also in the Albanian colonies in America."
↑Kokolakis 2003, p.91. "Περιορίζοντας τις αρχικές του ισλαμιστικές εξάρσεις, το αλβανικό εθνικιστικό κίνημα εξασφάλισε την πολιτική προστασία των δύο ισχυρών δυνάμεων της Αδριατικής, της Ιταλίας και της Αυστρίας, που δήλωναν έτοιμες να κάνουν ό,τι μπορούσαν για να σώσουν τα Βαλκάνια από την απειλή του Πανσλαβισμού και από την αγγλογαλλική κηδεμονία που υποτίθεται ότι θα αντιπροσώπευε η επέκταση της Ελλάδας. Η διάδοση των αλβανικών ιδεών στο χριστιανικό πληθυσμό άρχισε να γίνεται ορατή και να ανησυχεί ιδιαίτερα την Ελλάδα." "[By limiting the Islamic character, the Albanian nationalist movement secured civil protection from two powerful forces in the Adriatic, Italy and Austria, which was ready to do what they could to save the Balkans from the threat of Pan-Slavism and the Anglo French tutelage that is supposed to represent its extension through Greece. The dissemination of ideas in Albanian Christian population started to become visible and very concerning to Greece]."
↑Kofos, Evangelos. "Greek reaction to developments leading to the Albanian league of Prizren." Balkan Studies 23.2 (1982): 349–362. Pages 349–350: "The prevailing view among 19th century Greeks, which somehow is reflected in the consular dispatches, was that Albanians and Greeks were kin peoples. Being small in numbers, compared to the Balkan Slavs, they could not survive as separate entities, but were bound, one way or another, to form a unified state. The example of Austria-Hungary exerted a strong influence in that direction. Another argument that seemed to support this idea, was the case of the Albanian-speaking Orthodox Christians residing in the Greek Kingdom. These Christians had a long tradition of association with the Greek cause — particularly during the Greek War of Independence — and had, since, been fully integrated into Greek society. Furthermore, the fact that a similar process was underway among Albanian-speaking Orthodox Christians residing in Ottoman-held Macedonia and Epirus, was, to the Greeks, a further indication, that the two people could coexist under a common state roof. Understandably, these notions were shared by most Greek consuls serving in Epirus and Albania. As a result, in their reports on Albanian developments, they tended to take a negative attitude of foreign propaganda among Albanians, and, in addition, to view with much skepticism signs of an Albanian national awakening."
↑Tajar Zavalani; Beytullah Destani; Robert Elsie. History of Albania. p.150. ...submitted to an intensive Graecophile propaganda thorough the Greek clergy appointed by the Patriarchate of Constantinople... The Orthodox Albanians had no choice but to go to Greek schools and be duly indoctrinated with Greek nationalism. Nevertheless, as we shall see, the Orthodox Albanians had not lost their national feelings... they took an active and often leading part in the struggle for independence, not without cost to themselves and their families
↑Nitsiakos 2010, p.56. "The Orthodox Christian Albanians, who belonged to the rum millet, identified themselves to a large degree with the rest of the Orthodox, while under the roof of the patriarchate and later the influence of Greek education they started to form Greek national consciousness, a process that was interrupted by the Albanian national movement in the 19th century and subsequently by the Albanian state."; p. 153. "The influence of Hellenism on the Albanian Orthodox was such that, when the Albanian national idea developed, in the three last decades of the 19th century, they were greatly confused regarding their national identity."
12Austin 2012, p.4. "Noli... Hoping to eliminate Greek influence within the Albanian Orthodox Church, he focused his early activities on translating the church liturgy into Albanian and establishing an independent Albanian Orthodox Church. The latter he considered as vital to Albania's evolution into a unified nation and as a major blow to the supporters of the Greek 'Great Idea'."
12Gawrych 2006, p.91. "In one case, a guerilla band executed Father Kristo Negovani (1875-1905) on 12 February 1905, two days after he had performed a church service in Albanian. To avenge his death, a guerilla leader named Bajo Topulli (1868-1930) waylaid and murdered Phiotos, the bishop of Görice, in September 1906."
12Ramet 1998, p.206. "The nationalist cause was given impetus in 1905 when the Albanian priest and poet, Papa Kristo Negovani, was killed by Greek chauvinists after he had introduced the Albanian language into Orthodox liturgy."
12Clayer 2005. para. 7. "Negovani... Au début de l'année 1905, avec son frère lui aussi pope et trois autres villageois, il est victime d'une bande grecque et devient le premier «martyr» de la cause nationale albanaise"; para. 8, 26.
↑Blumi 2011, p.167. "Negovani's actions caused institutional responses that ultimately intensified the contradictions facing the church and its imperial patron. In the end, Papa Kristo Negovani was murdered for his acts of defiance of the explicit orders of Karavangjelis, the Metropolitan of Kastoria, who condemned the use of Toskërisht during mass.
↑Katić, Mario (2014). Pilgrimage, Politics and Place-Making in Eastern Europe: Crossing the Borders. Ashgate Publishing. p.140. ISBN9781472415943. In spite of the formation of the Albanian Autocephalous (autonomous) Church in 1922 and its recognition by the Patriarchate in 1937, there have been very few subsequent translations of religious literature (see Winnifnth 2002: 135). There is an Albanian translation of the New Testament, used in Greek minority areas and all other areas that managed to hold onto Christianity under Ottoman rule and the threat of Islamization. Except for the officially recognized Greek minority areas and the Himara area, where the liturgy is celebrated only in Greek. Christian communities hold services partly in Albanian and partly in Greek.
↑"Romfea News". Romfea.gr. Retrieved 28 August 2026. "Overview 1991–2012". Orthodox Autocephalous Church of Albania. Archived from the original on 23 July 2012. Retrieved 28 August 2026.
1234Forest, Jim (August 2002). The Resurrection of the Church in Albania: Voices of Orthodox Christians. Geneva: WCC Publications. ISBN2-8254-1359-3.
↑"Overview 1991–2012". Orthodox Autocephalous Church of Albania. Archived from the original on 23 July 2012. Retrieved 28 August 2026.
Ergo, Dritan (2010). "Islam in the Albanian lands (XVth-XVIIth Century)". In Schmitt, Oliver Jens (ed.). Religion und Kultur im albanischsprachigen Südosteuropa [Religion and culture in Albanian-speaking southeastern Europe]. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang. pp.13–52. ISBN9783631602959.
Kopanski, Atuallah Bogdan (1997). "Islamization of Albanians in the Middle Ages: The primary sources and the predicament of the modern historiography". Islamic Studies. 36 (2/3): 191–208. JSTOR23076194.
Koti, Dhori (2010). Monografi për Vithkuqin dhe Naum Veqilharxhin [A monograph of Vithkuq and Naum Veqilharxhi]. Pogradec: DIJA Poradeci. ISBN978-99956-826-8-2.
Malcolm, Noel (2002). "Myths of Albanian national identity: Some key elements". In Schwanders-Sievers, Stephanie; Fischer, Bernd J. (eds.). Albanian Identities: Myth and History. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. pp.70–87. ISBN9780253341891.
↑The ROC severed full communion with the Ecumenical Patriarchate in 2018, and later severed full communion with the primates of the Church of Greece, the Patriarchate of Alexandria, and the Church of Cyprus in 2020.
123456789Autocephaly or autonomy is not universally recognized.
↑UOC-MP has moved to formally cut ties with the ROC as of 27 May 2022.
↑Semi-autonomous part of the Russian Orthodox Church whose autonomy is not universally recognized.
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