Protestantism in Albania

Early History

On August 26, 1816, Robert Pinkerton wrote the British and Foreign and Bible Society to encourage them to translate the New Testament into Albanian.^[12] Cyrus Hamlin reported in 1857 that Albanians were applying to his Protestant seminary.^[13]

The Englishman’s Tower

Built in the late 19th century with funds from English nobleman Lord Alfred Paget, the Englishman’s Tower, or Sahati i Inglizit in Albanian, is the only building structure in Shkodër resembling a medieval-style castle or château. Lord Paget, who arrived in the city during the last quarter of the 19th century, is believed to have undertaken a dual mission: as a “villegiatore” (holiday resident) and as a political-religious agent, promoting the spread of Protestantism in Albania, with Shkodër as his base. In his residence, Lord Paget designed an oriental-style large hall with a carved ceiling, dining room and other sections. He adapted this space into a chapel-like shrine inspired by Protestant churches, with the clock tower functioning as a bell tower for religious services. Paget's ultimate goal was to establish an Anglican church in the city.

His efforts faced strong opposition and the number of his followers dwindled, as local Catholic clergy, supported by the Austrian consul, mounted protests against his religious mission. These objections prompted Ottoman authorities to intervene, halting his attempts to spread the Protestant faith within the city. Consequently, Paget’s residence remained simply a private home.^[14]

Conversion of Konstandin Kristoforidhi

The first documented Albanian Protestant was Kostandin Kristoforidhi, who left his native Eastern Orthodox faith and converted to Protestantism on his own while comparing Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholic and Protestant theological texts. He went to Istanbul in 1857, and drafted a Memorandum for the Albanian language. He stayed in Malta until 1860 in a Protestant seminary, finishing the translation of The New Testament in the Tosk and Gheg dialects. He was helped by Nikolla Serreqi from Shkodër with the Gheg version of the Testament. Nikolla Serreqi was also the proponent for the use of the Latin alphabet, which had already been used by the early writers of the Albanian literature and Kristoforidhi embraced the idea of a Latin alphabet.^[15][16] He went to Tunis, where he worked as a teacher until 1865, when a representative of the British and Foreign Bible Society contracted him to work for the company to produce Bible translations into Albanian.^[17][18] He published in 1866 the first Gheg translation of the four gospels and the Acts of the Apostles; for the many years to come, he continued his work, publishing in the Tosk and Gheg dialects The Psalms (1868, 1869); The New Testament (1879, 1869), Genesis and Exodus (Tosk, 1880); Deuteronomy (Tosk, 1882); The Proverbs and the Book of Isaiah (Tosk, 1884).

Qiriazi family

In Monastir, Gjerasim Qiriazi also converted to Protestantism ca. 1876-1877, and united with the multi-ethnic Protestant church there. The first two known Albanian Protestant-Evangelical churches were both established by Gjerasim Qiriazi, first in Monastir in 1884 and later in Korça in 1890 (both cities then part of the Ottoman Empire).^[19]

In April 1890, Gjerasim Qiriazi was ordained as the first Albanian evangelist and preacher by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions in the board's annual meeting help in Monastir.^[20] The second church among Albanians was opened in Korça. Qiriazi was also the head of one of the first national societies within Albania, named “The Evangelical Brotherhood”. As a result, Gjerasim Qiriazi is considered as the father of the Albanian Protestant Church.^[21] Like his brother Gjerasim, Gjergj Qiriazi went on to study at the Collegiate and Theological Institute, a Protestant institution in Samokov, Bulgaria. Alexander Thomson sponsored his education.

In 1889, Gjerasim commissioned the printing of the book of Genesis and the Gospel of Matthew in Albanian Tosk, and the Gospel of Matthew in Aromanian, which were printed by "Dituria" in Bucharest on behalf of BFBS.

Sevasti Qiriazi also joined the Protestant community founded by her brother Gjerasim.^[22] In Korçë she led Bible studies and prayer meetings for women.^[23][24][25] She was a "Bible Woman" and was financed by the ABCFM's Woman's Board of Missions^[26][27] and the Bible Lands Missions' Aid Society.^[28] She referred to herself as a missionary when traveling to the USA to visit Ellen Stone and John Henry House in 1904.^[29] Sevasti eventually solicited the help of the American Protestant missionaries Phineas and Violet Bond Kennedy, who arrived in Korça in 1908 (Violet was the daughter of an American Protestant missionary in Monastir, Lewis Bond, and was Sevasti's close friend throughout childhood and college).^[30][31]