The church's offering To the orthodox of Northern Epirus

The clergy (bishops and priests) during the painful period of Ottoman rule contributed much to the common cause of restoring freedom and keeping Christians in their Orthodox faith. The teaching of the Greek language by illiterate monks in the monasteries was catalytic and helped the Greek populations greatly to not lose their language and their Greek Orthodox traditions.

Many clergymen were martyred for their faith and their Greek beliefs before, but also after, the liberation of 1913.

The oldest shipwreck ever discovered is located in Dokos

Να θυμίσουμε τον Πατροκοσμά, τον Άγιο των Σκλάβων, ο οποίος με τις συνεχείς περιοδίες του από το 1763 μέχρι το 1779 στην Ήπειρο και ειδικότερα στην Βόρειο Ήπειρο, εμψύχωνε και ενθάρρυνε τους χριστιανούς, αναπτέρωνε το ηθικό τους σε μια εποχή που οι αναγκαστικοί εξισλαμισμοί είχαν πάρει τη μορφή χιονοστιβάδος. Στις δύσκολες αυτές ώρες των απηνών διώξεων, ο ιερομόναχος Κοσμάς ο Αιτωλός κατέχει κορυφαία θέση. Ο Άγιος Κοσμάς, κατά κόσμο Κώνστας (1714-1779) υπήρξε ο μεγαλύτερος λαϊκός αναγεννητής. Φλογερός ρασοφόρος που απέτρεψε την τελευταία στιγμή τον εξισλαμισμό των κατοίκων του βόρειου Ηπειρωτικού τμήματος και ξαναζωντάνεψε την «αποσταμένη ελπίδα» και την πίστη των ραγιάδων στο «ποθούμενο».

He received permission and blessing to begin preaching in the enslaved homeland from Patriarch Seraphim II, who came from Delvino. A reformer, educator, teacher, visionary, missionary, he rose above everyday life and with his work contributed to the awakening of the slaves. He breathed his last on August 24, 1779 in Northern Epirus, in Kolikondasi, near Berati, next to the Apsos River, when the Turk's rope tightened around his neck.

Let us mention some of the large number of Metropolitans of Dryinoupolis, who left significant traces of their activity:

Matthew I (1611-1614): From 1611 he was the guardian of the ailing Metropolitan of Ioannina, Manassis. He was one of the leaders of the unfortunate revolutionary movement of Dionysios Skylosophos.

Kallistos (1620-1636): During the time of Bishop Kallistos, the first Greek school in Gjirokastra was founded and operated in 1633.

Sofianos (1672-1700). We know about Sofianos that in 1672 he founded the monastic school of Polytsani and died in 1711 as the great abbot of the Monastery of Saint Athanasius, in the village of Polytsani in Pogoni. Sofianos used the Monastery of Saint Athanasius as a base for his national religious activity. He contributed to the halting of Islamization, even using armed resistance. He was an inspired apostle during the years of slavery.

Dositheos of Metsov (1760-1799). His forty-year pastorate left an era in Gjirokastër and the entire administrative region of the diocese. During his time, a building boom was observed. He renovated the episcopal palace and built 70 new churches. Also, during his pastorate, the code of the Diocese of Gjirokastër was written, which today constitutes an important historical monument for the ecclesiastical history of Epirus.

Polycarp, Metropolitan of Larissa. He came from the village of Darda in Korçë. For his national action and participation in the struggles for independence, he was beheaded in front of the Metropolis of Larissa by Mahmud Pasha.

Gregory of Argyrokastritis, Metropolitan of Evia. He was the inspirer and main factor in the Evia revolution. For his national action he suffered horrible humiliations and indignities in the dungeons of Chalkis.

Collaborators of George the painter in the Northern Epirus struggle of 1914, members of the provisional government of the Autonomous Epirus, were the Metropolitan of Dryinoupolis Vasilios Papachristou from Lambovo tou Stavrou, the Metropolitan of Vella and Konitsa Spyridon Vlachos, founder of the Vella Seminary School and later Archbishop of Athens and all Greece, and the Metropolitan of Korytsa Germanos.

Επώνυμοι και ανώνυμοι κληρικοί πρωτοστάτησαν στη μακραίωνη ιστορία της περιοχής της Βορείου Ηπείρου και με κάθε τρόπο στήριξαν τους αγώνες τους. Οι ιερείς κράτησαν άσβεστη την ελπίδα των ραγιάδων για απελευθέρωση. Και μετά την απελευθέρωση μέχρι το τέλος του Β’ Μεγάλου Πολέμου κληρικοί αγωνίστηκαν για να κρατήσουν όρθια την ορθόδοξη πίστη. Το 1946, με την επικράτηση του προλεταριάτου και την εγκαθίδρυση της «Σοσιαλιστικής Δημοκρατίας» του Ενβέρ Χότζα, άρχισαν τα δεινά και για τον κλήρο. Το καθεστώς άλλους ιερείς αποσχημάτισε, άλλους εξόρισε, άλλους φυλάκισε και πολλούς θανάτωσε, αφήνοντας ακέφαλο το ελληνικό στοιχείο. Η 45χρονη δικτατορία του Χότζα, άφησε πίσω της ερείπια και πληγές που πυορρούν ακόμα.

It is a fact that in the Northern Epirus area, clergy and people are bound by common struggles and common sacrifices. Before 1940, because after and until 1990 darkness and confusion prevailed, the Church in Northern Epirus presents the following picture:

Pre-war population: 250,000 Greeks.

Metropolises: Tirana and all Albania, Korçë, Berat, Avlon and Kanini, Gjirokaster.

Churches: 265, monasteries: 29, Theological Schools: 2, priests: 500.

After the establishment of the one-party regime in Albania, things changed dramatically regarding the Greek element. In 1949, the Primate of the Orthodox Church of Albania, Christophoros, was exiled and died from the hardships of 1958 (reported in "Kathimerini" 25-12-1990).

The Albanians still claim today that the Greeks of Northern Epirus do not exceed 60,000 souls. What should we assume? That the additional 200 thousand disappeared or emigrated? We know that they did not emigrate. The electric barbed wire was a death barrier. What we do not know is how many were lost in the 45-year tyranny.

However, when the number of births in Albania increases on an annual basis (each family has four-five or more children), it is inconceivable to conclude that the Albanian population has increased exponentially, while, on the contrary, the Greek (minority) population has remained stagnant or decreased.

Of course, the fact is that the Greek element, throughout the dictatorship, was decreasing after exiles, imprisonments, deaths. An artificial decrease was also observed after the violent imposition of atheism, mixed marriages, the change of names and other methods orchestrated by the regime.

If, however, the population decline of The greeks Of Northern epirus reached 60,000, as the albanians claim, Then this is not a natural decrease but a real genocide.

However, official data show otherwise. In 1986, KESTON COLLEGE data were published, according to which 19% of the population of Albania in 1945 were Orthodox Greeks. At that time, Albania had a population of approximately 2.5 million. According to the above English source, the Greek population exceeded 400,000 (four hundred thousand).

Let us also write parenthetically that in 1940 in Northern Epirus, according to the Italian Giovanni Virgili, the number of Greek schools reached 373, as many as the number of communities and churches (published in "Kathimerini" 25-12-1990).

NIKOS TH. IFANTIS Morning Speech