Archbishop Joan recounts his acquaintance with Perto Zheji/How he escaped from the State Security: Inside the closet I had the Bible

2025-10-22 23:06:00, Aktualitet CNA

Archbishop Joan recounts his acquaintance with Perto Zheji/How he escaped from

On the show Opinion with Blendi Fevziu, Archbishop Joan spoke about his acquaintance with Petro Zheji, whom he called a genius and an extraordinary mind.

During the confession, Archbishop Joan told how the State Security had searched his closet where the Holy Bible was located and how he escaped from this.

Excerpts from the confession of Archbishop Joan.

Archbishop Joan: Then, at an age of a little over 24 or something, I had a friendly relationship with Petro Zheji.

Blendi Fevziu: This is well known, even one of the Catholic priests today, the caretaker of St. Paul's Church in Detroit, told me how you called Petro Zheji at the moment you decided...

Archbishop Joan: When I was in Boston.

Blendi Fevziu: When were you in Boston? When did you decide to dedicate yourself to your religious faith? How did you meet Petro Zheji? What was your relationship?

Archbishop Joan: I met Petro Zheji through a friend of mine. Yes. And we started having a little deeper conversation about the gospel, about faith, about them.

Blendi Fevziu: Petro Zheji was an extraordinary mind and an erudite of great proportions...

Archbishop Joan: Yes. He was a genius. He was a genius and a profound man. And he didn't look at faith from a superficial point of view, just a few rules. He looked at a deep faith, a deep relationship with the other dimension. And these discussions, which sometimes went on until 3, until 4 in the morning...

Blendi Fevziu: Meanwhile, Petro Zheji's house was completely under the complete control of state security, which tried to eavesdrop on who entered, who left, what was said in his house, and he was still indifferent to this.

Archbishop Joan: I believe that God has preserved us in some way. Because at that time I was not, we were not very aware of the danger. Not that we were not aware, but carried away by this passion...

Blendi Fevziu: Or communism was dealing with its own, because it was a period when it was carrying out its internal purges and perhaps forgot those it considered its first opponents.

Archbishop Joan: But later I learned something. I learned it when I was in America. Yes. The one who was for a while the party secretary at hospital number 5, had his grandfather or father, an American citizen and they came to America. Yes. And he told me an episode that I didn't know, from where I found out later, yes. He told me that once two people came, from security, to check your locker. It was like every person had a locker at work. Yes. And the rule was that the director and the party secretary had to stay. The director didn't let them. It was Nestor Polimeri, the director.

Blendi Fevziu: Didn't you leave them?

Archbishop Joan: I didn't leave them.

Blendi Fevziu: A director who said no to state security?

Archbishop Joan: Yes, yes because...

Blendi Fevziu: This is a matter of courage...

Archbishop Joan: No, no, there was also a defense, I believe. His uncle was Spiro Koleka. And he called him...

Blendi Fevziu: However, the gesture is curious.

Archbishop Joan: He called Sokol Koleka, who was the director of police for Tirana at that time, and told him that he was the best worker I had. And he told him that he would give them to me on the phone. They talked to him. I didn't hear him, he said, telling me the conversation, what he said, and they left. If they had opened the cupboard, I would have had a Bible there.

Blendi Fevziu: Did you have a Bible in the closet?

Archbishop Joan: Yes. Apparently one...

Blendi Fevziu: You were 18 years old, man...

Archbishop Joan: One of those employees there... one of those employees might have seen it and reported it. And might have reported it.

Blendi Fevziu: Did you carry the Bible with you?

Archbishop Joan: I had it with me there. I had one in the closet there.

Blendi Fevziu: And you kept him at work?

Archbishop Joan: Yes. And this Bible has a very beautiful story. When I was young, I really wanted...

Blendi Fevziu: Because it was again a sign from God that he saved you.

Archbishop Joan: Yes.

Blendi Fevziu: Saying no to state security should have been one of the miracles that...

Archbishop Joan: Miracles, actually.

Blendi Fevziu: Absolutely, it was impossible. Yes.

Archbishop Joan: And we had secured the gospel, for example, we read it. We wanted... I wanted to find an Old Testament, so that it would be the complete Bible. The Old Testament, the Old Testament and the New Testament. Yes. But it was hard to find.

Blendi Fevziu: Why?

Archbishop Joan: It didn't exist in Albanian. It hadn't been translated into Albanian yet.

Blendi Fevziu: Not even the old translation of Kristoforidhi?

Archbishop Joan: No, it was just a few books. It was Genesis, Exodus, it wasn't all of them...

Blendi Fevziu: It wasn't the entire Old Testament, because I know that there is a translation of Kristoforidhi from 1880.

Archbishop Joan: Two or three. Two or three of her books. And when I was young, I was very interested in these old languages. And there was a moment when, seeing those books by Champollion, who had deciphered the hieroglyphs of Egypt, I went to get them with Petron, we went to get a book by Champollion from the National Library, because it existed. I made the request, to have the card made. The card went, they brought the book. At that time, the woman who served there, someone called her while she was talking, she filled out the card, she gave me the book. I always thought it was Champollion's book. When I went outside, I opened the book, it was the Bible.

Blendi Fevziu: Do you still have that Bible?

Archbishop Joan: Yes.

Blendi Fevziu: Also?

Archbishop Joan: They didn't even ask me.

Blendi Fevziu: They didn't ask for it back?

Archbishop Joan: No. Maybe even those who worked, they could have been, were afraid of why it came out.

Blendi Fevziu: Why did it come out? It would be a fatal mistake and for them, it could cost them their jobs and beyond.

Archbishop Joan: Very much so. And you kept this Bible the whole time?

Archbishop Joan: Yes, I had it in the hospital, in my work cupboard. Because I had another one at home. Another Bible...

Blendi Fevziu: But you never found the Old Testament?

Archbishop Joan: No, the Old Testament was there.

Blendi Fevziu: It was in this book...

Archbishop Joan: It was in this book. Yes, the Testament... Both are, in the complete Bible they are both, the Old Testament and...

Blendi Fevziu: So you had both in the Bible then.

Archbishop Joan: I only had the new one at first. And another book that we found, we bought it, maybe you can recognize those people. And the wife that Lik Toptani had, she was Catholic….

Blendi Fevziu: Yes. Rita.

Archbishop Joan: We worked together in a hospital. And we talked sometimes about... and about religion, and about things. And she had a book that they wanted and sold. Yes. It was an extremely large format one, the New Testament and the Old Testament. Both together. Yes, illustrated by Gustav Doré.

Blendi Fevziu: In what language?

Archbishop Joan: In Italian. Italian. Yes. And, I said, how much do you want? Yes, he said, let's take it, he said 2000 or 3000 lekë, because at that time it was... it was difficult. I said, we will take it. And I put 1000 lekë, 1000 lekë to a friend of mine, Agim Muja, who has now passed away, not...

Blendi Fevziu: Brother of Yllka Muja.

Archbishop Joan: Yes. Petro Zheji too. The three of us each paid 1,000 lek and bought it.

Blendi Fevziu: Do you still keep it?

Archbishop Joan: I have the second part. The first part maybe he had... or I have the first part, the second part was Petro's. Maybe it could be now, maybe his son had it or...

Blendi Fevziu: He inherited it from someone.

Archbishop Joan: He inherited the library... his library./ CNA