"Religion under the communist regime"/ The book that explores the history of religion in Albania during communism is promoted in Korça

2026-06-20 15:56:00, Kulturë CNA

The promotion of the book by author Aleksandër Ikonomidhi Sulioti, an academic study that brings to attention one of the most complicated periods of Albanian history, the relationship between religion and the communist regime, took place at the "Thimi Mitko" Library in Korça.

Representatives of the religious community, researchers, cultural figures, and citizens interested in history participated in this activity.

Also present was the Metropolitan of Korça, His Eminence Anastasios, who closely followed the presentation of the work. The book is a work based on the author's academic research during his studies at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, in 2015, and according to him, it is one of the first studies in the Greek scientific and academic community to directly address the Albanian communist regime and its relationship with religion.

The author explains that work on this publication lasted several years, using various historical sources, archival documents, and testimonies of people who were protagonists of that period.

"My book is a diploma thesis that was done at Aristotle University in 2015. It is the first book in the Greek scientific and academic community that researches and deals with the communist regime and religion. At that time, it took me a great struggle to get through an issue that the Greeks were not very interested in knowing, precisely because it was related to communism and the regime of that time, but also to religion. My book makes a special and detailed research of all the historical stages that religion has gone through in Albania. It starts from the founding of the Albanian state, continues with the Italian period, the period of the Nazi-fascist occupation, then moves on to a chapter that describes the portrait of the dictator Enver Hoxha and later Ramiz Ali. Then it continues with the entire historical course that every religious community in Albania has had until the rehabilitation of 1991 and the restoration of religion and the Albanian pluralist system ," the author says.

To carry out this study, the author says that it took about 6 to 7 years of research work, relying not only on historical literature, but also on original documents.

"Yes, it took me 6-7 years. I worked with foreign bibliographies, Albanian bibliographies, I worked with original documents at the State Archives and I took some of the special fragments of the minutes of the religious communities themselves of that time. I also used oral testimonies of people who were protagonists of these developments, some of whom, unfortunately, are no longer with us today," he said.

An important part of the book is also dedicated to the period of Albania's declaration as an atheist state, a decision that, according to the author, made Albania a special case in world history.

"Albania has been a special case. It has been a republic of the socialist camp which was the only one that attempted to declare official atheism in its jurisdiction. This case constitutes a unique case in all countries of the world and this is what I wanted to bring to the surface. However, Albania today, but even before atheism was declared, has been one of the only cases where there has been a special religious communication and coexistence. This is a very important part of Albanian history that should be recognized ," the author added.

The author also announced that the reprint of the work for the Albanian market is accompanied by a prologue by the Archbishop of the United States of America, Elpidophoros Lambriniadis, who was his professor during his university studies. The promotion in Korça was accompanied by discussions on the role of religion in Albanian society, the period of its prohibition during the dictatorship and the restoration of religious institutions after 1991. /CNA