Do you want to stay informed about this journal? Click the buttons to subscribe to our alerts.
Underground Religious Culture under Surveillance in Communist Albania, 1967–1990
In: East Central EuropeAbstract
This article explores the significance of religious material culture for identity processes during times of surveillance and persecution under Albania’s communist regime, especially after 1967. At that time, the anti-religious actions of the state intensified, leading to Albania’s proclamation as the first world-wide atheist state in its 1976 Constitution. This article comparatively explores two religious artifacts and the stories of the faithful who preserved and used them in religious life. These two artifacts are the relic and reliquary of the skull of St. Nikodemos of Vithkuq, preserved in the house of Ilia Koçi in Berat, and the aer of Fr. Kozma Qirjo, kept and used by him in the course of his underground activity as a priest at his village, Bestrovë, and elsewhere. With the help of these two case studies contextualized in the theoretical frame of this work, the article demonstrates how surveillance and prosecution mobilizes identity processes that often act in dissidence to the political establishment.
Purchase
Buy instant access (PDF download and unlimited online access):
Institutional Login
Log in with Open Athens, Shibboleth, or your institutional credentials
Personal login
Log in with your brill.com account
-
cas = Central Archive of the State (Alb. A.Q.Sh. – Akrivi Qendror i Shtetit).
-
cas f.14 (Central Party Committee), D. 119 (1962).
-
cas f.14 (Central Party Committee), D. 190 (1967).
-
cas f.14 (Central Party Committee), D. 192 (1967).
-
Abrams, Lynn. 2016. Oral History Theory. London & New York: Routledge.
-
Akolouthia 1781 = Ἀκολουθία τοῦ Ἁγίου Οσιομάρτυρος Νικοδήμου τοῦ Νέου, ὅς ἐμαρτύρησε κατὰ ὸ αψιδ΄ ἔτος τὸ σωτήριον. Ἐν μηνὶ Ἰουλίῳ δεκάτῃ. Νεωστὶ τυπωθεῖσα καὶ διορθωθεῖσα ἐπιμελῶς, τῇ σπουδῇ καὶ δαπάνῃ τῶν τιμιωτάτων καὶ φιλοθέων εὐπατριδῶν πόλεως Βελαγράδων κυρίου Κωνσταντίνου, Νικολάου, καὶ Δημητρίου Τζεκούρε (Akolouthia [Service] of the saintly martyr Nikodemos the Younger, martyred in the year 1714 of the salvation, on the 10th of the month of July, printed lately and corrected with due care, editorial work and expenses of the most honourable and God-loving patriots of the city of Berat, Mr. Konstantinos, Nikolaos and Dēmētrios Tzekoure). Venice: Antonio Bortoli Press.
-
Alexoudis, Anthimos. 1868. Σύντομος Ιστορική Περιγραφή της Ιεράς Μητροπόλεως Βελεγράδων και της υπό την Πνευματικήν Αυτής Δικαιοδοσίαν Υπαγομένης Χώρας (Brief historical description of the Holy Metropolis of Belgrade and the territory subjugated under her spiritual jurisdiction). Corfou: ionia.
-
Amnesty International. 1984. Albania: Political Imprisonment and the Law. London: Amnesty International.
-
Antonopoulos, Nektarios. 2013. Συνοδοιπορία με τον Άγιο Λουκά (Walking Alongside Saint Lukas). 3vols. Athens: Porphyra.
-
Antonopoulos, Nektarios. 2015. Αρχιεπίσκοπος Λουκάς (Archbishop Lukas). Athens: Porphyra.
-
Baehr, Peter. 2019. “The Image of the Veil in Social Theory.” Theory and Society 48:535–558
-
Balan, Ioanichie. 2000. Shepherd of Souls: The Life of Elder Cleopa, Master of Inner Prayer and Spiritual Father of Romania. Platina, CA: St. Herman of Alaska Brotherhood.
-
Beduli, Kristofor, ed. 1999. Dhimitër Beduli, “Bir i Zgjedhur dhe i Përkushtuar i Kishës Sonë” Vartholomeu i Kostandinopojës (Dhimitër Beduli, “chosen and devoted son of our Church,” Bartholomew of Constantinople). Tirana: Orthodox Autocephalous Church of Albania.
-
Beduli, Kristofor. 2000. Episkop Irine Banushi. Martir i Kishës Orthodhokse Autoqefale të Shqipërisë (Bishop Irine Banushi. Marty of the Orthodox Autocephalous Church of Albania). Tirana: Orthodox Autocephalous Church of Albania.
-
Beduli, Kristofor. 2019. “Kujtimet nga Babai (Memories from [my] father).” Interview by Konstantinos Giakoumis and Heikki Hanka, 3 June 2019, Tirana.
-
Beqaj, Rakip. 1969. Veprimtaria Antikombëtare e Klerit Katolik Shqiptar (The anti-national activity of the Albanian catholic clergy), Part 1. Tirana: Shtëpia Botuese “Naim Frashëri.”
-
Beqaj, Rakip. 1973. Veprimtaria Armiqësore e Klerit Katolik Shqiptar, 1945–1971 (The inimical activity of the Albanian catholic clergy, 1945–1971). Tirana: Shtëpia Botuese e Librit Politik.
-
Biblioteka e Rinisë. 1968. Shkenca dhe Feja Janë të Papajtueshme (Science and religion are incompatible). Tirana: Shtëpia Botonjëse “Naim Freashëri.”
-
Breakwell, Glynis M. 2014. “Identity Process Theory: Clarifications and Elaborations.” In Identity Process Theory. Identity, Social Actions and Social Change, edited by Rusi Jaspal and Glynis M. Breakwell, 20–36. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
-
Breakwell, Glynis M. 2015. “Identity Process Theory.” In The Cambridge Handbook of Social Representations, edited by G. Sammut, E. Andreouli, G. Gaskell, and J. Valsiner, 250–266. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
-
Bulika, Spiro. 2005. Bariu i Mirë (Episkop Kozmai) (The Good Shepherd [Bishop Kozma]). Tirana: Orthodox Autocephalous Church of Albania.
-
Chumachenko, Tatiana A. 2002. Russian Orthodoxy From World War II to the Khrushchev Years. Edited and translated by Edward E. Roslov. New York: M.E. Sharpe.
-
D’Alleva, Anne. 2005. Methods and Theories of Art History. London: Lawrence King Publishing.
-
Deaux, Kay. 2014. “Foreword.” In Identity Process Theory. Identity, Social Actions and Social Change, edited by Rusi Jaspal and Glynis M. Breakwell, xviii–xxi. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
-
Fairclough, Norman. 1995. Critical Discourse Analysis: The Critical Study of Language. London: Longman.
-
Faraldo, Jose. 2019. “Communism Between Nostalgia and Criminalization.” Paper delivered in the NEP4DISSENT Joint Working Group Meeting, Budapest: 1 February 2019.
-
Gerasimova, Ralena Nikolaeva. 2017. “Religious Identity in Bulgaria During the Communist Regime. The Case of Orthodox Christianity and Islam.” Rhetoric and Communications E-Journal 27. Available at http://journal.rhetoric.bg/
-
Gheith, Jehanne M., and Katherine R. Jolluck. 2011. Gulag Voices: Oral Histories of Soviet Incarceration and Exile. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
-
Giakoumis, Konstantinos. 2013. “An Enquiry Into the Construction, Deconstruction, Transubstantiation and Reconstruction of Christian Pilgrimages in Modern-Day Albania.” Ηπειρωτικό Ημερολόγιο 32: 267–318.
-
Giakoumis, Konstantinos. 2014. “From Religious to Secular and Back Again: Christian Pilgrimage Space in Albania.” In Pilgrimage, Politics and Place-Making in Eastern Europe: Crossing the Borders, edited by John Eade and Mario Katić, 103–118, London: Ashgate.
-
Giakoumis, Konstantinos, ed. 2018. Flora in Arts and Artefacts of the Korça Region. Twelfth Century B.C. to Twentieth Century A.D., Tirana: pegi.
-
Giakoumis, Konstantinos. 2021. “book review: Hidden galleries. Material religion in the secret police archives in central and eastern Europe, edited by James Kapaló and Tatiana Vagramenko, 2020.” Southeast European and Black Sea Studies 21, no. 2: 335–336.
-
Giakoumis, Konstantinos, and Christopher Lockwood. 2015. “Pilgrimage Centered at Text and Memory: The Lapidar in Qukës–Pishkash.” In vol. 1 of Lapidari, edited by Vincent van Gervain Oei, 89–96 (Albanian translation, 97–104). Brooklyn, NY: Punctum Books.
-
Gieseke, Jens. 2019. “Culture Under Surveillance in East Germany – Some Remarks on the State of Research.” Paper delivered in the NEP4DISSENT Joint Working Group Meeting, Budapest: 1 February 2019.
-
Gregory, Moschopolites. 1742. Ἀκολουθία τοῦ ἁγίου ὁσιομάρτυρος Νικοδήμου, τοῦ μαρτυρήσαντος ἐν τῇ πόλει Βελεγράδων, κατὰ τὸ ΑΨΘ΄ ἔτος Ἰουλίῳ ι΄ (Akolouthia [Service] of the holy martyr Nikodemos, martyred in the city of Berat on 10th of July of the year 1709). Voskopoja: Voskopoja Press.
-
Hostiuc, Gheorge Florin. 2014. “Romania and the Orthodox Church Under the Communist Regime.” Acta Universitatis Danubius. Relationes Internationales 7, no. 1.
-
Hoxha, Artan. 2017. Kisha Ortodokse nën Komunizëm. KOASH-i dhe Regjimi Diktatorial Shqiptar, 1945–1967 (The Orthodox Church under communism. oaca and the Albanian dictatorial regime, 1945–1967). Tirana: UET Press.
-
Hoxha, Enver. 1982. Vepra (Shkurtër-Qërshor 1967) (Works [February-June 1967]). Vol. 35. Tirana: The “8 Nëntori” Publishing House.
-
Hoxha, Enver. 1984. Laying the Foundations of the New Albania. Memoirs and Historical Notes. London: Workers’ Publishing House.
-
Irimie, Rada Cristina. 2014. “Religion and Political Identification in Communist Romania.” Polis 2, no. 4: 47–66.
-
Izzo, Januarius M. 1975. The Antimension in the Liturgical and Canonical Tradition of the Byzantine and Latin Churches. An Inter-Ritual, Inter-Confessional Study. Rome: Pontificium Atheaum Antoniarum.
-
Jaspal, Rusi. 2014. “Social Psychological Debates About Identity.” In Identity Process Theory: Identity, Social Actions and Social Change, edited by Rusi Jaspal and Glynis M. Breakwell, 3–19. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
-
Jaspal, Rusi, and Marco Cinnirella. 2010. “Coping with Potentially Incompatible Identities: Accounts of Religious, Ethnic and Sexual Identities from British Pakistani Men Who Identify as Muslim and Gay.” British Journal of Social Psychology 49, no. 4: 849–870.
-
Kapaló, James. 2019. “Surveillance, Collaboration and the Secret Police Archives in Romania.” Paper delivered in the NEP4DISSENT Joint Working Group Meeting, Budapest: 1 February 2019.
-
Kapaló, James, and Tatiana Vagramenko, eds. 2020. Hidden Galleries: Material Religion in the Secret Police Archives in Central and Eastern Europe. Zürich: LIT Verlag.
-
Kaskadamis, Vasileios. 2001. Θεοφάνης Πόπα. Ένας Σύγχρονος Ιεραπόστολος (Theophanēs Popa. A modern missionary). Athens: Elaphos.
-
Koçi, Llazar. 2019. “Si Babai Im Shpëtoi Kokën e Shën Nikodhimit (How my father saved Saint Nikodemos’ skull).”Interview by Konstantinos Giakoumis and Heikki Hanka, 4 June 2019, Berat.
-
Law No. 773 “On The Religious Communities.”23 February 1950. Gazeta Zyrtare 8: 13–14.
-
Leavy, Patricia. 2011. Oral History: Understanding Qualitative Research. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
-
Leustean, Lucian N. 2009. Orthodoxy and the Cold War: Religion and Political Power in Romania, 1947–65. New York: Palgrave MacMillan.
-
Llukani, Andrea. 2017. “Dosja e Teologut Theofan Popa (The Dossier of the Theologian Theofan Popa).” Global Challenge 6, no. 2: 92–99.
-
Loukas, Archbishop of Symferopol and Crimea. 2013. Αγάπησα το Μαρτύριο (I fell in love with martyrdom). Athens: Porphyra.
-
Loukas, Archbishop of Symferopol and Crimea. 2016. Ρήματα Ζωής Αιωνίου (Words of life eternal). Athens: Epistrofi.
-
Lubonja, Fatos. 2011. “Editorial: Feja dhe Shqiptarët (Editorial Note: Religion and the Albanians).” Përpjekja 20: 2–8.
-
Mitchell, Thomas W. J. 1986. Iconology: Image, Text, Ideology. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
-
N.A.21 September 1979. “Njeriu i “Zotit” në Bangon e të Akuzuarit (The man of “the Lord” on the defendant’s table).” Newspaper Përpara, exhibited in the exhibition “Religious Dissidence in Communist Albania.” Tirana, European University of Tirana, 31 May 2019.
-
Nikodemos. 1799. Νέον Μαρτυρολόγιον ἤτοι Μαρτύρια τῶν Νεοφανῶν Μαρτύρων τῶν μετὰ τὴν Ἄλωσιν τῆς Κωνσταντινουπόλεως κατὰ Διαφόρους Καιρούς, καὶ Τόπους Μαρτυρησάντων (New Martyrologion, i.e., martyrdoms of newly manifested martyrs martyred in different times and places after the conquest of Constantinople). Venice: Nikolaos Glykys Press; reprinted in 1856 in Athens: Karabinis and Vaia Press.
-
Nikolaos. 1709. Μηνὶ Ιουλίω δεκάτη μνήμιν ἐπιτελοῦμεν του αγίου οσίου μαρτῦρος Νικοδήμου τοῦ νέου (Service of the sacred neomartyr Nikodemos the Younger). 1749. Letter. 23.15 X 17 cm. Manuscript kept at the National Library, Tirana, drh1/E1.
-
O’Donnell, James Salibur. 1999. A Coming of Age: Albania under Enver Hoxha. New York: Columbia University Press / Eastern European Monographs.
-
Papastratos, Dory. 1990. Paper Icons: Greek Orthodox Religious Engravings, 1665–1899. Vol. 2. Athens: Papastratos S.A. Publ.
-
Peters, Markus W.E. 2003. Geschichte der Katholischen Kirche in Albanien 1919–1993. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, Verlages; 2010 Albanian translation by Klaudia Darragjati, Përballjet e Historisë së Kishës Katolike në Shqipëri, 1919–1996. Tirana: Qendra Botuese Shoqata Jezuite.
-
Pipa, Arshi. 1990. Albanian Stalinism: Ideo-Political Aspects. New York: Columbia University Press / East European Monographs.
-
Pollock, Griselda. 1988: Vision and Difference: Feminism, Femininity and the Histories of Art. London and New York: Routledge.
-
Qazimi, Azem. 2012. Procesi i Asgjësimit të Fesë në Komunizëm (The process of annihilation of religion in communism). Tirana: Instituti i Studimit të Krimeve dhe Pasojave të Komunizmit.
-
Renders, Hans, de Haan, Bine and Harsma, Jonne. 2017. “The Biographical Turn: Biography as Critical Method in the Humanities and in Society.” In The Biographical Turn: Lives in history, edited by Hans Renders, Binne de Haan, Jonne Harmsma, 3–11. London & New York: Routledge.
-
Schneider-Adams, Laurie. 1996. The Methodologies of Art: An Introduction. New York: Routledge.
-
Sebbing, Nicolas. 2003. Bearers of the Spirit: Spiritual Fatherhood in Romanian Orthodoxy. Kalamazoo, MI: Cisternian Publications.
-
Shkira, Thoma. 2022. Bashkësia Ortodokse dhe Shteti Komunist Shqiptar (1944–1990) (Orthodox communities and the Albanian communist state [1944–1990]). PhD dissertation. University of Tirana.
-
Straten van, Roelof. 1994. An Introduction to Iconography: Symbols, Allusions and Meaning in the Visual Arts, trans. Patricia de Man. London: Routledge.
-
Timotijevic, Lada, and Glynis M. Breakwell. 2000. “Migration and Threat to Identity.” Journal of Community & Applied Social Psychology 10: 355–372.
-
Titscher, Stefan, Michael Meyer, Ruth Wodak, and Eva Vetter. 2000. Methods of Text and Discourse Analysis. Translated by B. Jenner. London: sage.
-
Woodcock, Shannon. 2016. Life is War: Surviving Dictatorship in Communist Albania. Bristol: HammerOn Press.
-
Young, David. 1990. Religion and Persecution in Albania, 1890–1990. Wrexham: Albanian Evangelical Trust.
| All Time | Past Year | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 58 | 58 | 5 |
| Full Text Views | 5 | 5 | 1 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 13 | 13 | 3 |
Underground Religious Culture under Surveillance in Communist Albania, 1967–1990
In: East Central EuropeAbstract
This article explores the significance of religious material culture for identity processes during times of surveillance and persecution under Albania’s communist regime, especially after 1967. At that time, the anti-religious actions of the state intensified, leading to Albania’s proclamation as the first world-wide atheist state in its 1976 Constitution. This article comparatively explores two religious artifacts and the stories of the faithful who preserved and used them in religious life. These two artifacts are the relic and reliquary of the skull of St. Nikodemos of Vithkuq, preserved in the house of Ilia Koçi in Berat, and the aer of Fr. Kozma Qirjo, kept and used by him in the course of his underground activity as a priest at his village, Bestrovë, and elsewhere. With the help of these two case studies contextualized in the theoretical frame of this work, the article demonstrates how surveillance and prosecution mobilizes identity processes that often act in dissidence to the political establishment.
| All Time | Past Year | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 58 | 58 | 5 |
| Full Text Views | 5 | 5 | 1 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 13 | 13 | 3 |