RELIGION TOLERANCE IN ALBANIA

Tolerance

Albanians have distinguished themselves for a unique interreligious tolerance, which bears links with the very history of the presence and co-existence of various religious creeds in regions populated by Albanians following the division of Christendom in two parts, the Roman (Western) ritual and the Byzantine (Eastern) one by means of "Theodosius' line" passing somewhere between the Rivers Shkumbin and Mat and following their embracing of Islam chiefly to resist assimilation from the Slavic and Greek chauvinists at the end of 18th and 19th centuries.

The Albanians have been tolerant and have never shed blood for religious disputes. The Prime Minister of Montenegro Mak Milan asserts, "Whenever we've tried to pit Catholics against Moslems or vice versa in Shkodër, we've had our battle lost because Albanians had their national sensitivy much stronger." The existence of religious tolerance was also noted by Italian fascists who developed a new strategy to maintain this balance, though making Catholics feel somewhat neglected. From the end of the Middles Ages onwards, Albanian space was a balancing zone between the two most powerful empires of the time, the Ottoman Empire and Austro-Hungarian Empire. Between these two empires several agreements have been signed called "Capitulations", which regulated the equality of influences recognizing the West the right of care for the Christian shrines by means of the doctrine "cultus protectorati" -- the protection of clergy.

In Albania, one can too frequently find two religions (Christianity and Moslemism) in one and the same family (Lurë, north) or two religions in one and the same person (Shpat, Elbasan) who holds two first names, one Christian and one Mohammedan, and observes the rites and feasts of both religions. The national hero of the Albanians George Kastriot was born into an Orthodox family, became a Moslem at the Sultan's Court, became a Bektashi (this was a condition to become a janissar), turned to Albania and assumed his father's faith (Orthodox) and when he died, his last will was to be buried in a cathedral of Catholic Christians (Lezhë). One of George Kastrioti's brothers, instead, asked to be buried in one of Athos' monasteries, one of holy places of Orthodoxy.

Religious conflicts in Albania, even in incidental forms, were never known. It is quite normal for an Albanian to abandon the church and to seek communion with God in a mosque if he does not like the priest or his conduct. One of the most important authors of Albanian classical literature Pjetër Bogdani in his work "The Band of Prophets" quotes Calvin and Avicenna side by side. The first translator of Moslems' Holy Scriptures Koran was a Christian (Ilo Mitkë Qafëzezi). Albanian Moslems celebrate St. George and St. Mary, part of them celebrate St. Nicholas and Christmas, while Christians pay friendly visits to Moslems on their characteristic festivals (Kurban Bairam)

There are many instances told by people who have experienced them when the priest has been obliged to sing suras from Koran to honour a dead Moslem if the khoja and the mosque were far off, or there was snow or bad weather. In such cities as Shkodër, where population is a mixture of Catholics and Orthodoxes, even non-Moslem shopkeepers would stop selling pork in their shops during the Ramadan days. In Shkodër again, it was the noble Moslem families who defended the construction of a Catholic Church when a few fanatics began to destroy its foundations at night.

The construction of the church could go on only when Moslem nobles appeared before the public saying, "No one dare touch these foundations, as they are ours". Religious festivals in Albania of both Christian and Moslem communities retain traces of the polytheist mythological times. Catholic Albanians of the northern regions celebrate the "Buzmi" day just on Christmas day, but the cult of fire, too, forms a substratum of this festival. Moslems' St. Mary concurs with Fairy's Day. The Bektashi observe the cult of Baba Tomorri, which is similar to the mythological cult of Greek Olympus. One Christian poet entitled his book "Baba Tomorri". This and other examples show that Albanians observe the cult of nature, celebrate the day of the mountain, keep the serpent and goat as totems (protecting gods) to our present days, and have a cult for the fire, water and bread, the road and guest, the earth and sky.