Countries of the World/COUNTRYS.BIN/dp/0006/00061.txt

Text File | 1991-06-24 | 21KB | 348 lines

$Unique_ID{COW00061}
$Pretitle{298}
$Title{Albania
Chapter 5D.   Religion}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{Eugene K. Keefe, Sarah Jane Elpern, Willaim Giloane, James M. Moore, Jr., Weston White}
$Affiliation{HQ, Department of the Army}
$Subject{religious
catholic
church
religion
orthodox
regime
albania
clergy
muslim
bektashi}
$Date{1971}
$Log{}
Country:     Albania
Book:        Albania, A Country Handbook
Author:      Eugene K. Keefe, Sarah Jane Elpern, Willaim Giloane, James M. Moore, Jr., Weston White
Affiliation: HQ, Department of the Army
Date:        1971

Chapter 5D.   Religion

Situation Before the Communist Takeover

     One of the major legacies of nearly five centuries of Ottoman rule was
the conversion of over 70 percent of the population to Islam. When
independence came, therefore, the country emerged as a predominantly Muslim
nation, the only Islamic state in Europe. No censuses taken by the Communist
regime since it assumed power in 1944 have shown the religious affiliations of
the people. It has been estimated that of a total population of 1,180,500, at
the end of World War II, about 826,000 were Muslims, 212,500 Eastern Orthodox,
and 142,000 Roman Catholics. The Muslims were divided between adherents of the
Sunni branch and over 200,000 followers of a dervish order known as Bektashi,
an offshoot of the Shia branch.

     Christianity was introduced early in Albania, having been brought in
during the period of Roman rule. After the division of the Roman Empire into
East and West in 395, Albania became politically a part of the Eastern, or
Byzantine, Empire but remained ecclesiastically dependent on Rome. When,
however, the final schism occurred in 1054 between the Roman and Eastern
churches, the Christians in the southern part of the country came under the
jurisdiction of the Constantinople Ecumenical Patriarchate. This situation
prevailed until the Turkish invasions of the fourteenth century, when the
Islamic faith was introduced. The apostasy of the people took many decades.

     In the mountainous north the propagation of Islam met strong resistance
from the Catholics. Gradually, however, backwardness, illiteracy, the absence
of an educated clergy, and material inducements weakened resistance. Coerced
conversions occurred, especially when Catholic powers, such as the Venetian
Republic and Austria, were at war with the Ottoman Empire. By the close of the
seventeenth century the Catholics in the north were outnumbered by the
Muslims.

     Large-scale forced conversions among the Orthodox in the south did not
occur until the Russo-Turkish wars of the eighteenth century. Islamic pressure
was put on the Orthodox Christians because the Turks considered them
sympathetic to Orthodox Russia. The situation of the Orthodox improved
temporarily after a Russo-Turkish treaty of 1774 in which Russia was
recognized as the protector of the Orthodox Christians in the Ottoman Empire.
The most effective method employed by the Turks in their missionary efforts,
especially in the central and southern parts of the country, was the creation
of a titled noble Muslim class of pashas, beys, and agas (Albanian tribal
chiefs in Turkish service), who were endowed with both large estates and
extensive political and governing powers. Through their political and economic
influences these nobles controlled the peasants, large numbers of whom were
converted to Islam either through coercion or through promise of economic
benefits.

     In the period from independence to the Communist seizure of power, the
Muslim noble class composed the country's ruling elite, but this elite never
interfered with religious freedom, which was sanctioned by the various
pre-World War II constitutions. The church and state were separate. These
constitutions had declared that the country had no official religion, that all
religions and faiths were respected, and that their freedom of exercise was
assured. These provisions had expressed the true feelings of the people who,
whether Muslim, Eastern Orthodox, or Roman Catholic, were tolerant on
religious matters.

     Tolerance has been a marked characteristic of all Albanians, as
indicated in part by the fact that even after accepting Islam, many people
privately remained practicing Christians, or so-called crypto-Christians. At
late as 1912 in a large number of villages in the Elbasan area, most men had
two names, a Muslim one for public use and a Christian one for private use. A
characteristic remark on the religious tolerance of the Albanians was made by
Lord Byron, who observed in one of his diaries that elsewhere in the Ottoman
Empire a man would declare himself to be either a Muslim or a Christian when
asked what he was, but the Albanian would reply that he was an Albanian.

Situation Under Communist Rule

     The Communist regime has exhibited in its attitude toward religion a wide
gap between precept and practice. The Communist Constitution, adopted in March
1946 and as subsequently amended, contains liberal provisions with regard to
religion. Freedom of conscience and religion is guaranteed to all citizens;
the church is separate from the state; religious communities are free to
exercise and practice their creeds; it is forbidden to use the church and
religion for political purposes, and political organizations based on religion
are outlawed; and the state may give material assistance to religious
organizations.

     Even before the adoption of the Constitution, however, legislative
measures had already been taken to curb the freedom and power of all religious
bodies. For example, the agrarian reform law of August 1945 made special
provision for the confiscation of all their wealth, especially the estates of
monasteries, orders, and dioceses, and the seizure of their libraries and
printing presses. But the first major law aimed specifically at the control
and regulation of all religious bodies and at the elimination of all
distinguished clergymen was enacted two years after the promulgation of the
Constitution. This law is known as Decree No. 743 On Religious Communities,
approved by the Council of Ministers on November 26, 1949, converted into Law
No. 773 on January 16, 1950, and amended by Decree No. 3660 of April 10, 1963.

     The law provided that religious communities through their activities had
to develop in their followers a sentiment of loyalty toward the People's
Republic of Albania. In order to organize and function, religious communities
had to be recognized by the state, such recognition taking place as a result
of the approval of their statutes by the Council of Ministers. All regulations
and bylaws issued on the basis of such statutes had also to be approved by the
Council of Ministers, and the heads of religious communities and sects had to
be approved by the Council of Ministers after being elected or appointed by
the proper religious organs. Religious communities or branches, such as the
Jesuit and Franciscan orders, that had their headquarters outside the country
were henceforth prohibited and ordered to terminate their activities within a
month of the enactment of the decree.

     All religious communities were obliged to send at once to the Council of
Ministers all pastoral letters, messages, speeches, and other instructions of
a general character that were to be made public in any form. Religious
institutions were forbidden to have anything to do with the education of the
young since this was the exclusive right of the state, and all religious
communities were prohibited from operating philanthropic and welfare
institutions and hospitals or from owning real estate.

     On the basis of Decree No. 743 the Council of Ministers on May 4, 1950,
issued Decrees Nos. 1064, 1065, and 1066, approving respectively the statutes
of the Sunni, Orthodox, and Bektashi religious communities. A common provision
of all three decrees was that each religious community had to develop the
"sentiment of loyalty in their followers toward the people's power and the
People's Republic