Ο Θεοφάνης Μαυρομάτης (Φαν Νόλι): επιπτώσεις των εθνικιστικών τάσεων στη μετάλλαξη της εθνικής συνειδήσεως και πίστεως

Abstract

Theofanis Stylianos Noli (Mavromatis) was an Albanian-American writer, scholar,diplomat, politician, orator, and founder of the Albanian Orthodox Church and isconsidered one of the most powerful political personalities of Albania. He was theinspirer and the leading spirit of the Albanian idea and its promotion to other countries.He hated Greece and the Greeks, although he was both an orthodox and a Greekhimself; the failure of the greek issue in Northern Epirus is accredited to his ownmanoeuvres.He played a leading role in the foundation and formation of the Albanian State.At the same time he fought for the separation of the Orthodox Church of Albaniafrom the Ecumenical Patriarchate. He took advantage of his atypical ordination by theRussian bishop of Alaska in order to spread his ideas. He acquired his education atHarvard and was ordained priest in 1908, establishing thereby the Albanian Churchand elevating the Albanian language to ecclesiastic use.He was the offi cial Albanian representative during the negotiations for the foundationand the borders setting of the Albanian State. He also took part in the Albaniannational assembly for the Albanian constitution (Veratio 1920). He served as ministerof Foreign Aff airs but he opposed to the ideas of Muslim Achmet Zogou. His recognitionby the Ecumenical Patriarchate gave him greater infl uence over the Christianelement, and he managed to lead a coup d’etat against Zogou administration takingover as Prime Minister (1924-1925). He was later overturned by Zogou but hefl ed to the USA, having though lost his glory as a nationalist leader. He played animportant role in the consolidation of Demotic Greek as the national language ofGreece with numerous translations of world literature masterpieces. His contributionto the English-language literature are also manifold: as a scholar and author ofa series of publications on Scanderbeg, Shakespeare, Beethoven, religious texts andtranslations. Among his most important works one can fi nd: The story of Skanderbeg(1921), My life in Albania (1931), Byzantine Hymnologion (1951), Beethoven and theFrench revolution (1947) etc. Until his death (1965) he dedicated himself to writingHistory and Litterature. His struggle and his work as a writer share one commoncharacteristic, his intense religious spirit. This characteristic restricted his exceptionalpersonal abilities leading him to frivolous choices which were both unambiguous andcontroversial with extremely painful consequences regarding the cohesiveness of theAlbanian Christian element itself.The Orthodox Church of Albania has suff ered a great deal from nationalists andcommunists. Even today, in Albania, there exist political and religious (Islamic) forceswhich struggle against Hellenism and Christianism. It is our duty to protect our nation(Greece), as well as our political and religious tradition. The Church will have to helppreserve our legacy but at the same time to try to convince people that pure love iswhat human relationships should be based on.