In the Saint Prokop (Tirana) church, Kristofor Kisi, orthodox cleric, archbishop of the Autocephalous Orthodox Church of Albania 1937-1948, passed away. He was born in Berat’s “Kala” district in 1890. After completing his theological studies at the Patriarchal School of Halki Hejbeli in Constantinople (1908), he returned to Albania and started working at the Jovan Bangësm high school in Korça. Shortly before the start of the First Balkan War, he returned to Constantinople and in 1916 he was appointed bishop of Markikoj, a post he held until 1923. That same year, seeing the efforts of the Albanian Orthodox for autocephaly, he voluntarily returned to Albania , where he took charge of the Metropolis of Berat. In 1934 he was elected Metropolitan of Korça, and on April 12th, 1937 Archbishop of all Albania. On June 5th, 1948, at the meeting of the Political Bureau, Enver Hoxha discussed, among other things, Kristofor Kisi, describing him as an agent of the West, who did not want the Autocephalous Orthodox Church of Albania to approach the Patriarchate of Moscow. Squeezed by internal pressures, on August 25th, 1948, he was forced to resign. That same month he was interned. (In the photo: Monsignor Kristofor Kisi)
Text: Encyclopedic dictionary of victims of communist terror – Vol. IV , “West Print”, Institute for the Study of Crimes and Consequences of Communism, Tirana, 2015, page 224-225.
Photo: © Institute for the Study of Crimes and Consequences of Communism
Graphic processing: AHCF
