Photo taken from https://www.albaniatravelguide.net/elbasan/monastery/

Around the 17th century, the Albanians of Kraja began to convert to Islam. For a long time the Albanian locals had guarded the Cross of St. Vladimir, the martyed ruler of Doclea, as a reminder of the Albanians christian heritage. This however came to an end when the Mrković tribe of Mount Rumija stole the cross.

The Church of Kraja and the relics of St. Vladimir

The Church of St. Vladimir in Kraja, near Lake Shkodër, was among the most revered sanctuaries in the medieval Albanian lands. According to epigraphic and narrative sources, the relics of St. Vladimir—a prince of Duklja martyred in the early 11th century—were transferred to Kraja before being moved in 1380 (6890 AD in Byzantine reckoning) to a monastery near Elbasan, where they remain today. An inscription at the monastery records its foundation that year, suggesting that the translation of the saint’s relics occurred at that time.

In its heyday, the Kraja church drew pilgrims from across the Balkans, revered equally by Orthodox and Catholic Christians. It stood as a spiritual and cultural center for the local Arbanasi (Albanians), who, according to sources such as Mavro Orbini and the Chronicle of the Priest of Duklja (Ljetopis Popa Dukljanina), maintained their language and customs even amid Serbian colonization.

The conversion of Kraja and the theft of the cross

By the end of the 17th century, the people of Kraja converted to Islam, marking a shift in religious identity that mirrored wider Ottoman-era transformations in northern Albania and Montenegro. Yet, the memory of the church and its relics persisted. The cross of St. Vladimir, once housed in the Kraja church, remained a powerful symbol of Albanian ancestral faith and heritage.

Following the conversions, the Mrković clan, a neighboring Orthodox community on Mount Rumij, took possession of the cross.

The Kraja Albanians regarded this act as a theft, a violation of both religious trust and historical right. According to oral tradition and 19th-century chroniclers, the Kraja people repeatedly armed themselves during the Rumija pilgrimages, attempting to reclaim the cross that once belonged to their forefathers.

The cross of St. Vladimir, as recorded by Mavro Orbini (Il Regno de gli Slavi, Venice, 1601, pp. 223–224), was originally a gift from Bulgarian King Vladislav to his brother-in-law, Prince Vladimir of Duklja, symbolizing an oath of peace, a promise ultimately betrayed when Vladimir was killed.

References

1. Mavro Orbini, Il Regno de gli Slavi (Venice, 1601), pp. 223–224.
2. Ljetopis Popa Dukljanina (The Chronicle of the Priest of Duklja), ed. Iv. Črnčić, Kraljevica, 1874.
3. Primary narrative from Kroraina: Macedonia Historical Sources, “St. Vladimir and the Church of Kraja.”
4. Local oral traditions recorded in 19th-century ethnographic notes from northern Albania and Montenegro.