by Foti Gici

Abstract

This text commemorates the 118th anniversary of the first Albanian-language Orthodox liturgy celebrated in 1908 in Boston by Fan S. Noli, marking the foundation of the first Albanian Orthodox Church in the United States. It explains why the event is liturgically commemorated on the Sunday of Orthodoxy rather than on March 22, emphasizing its theological symbolism as a triumph of linguistic and national dignity within the Orthodox Church. The text also corrects historical misconceptions, highlighting the communal sacrifices of Albanian immigrants and acknowledging earlier Albanian liturgical traditions. The anniversary is presented as both a national and ecclesiastical milestone in the struggle for self-determination.

Today we commemorate the 118th anniversary of the founding of the first Albanian church in the United States, marked by the first Albanian-language Divine Liturgy celebrated by the young priest Fan S. Noli in 1908.

The Sunday of Orthodoxy in 1908 signaled the historical beginning of an organized Albanian Church in America, taking place two weeks after Noli’s ordination to the priesthood. According to Bishop Noli’s directive—recorded in the liturgical calendar of the Albanian Orthodox Church—this event is to be commemorated not on March 22, but on the Sunday of Orthodoxy, the first Sunday of Great Lent.

The Sunday of Orthodoxy is a movable feast, celebrated six weeks before Easter, with its date determined annually by the liturgical calendar. In 1908, it fell on March 22. While it most often occurs in March, it may also fall in February.

Five years after the establishment of the first Albanian church in the United States, the liturgical book The Little Trio (1913) notes on the service for the First Sunday of Lent:

“We commemorate the restoration of the holy and venerated icons.
On this Sunday, Orthodox Albanians pray in memory of the first Albanian Mass held in Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America, in 1908.”

Decades later, the same message appears in the synaxarion rubric of the service in Triodi and Pentecost (1952), translated and published by Monsignor Fan Noli:

“Today we remember the first Mass in the Albanian language by Father Fan Noli in 1908 in Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America.”

Through these liturgical additions to Noli’s publications, and through the meaning this event has assumed in both ecclesiastical and national consciousness, the essence of this commemoration becomes clear. Just as the Sunday of Orthodoxy celebrates the triumph of Christian faith over internal distortions within the Church, so too the triumph of the Albanian language in Orthodox worship represents not a victory over other religions, but a victory of evangelical truth over centuries of suppression of the Albanian language and nation.

It symbolizes the vindication of generations who struggled for linguistic and ecclesiastical dignity—a triumph of God’s love for all languages and peoples in divine equality. For this reason, Bishop Noli placed this commemoration on the Sunday of Orthodoxy rather than fixing it to March 22.

His bequest is clear: Albanians are to celebrate this event every year on the Sunday of Orthodoxy.

At the same time, certain historical distortions—repeated during the communist regime—have led to confusion and division in contemporary discourse. The founding of the first Albanian church in America was not the work of one man alone. It was a communal, national, and intellectual achievement involving many distinguished figures of Albanian history.

Moreover, the church was made possible by the sacrifices of poor Orthodox immigrants, primarily from southern Albania, who gave from their scarcity rather than their abundance. Without their financial and moral support—first to sustain clergy and later to purchase and maintain churches—there would be no enduring Albanian Church in America.

It should also be remembered that Albanian-language liturgies existed prior to 1908, including in Romania and within Albania itself. Translations from the 18th century demonstrate theological depth and liturgical use, despite prohibitions and censorship. Thus, the 1908 liturgy in Boston should be celebrated not as the absolute beginning, but as the founding of the first national Albanian Orthodox Church in America and as the culmination of a centuries-long struggle for ecclesiastical self-determination and equality among Orthodox peoples.

This victory—once achieved through sacrifice and martyrdom—must be preserved with integrity and responsibility.

References

“The Little Trio”, 1913:

http://albanianorthodox.com/triodi-i-vogel-1913/“The Triodion and the Pentateuch”, 1952:

https://albanianorthodox.com/triodi-dhe-pesedhjetorja-1952/Liturgical translations of Bishop Fan Noli:

https://albanianorthodox.com/tekste-liturgjike/