by Adriano Xhafaj “Συνδεσμος Αρβανιτων & Αλβανων 2015”.

Summary

In the 19th century, very few Arvanites understood Greek or the language of the Church. Only the educated could follow religious services. According to Konstantinos Tsopanis, Arvanites remained religiously devout but linguistically ignorant for centuries, as liturgy was held in Greek while most spoke Albanian (Arvanitika).

Greeks actively suppressed Albanian education in Epirus, even killing teachers and burning them alive, as in the case of Papa Christos of Negovan. Until the 1970s, many Arvanites could not comprehend church ceremonies, leading to humorous yet revealing incidents of misunderstanding. The author criticizes Greece for lacking minority rights laws and continuing cultural assimilation policies.

The answer: Very few Arvanites understood the language of the Church throughout the 19th century, and only those who had received some form of education spoke Greek.

Hellenism treated the Arvanite and Cham communities in the same way. The Greeks supported the idea that the less educated these two communities were, the faster they would assimilate. In Epirus, the Greeks showed ferocity — even madness — toward anyone who dared to open Albanian schools, as well as toward teachers of the Orthodox faith. They killed many, even burning them alive in lime kilns.

The wife of the teacher and Orthodox priest of the former village of Negovan, Papa Christos, after the barbaric murder and dismemberment with an axe (as if he were an animal) of the Arvanite and Albanian priest of the village of Negovan, went out that morning with a bag to collect the bones that were scattered everywhere, hoping to give him a proper grave. Some pieces she never found.

These were the Greek savages who today are praised as the cream of civilization and even speak of exemplary democracy.

Today, in all the Balkans, only Greece and Turkey have no law on minorities. This means they oppress and censor, on a daily basis for 200 consecutive years, all Arvanites, Vlachs, Pontians, Asia Minor Greeks, and others — denying them linguistic rights in the educational system.

I will tell you a case where an Arvanite priest only knew the word “Alleluia.”

Text by Konstantinos Tsopanis

The Arvanites of the Mediterranean, as well as the Arvanite element of Greece in general, were for centuries religiously uninstructed and ecclesiastically ignorant. To clarify: this does not mean they were not religious — they had deep religiosity — but they did not truly understand what they believed in, because the main obstacle was language.

With the exception of Attica, all of Greece spoke a language that was mainly explained through Albanian. Even Attica became a completely Albanian heartland after the 11th century, according to the sources we have often presented.

Until the 1970s or so, the ancestors and grandparents of today’s Arvanites still did not understand what they heard in church during the celebration of the Divine Liturgy and other services. The fact that so many priests and archpriests over the centuries did not bother to translate the liturgical texts into Arvanitika — not for liturgical use (which was unthinkable anyway), but simply so that the people could understand what was being sung and said in their prayers — leaves a striking impression.

Since no great or educated person took the trouble to do this, the people continued to practice religion “out of ignorance.”

This led to incidents that reveal the people’s religious ignorance, such as:

The procession of “the Holy Trinity’s kara” in a village in Livadia.

The Arvanite priest who for decades commemorated “in favor of Saint Oikoutos,” thinking it was some special saint.

The grandmother from Keratea who wished her grandfather Vangel Roma a happy birthday, because even though it was not the day of the Annunciation, she heard the priest in church say “of the Holy Gospel” and therefore thought all Vangelises were celebrating.

And many others.

Among these, a characteristic incident occurred during the funeral of a Sarakatsanos in Legraina. The famous Papa Chantzaris (1) from Keratea came to officiate the service. This old cleric had acquired this rather unpleasant nickname because of his habit of walking around with a hantzaris (a large knife/chopper) worn on his belt “for safety,” as he himself said.

As Arvanites and Vlachs – Sarakatsani – were not understanding much, the priest, seeing the dead shepherd, could not hold back and was tempted to paraphrase the troparion, singing it in Arvanitika:

“E tse far e keratait, alleluia”
(In what clan of the cuckold, alleluia)
“Po sa di ke viedour ti alleluia”
(How many goats have you stolen, alleluia)
“Zoti atie larte e di alleluia”
(God up there knows, alleluia)

The chanter from Keratea was also at the ceremony. Fearing they might be caught, he began to chant warningly in Arvanitika as well. He added his own “hallelujah”:

“Pousso’mbarbatsom prift alleluia,
gapse do te na kouptogne alleluia,
e do hame hame kopar ketou alleluia!”
(Shut up, old man, alleluia, because they will catch us, alleluia, and we will get beaten here, alleluia!)

And the Sarakatsani, in their own grief, added lamenting:
“We cry, old man, we cry — what a young and brave man he was, and he died of smallpox!”

Notes:

Hanxhari / Papa Hanxharis (1) — “chopper” or super big knife.

Photo: The Albanian school of the village of Negovan, at the beginning of the 20th century.