Bishop Fan S. Noli – The Enlightened Mind We Miss Today!/
BY SAMI REPISHTI/
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Your Eminence Archbishop Nikon,/
Very Reverend Members of the Clergy/
Ladies and gentlemen,/
Good afternoon! /
One evening in October 1965, I received a phone call from a venerable veteran, the late Christo Thanas, a highly respected name in our community. Speaking in Albanian he said:-
– Mirembrema Sami. Kam nje lajm te zi te them” and before my answering he added: “Imzoti na la….(Silence on both sides) Then: “We need a writing from you to put in ‘Dielli’”
Although not unexpected, the news shook me. Noli has been perceived by my generation as a cornerstone of the construction we call “the State of Albania”. To loose him, it appeared as we were loosing someone from our glorious history, our sense of national pride. I promised to write, and he printed it. The theme: “Noli: The Man, Some Personal Thoughts”.
I met him on the 50 anniversary of VATRA, in 1962, heard his speech, introduced myself, shook his hand, and learned that he remembered my father as a close friend in the Parliament of Albania (1923-24). Needless to say, I was elated! My father, a Moslem imam, strongly supported him. This support cost him a “death sentence in absentia”.
Later, I was able to draw from the abundant and inspiring source of his spoken and written words. In 1962, I heard him speak. It was my first direct contact with someone that I had idealized as one of the most distinguished figures of Albania’s political and cultural renaissance. His voice was powerful, his versatility incomparable, his language very rich, and the substance of his speeches an everlasting food for thought. In pin drop silence, the audience watched the speaker, a thousand eyes maybe, with an almost religious attention, and respect that I had not seen before. It was an electrifying atmosphere.
I was left speechless! In that fragile body of the aged Bishop, the brilliant mind was not betrayed by his resounding voice, as thought and ideas kept unfolding before me in successive and powerful expressions…and in a beautiful Albanian that made me prouder of my native tongue. This active agent of Albanian history who left us a Church in America and a Church in Albania, an illustrious example in diplomacy, a remarkable experience in progressive government, part of a movement that swept Europe of his time, was also a rich and multi-dimensional activist in literary activities, original and translations, including the muse of poetry, music, and of course, history…!
Bishop Fan S. Noli, in my judgment, was essentially a Christian with an inherent commitment to this world, a humanist who placed man at the center of his attention, especially the creature wherever crushed by blind destiny, such as poverty, oppression, and ignorance. He found that creature among his countrymen here in the United States and in Albania. Eventually, his passion discovered the object of his love. The devoted young priest established the Albanian Orthodox Church in America to provide, for the excluded Albanian faithful, a home of his own. He wrote for the neglected millions of Albanians blinded by ignorance, to provide some light against medieval superstitions and obscurity.
No English king ever rivaled Shakespeare’s popularity, nor could any Spanish monarch vie to match the unparalleled attraction of the poverty-stricken Cervantes. The same holds true for the humble Bishop Noli: he belongs to the noblest class of the enlightened minds—not to the temporary glowing glare of gold and government decorations. Noli’s action (meeting with President W. Wilson) came at a critical period for Albania, saving her –after having lost Kosova to Yugoslavia and Chameria to Greece—from a further dismemberment that could have befallen her in 1919-1920. In December 1920, Albania was accepted as a full member of the League of Nations, maybe the greatest victory after the 1912 Declaration of Independence. Congressman. Ambassador, Minister of foreign affairs, Prime Minister of Albania, Noli’s share in these important services can hardly be over-stated.
However, the permanence of Bishop Fan S. Noli, the churchman and the writer, is firmly assured by the outstanding religious, literary, and artistic achievements, more than anything else. I believe that two Albanian Orthodox Churches, in America and in Albania, and his efforts to further extend the existing frontiers of the Albanian language , literature and art in America, are the two monumental tasks that our Christian humanist leader initiated, and left it to us to fulfill. As I see them, they are his heritage, his last will and testament that we cannot afford to neglect.
Today, as I did fifty years ago, I cannot help thinking what a remarkable achievement it would be for us, Albanian-Americans, to establish a Bishop Fan S. Noli Chair of Albanian Studies, with an American university, preferably in Noli’s Boston. And, I say with confidence that the deserving teachers can now be found among our young fellow Albanians.
This was also one of Noli’s major dreams.
Thank You!
November 22, 2015 Sami Repishti
Ridgefield, CT, USA
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