PROCESET POLITIKE QË SHËNJUAN NËNSHTRIMIN E KISHËS ORTODOKSE AUTOQEFALE NGA SHTETI KOMUNIST NË VITET 1945-1949
THE POLITICAL PROCESSES THAT MARKED THE SOUMISSION OF THE AUTOCEPHALOUS ORTHODOX CHURCH FROM THE COMMUNIST STATE 1945-1949

Summary/Abstract: The end of World War II found Albanian society with a modest institutional legacy. The country formed in 1912 by Albanian nationalists and recognized "de jure" as a principality under the great powers' guarantee had experienced political upheaval and two world wars, which had devastated infrastructure and the economy. The new socio-economic model the state started to build began consulting with the Soviet advisers. Two meetings with the communist leadership in October 1945 and February 1946, as well as the constitution of January 1946, reflected a dichotomy between determination to maintain power and uncertainty about the construction of the new state. The Albanian Orthodox Church was recognized by the Patriarchate in 1937 as an autocephalous church under the direction of archbishop Kristofor Kisi, but faced the Italian military occupation and nationalist currents that organized resistance to fascism. Internal developments in the Albanian Orthodox community were influenced by political processes in that period, as defined by official historiography. Arrests and convictions of orthodox clerics on charges of collaboration with fascism will lead to educational and agrarian reforms, reducing the orthodox community's capacity to prepare clerical staff and meet economic needs. This will lead to increased dependency on the state and its aid, leading to a gradual transformation of the Orthodox community from an independent or semi-independent entity to a collaborative and fully state-dependent entity. The oscillations of the church's head, Kristofor Kisi, have been interpreted as a source of hope for the orthodox community and the independence of the albanian church. He hoped that society would save the democratic rights sanctioned in the constitution. The autocephalous Orthodox Church's relationship with the communist state has ended, with the church being transformed into a popular organization supporting the state and its modernizing reforms.

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