Visarion Xhuvani
|
His Beatitude Bessarion |
|
|---|---|
| Archbishop of Albania | |
 |
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| Installed | 1929 |
| Term ended | 1937 |
| Predecessor | Title created |
| Successor | Christopher of Albania |
| Personal details | |
| Birth name | Visarion Xhuvani |
| Born |
14 December 1890 Elbasan, Albania (then Ottoman Empire) |
| Died | 1965 Elbasan, Albania (then People's Republic of Albania) |
| Alma mater | Athens |
|
Styles of The Archbishop of Tirana, Durrës and all Albania |
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|---|---|
 |
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| Reference style | His Beatitude |
| Spoken style | Your Beatitude |
| Religious style | Archbishop |
| Posthumous style | N/A |
Metropolitan Visarion Xhuvani (14 December 1890 – 15 December 1965) was the primate of the from 1929 to 1937. He was a main contributor to the autocephaly, and a close collaborator of Fan Noli.
Visarion Xhuvani was born in the small Orthodox community in the "Kala" neighborhood of Elbasan, an old neighborhood inside the Elbasan Castle, in the Manastir Vilayet of the Ottoman Empire (present-day Albania). He was son of Joan and Efthimia, a member of the prominent Xhuvani family, the same as the scholar and linguist Aleksander Xhuvani.
He finished the elementary school in his home town, following with Rizarios Hieratical School in Athens. He studied theology in Athens afterwards. From 1919 to 1923 he served in Sofia, and after that for a short time in Cetin.
Xhuvani participated in the Congress of Lushnjë, December 1920, being elected senator. He was a member of the Albanian parliament from 1919 to 1924. During this time he cooperated with Noli, emphasizing the need for an Authocphalus Orthodox hurch in Albania, strongly opposing the Patriarchate of Constantinople attempts to keep the Orthodox community under the Greek influence and prohibit the Albanian language from being used in all ceremonies. He was a main contributor in the Orthodox Congress of 1922, where the Autocephaly of the Albanian Orthodox Church was proclaimed.
Xhuvani was elected Primate of OACA in 1929, where King Zog pushed the Autochephaly as a priority of his state. Despite the contradictions, Xhuvani served until 1937, the Church of Constantinople recognized the OACA, adding Xhuvani's removal as an ultimate condition. Xhuvani was forced to resign and was succeeded by Kristofor Kisi. Fan Noli would recall him as one of the most energetic clerics of Albania. Beside Albanian, Xhuvani knew English, German, Romanian, Serbo-Croatian, Italian, and Old and New Greek languages. He has translated several theological studies into Albanian. He was the promoter of the Kristoforidhi's monument in the main plaza of Elbasan.
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