On February 9, 1908, Fan S. Noli, 26 years old, became a deacon in the Orthodox Church of Brooklyn, USA.

“His true vocation was the priesthood”, writes the General Directorate of Archives, remembering today one of the key figures in the history of Albania.

Monsignor Noli is the founder of the Albanian Autocephalous Orthodox Church. There he performed his first services as a clergyman. On March 8, 1908, he was ordained a priest by the Russian Orthodox Archbishop of New York, Platon.

On March 22, 1908, Noli held liturgy for the first time in the Albanian language, at the ‘Knights of Honor Hall’ in Boston. This was the first step towards the organization and official recognition of the Albanian Autocephalous Orthodox Church.

In July 1913, Fan Noli came to Albania for the first time, where he held the first Orthodox church service in the Albanian language in the country, on March 10, 1914, in the presence of Prince Vilhelm von Wied.

On March 24, 1918, Noli was appointed administrator of the Albanian Orthodox Church in the United States, and in early July of that year, he attended a conference on oppressed people in Mount Vernon, Virginia, where he met with President Woodrow Wilson, a supporter of minority rights in Europe. On July 27, 1919, Noli was appointed bishop of the Albanian Orthodox Church in America, which was already an independent diocese.

In April 1937, Noli’s great dream of an Albanian national church was fulfilled when the Istanbul Patriarchate officially recognized the Albanian Autocephalous Orthodox Church.

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