Who wants to find out more about Albanians? Who are they and what they represent? Everything suspicious receives an answer in “Albanian Language Treasures of Biblical Society 1815-1883”, a summary of correspondence that professor Xhevat Lloshi introduces us so scrupulously. This event took place in UNESCO Hall (National Historical Museum) and was devoted entirely to prof. Xhevat Lloshi. “The Reading Club in Museum” is the logo of a weekly periodic activities being held at the National Historical Museum, which also supports the national reading campaign “Lets Meet for a Book” initiated by the Ministry of Culture.
Dr. Dorian Koçi, on this occasion said that the collection of Lloshi’s works is a precious help that specifies many things in the field of albanology, linguistics and beyond. But how did “Albanian Language Treasures of Biblical Society 1815-1883” emerge? Exactly 45 years ago (spring of 1972), two Albanian scholars, Arben Puto and Xhevat Lloshi, visited London for the first time. Then, the British archives were opened on World War II section. Lloshi recalls that he suddenly reveals some unknown documents about Albania belonging to the Biblical Society nearly 200 years ago. These documents were related with the beginnings of Albanian language.
Most of the 590 documents consist of reports of the “Bible Society” regarding the translation of the Bible into Albanian. The principle of this society was to translate the Bible in all languages. The Orthodox and Catholic Church embraced this principle initially, but later they weren’t very happy with the Albanian translation. The scriptures in Albanian, regardless of the alphabet used, began to be published and spread everywhere. The Orthodox and Catholic mindset was that the Word of God had to be preached in either Greek or Latin. In C. Haminlin’s letter from Bebek to T.Lloyd Philips in Istanbul in 1857, among other things, it says: “The Greek Church has made great efforts to helenize Albanians by building and opening up many Greek schools …”
Indeed, the mentality of traditional churches in Albania, (Catholic and Orthodox) would be replaced by the pragmatic mindset of the Protestant church, which had a new concept about spreading the Scripture.The Bible translation was initially entrusted to Vangjel Mexi, who sadly passed away before finishing it completely. After that, the job was given to Konstandin Kristoforidhi. In June 1957, Kristoforidhi contacted to translate the Bible, drafts as a report to the Agency “Memorandum for Albanian Language” and then “Notes on Albania. Language and Translation of the Scriptures “.
In the end, the Director of National Historical Museum, Dr. Dorian Koçi, read a few pages from the book.
