Gjerasim Qiriazi

Gjerasim Qiriazi was an Albanian Protestant preacher, Bible translator and distributor, educator, and activist of the Albanian National Awakening. In the early 1890s he founded the Albanian Evangelical Protestant community and the first Albanian school for girls in Korçë, Albania, then part of the Ottoman Empire.

Biography

Qiriazi attended a Greek school of his native Manastir, Macedonia. He then went to Samokov, Bulgaria, to attend the Collegiate and Theological Institute. After he finished his studies, in 1883, he started to work for the British and Foreign Bible Society in Korçë.
On November 15, 1884, while traveling to Lake Ohrid, he was kidnapped by bandits, who held him for ransom for over a year. This episode was narrated by Gjerasim in Captured by Brigands and published after his death in English in 1901.
In 1889, he commissioned the printing of the book of Genesis and the Gospel of Matthew in Albanian Tosk, and the Gospel of Matthew in Aromanian, which were printed by "Dituria" in Bucharest on behalf of BFBS.
In 1891, the first Albanian school for girls in Korçë was founded by Qiriazi and his sister, Sevasti Qiriazi. He also had a younger sister, Parashqevi Qiriazi, who started to work at the girls' school when she was only 11.
He died of tuberculosis at age 35. He was buried in the Protestant cemetery in Monastir; his epitaph reads, in Albanian: "Këtu çlodhet i pari lëçitës i Shqipërisë, GERASIM D. QIRIAS, Lindi më 18 tetor 1858, Fjeti më 2 janar 1894, Gjaku i Jezu Krishtit, Birit të tij na qëron nga çdo faj, 1 Gjoni 1:7".

Works

In addition to Captured by Brigands, Qiriazi wrote poetry and Christian, patriotic hymns, and texts used in school books. A selection of his writings was published by his brother, Gjergj, in the collection Hristomathi a udhëheqës për ç'do shtëpi shqiptari. Both brothers co-wrote the song collection Kënkë të shenjtëruara.

Published works

“Captured by Brigands: an Albanian Experience”, The Sunday Home Family Magazine for Sabbath Reading, pp. 277–280, 310–212, 344–347, 357–359, 379–381, 401–404, 428–430, 444–445, 459–461, 493–494, 551–553, 568–571, 590–591, 605–607, 619–620, 667–669.
Captured by Brigands. London: Religious Tract Society, 1901. Albanian versions: Pengu i kaçakëve. Tiranë: Kartë e Pendë, 1993; Tiranë: Vernon, 2016.
Kënkëtore: Hymna për ndë Falëtoret të Ungjillorëvet. Korçë: 1893.
Mësime të vëjyerë a fjalë shpirtërishte, të folura në mësonjëtoret shqipe të çupavet ndë Korçë. Kostandinopojë: A.H. Bojaxhiani, 1896. Republished 2017 as Mësime të vyera .
Hristomathi më katër pjesë: gjëra të ndryshme e të vëgjejtura për këndim edhe për dobi të mësonjëtorevet shqipe, a udhëheqës për ç’do shtëpi shqipëtari, të gatuara edhe një pjesë nga dialogët të kthyera, prej një mëmëdhetari. Sofia: Mbrothësia, 1902 and 1907 . Republished 2023 as Krestomaci: udhëheqës për çdo shtëpi shqiptari.
Katiqism i vogël, me prova nga Shkresa e Shenjtëruarë. Manastir: Shtypëshkronja “Tregtare Nërkombëtare”, 1912.

Legacy

In the Evangelical Protestant community

When Gjerasim Qiriazi founded an Evangelical Brotherhood in 1891 for Albanians, Albanian-inhabited territories were still under Ottoman rule. Now that Albania and Kosovo are sovereign states, Protestant communities there, such as the Evangelical Brotherhood of Albania, the Kosovo Protestant Evangelical Church —and other Albanian Evangelical entities—regard Gjerasim Qiriazi as their spiritual founder.

Cinema

The Korça School for Girls was immortalized in Albanian cinema by the beloved film Mësonjëtorja . The character inspired by Gjerasim Qiriazi was "Stefan Bardhi" and was played by actor Gulielm Radoja. Consistent with the official atheistic and censorial policies of the People's Socialist Republic of Albania, all religion was portrayed as anti-Albanian and the school was identified as completely non-religious.

Commemorative items

In 2017 Gjerasim Qiriazi's image was among those featured on a postage stamp by the Post of Kosovo in honor of the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation and its Albanian counterpart.

In academia

On 26 October 2016 the University of Korça hosted an academic conference honoring Gjerasim and Sevasti Qiriazi and the Girls School on the 125th anniversary of its founding.
On 14–16 January 1994 in Tirana, in commemoration of the 100th anniversary of Gjerasim Qiriazi's death, the Evangelical Brotherhood of Albania, in cooperation with Albania's State Archives and the League of Writers, sponsored an academic symposium with ten Albanian and foreign guest speakers.

Namesake schools, institutions, etc.

The in Tirana.
In Tirana there is a road named "Rr. Gjerasim Qirjazi" .
In 2023 the government of North Macedonia approved the establishment of a regional department of the Institute of Spiritual and Cultural Heritage of the Albanians in Monastir, which will be named after the Qiriazi family.

Awards

Mësuesi i Popullit, 1987.Urdhri i Lirisë i Klasit të Parë, 1992.

Nderi i Kombit, 2017.