Gjergj Suli

Gjergj Suli (1893–1948), also referred to as At Gjergj Suli was an Albanian Orthodox cleric and martyr.[1]

Father Gjergj Suli

Biography

Gjergj Suli was born in Lekël village, Vilayet of Yannina, Ottoman Empire.[1][2] He took his first studies in his village school, and later attended the Greek language Zosimea gymnasium in Yannina.[3]

In 1922, he immigrated to the US, where he spent 12 years in Boston, Massachusetts, and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was ordained a priest in US after attending a religious school. Suli had close relations with Fan Noli, both being between Orthodox clerics and activists of Vatra, the Pan-Albanian Federation of America.[1]

Suli returned to Albania in 1934, where he started working as a priest in his native village, after that in other villages as Labovë, Tërbuq, Hundkuq etc.[3] He was an opponent of the Italian regime established in Albania after the invasion of 1939. He was also skeptical about the bolshevist ideas which spread during World War II.

As a person with a broad culture and knowledge of several foreign languages, Suli kept correspondence with many people outside Albania, many of them being Vatra activists. His vast correspondence was one of the pretexts use by the Communist authorities which accused him of being an informer of foreign Intelligences. He was arrested in 1946, and after that suffered for several months the Gjirokastër prison. He was executed by a firing squad in January 28 1948.[1][3]

Furthermore, his personal library and correspondence letters were destroyed.

The Orthodox Autocephalous Church of Albania commemorates his death anniversary as a cleric with a broad culture and who during all his lifetime worked with devotion for the Word of God.

See also

References
  1. Enkelejda Riza - Albanian Telegraphic Agency (1999-01-23), Father Gjergj Suli - Martyr of Albanian Autochephalous Orthodox Church - portrait, HRI-NET, retrieved 2013-09-14
  2. KUSH KA BËRË MË SHUMË TË MIRA SE VANGJEL E KOSTANDIN ZHAPA? [Who has done more philanthropy than Vangjel and Kostandin Zhapa?], 58, Gazeta "Odria", August 2011, Gjithashtu, Vangjel Zhapa financoi për përgatitjen e hierarkisë fetare, të klerikëve e priftërinjve që shërbenin në kisha e manastire, nga ku kanë përfituar familjet,Haxhiu, Toti, Papa Kosta, Papa Leonidha Duka si dhe At Gjergj Suli nga fshati Lekel etj. [Also, Vangeli Zhapa funded the preparation of the religious hierarchy, the clergy and priests who ministered in churches and monasteries, in benefit of families: Haxhiu, Toti, Papa Kosta, Papa Leonidha Duka, and Father George Suli from the village of Lekel etc.]
  3. Aliko, Tomor (2007), GENOCIDE ON THE INTELLECTUAL ELITE OF THE ALBANIAN NATION UNDER THE COMMUNIST TERROR (PDF), Tirana: Shtypshkronja "MALUKA", p. 258, OCLC 500527064, archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-03-03, retrieved 2013-12-27
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