Four religions, one pagan people!?

The Albanians, as an Illyrian tribe, are mentioned in the 1st century by Pliny. Before you mentioned this ethnonym for a people, a form of it would be used to identify a heretical dualist group, influenced by Manichaeism. For the Turks, the word "arnaut" was synonymous with the word "infidel". Lakshman-Lepain says that the concept of soul is foreign to Albanians, "who don't even have a correct term to properly translate this word". Noli said that Albanians are pagans, Enveri atheists, others materialists... "God is dead. And we have killed him," said Nietzsche. But he did not kill God. God was "killed" by the Albanian.

Kosovo was declared a secular state. For some religious fanatics, secularism is a wrong decision, since the separation of political power from religious power - according to them - can have a negative effect on social morality. Others - the majority - who do not think so, analyze this decision in the patriotic context, of a unity that puts the national interest before the religious one.

"Albania"

"The religion of the Albanian is Albanianism", said Pashko Vasa. This romantic slogan was present in all the Albanian movements of making and preserving the state. The biggest supporter of this slogan was Enver Hoxha. Here he supported his ideal of atheism.

Pashko Vasa was misunderstood and glorified by Enver Hoxha, and this misunderstanding - as long as Albanian history does not record any case of an internal war based on religious views, and as long as Albanians boast of inter-religious tolerance - continues even today.

Albanians always conceived survival and economic well-being with the creation of the national state. Such a view can also be found in the Middle Ages. Skanderbeg was born Orthodox, grew up as a Muslim, died Catholic, but his struggle beyond the principality inherited from his father, the alliance with other Albanian princes - Catholic and Orthodox - were evidence of a national struggle that transcended religious barriers.

Pashko Vasa said the aforementioned sentence at the time of the weakening of Turkish political and military power in the Balkans. The negative influence on the tired Albanian national movements could be exerted through religious institutions. This was done by Turkey, as well as by others who in the 19th century had formed the first national states in the Balkans (exceptions were made by the Bektashi clergy and the Catholic clergy).

"Albania" was not a notion intended to revise Albanian interreligious relations, but to avoid eventual divisions that may occur in the future, in case of non-realization of the ideal for the formation of the Albanian state. "Albania" was perhaps also a message that let others know that Albanians are united by nation and not religion.

But, are Albanians really great patriots, this ideal for which they ignore religion, or is there something else at stake?

"The people with three religions, it is very difficult to find any God". This sentence can be read online at xenini.com. It sounds funny, and the nature of this website is also funny. But, in its meaning, there is something true, similar to what Bishop Fan Noli says in "Skënderbeu's History": "In the black hour of misery, the Albanian throws a handful of incense on every altar of every god that heard the name"!

Infidels...!?

When talking about the beginnings of the Albanian monotheistic religion, the German researcher, Bernhard Tonnes, says that there were 70 Christian families in Durrës, at the time of the apostles. The beginnings of Christianity in the territory of the Diocese of Prizren-Skopje also date from this time. In the year 395, of the division of the Roman Empire, the Albanian lands were an integral part of the Eastern Empire - Byzantium - but in the ecclesiastical aspect dependent on Rome. During the Great Schism of 1054, the Albanians of the South entered the jurisdiction of Constantinople, and those of the North continue to operate under the jurisdiction of Rome. This arrangement became unbalanced after the Ottoman conquest, when 70 percent of a Christian population converted to Islam.

Albanian and foreign researchers mention - as the main reason for embracing the new Islamic religion - the use of force, economic and religious discrimination, the limitation of individual and collective freedom. But, since such treatments were given to all Christians in the Balkans, the reasons for the conversion are also found in the lack of educated Christian clergy, the futile anger of the believers with the priests, but above all in the materialistic worldview - the opportunistic ambitions of the Albanians for advancement in the Ottoman hierarchy and for enrichment.

If we refer to recent psychological studies in the world, conversion to another religion is the result of installing a new social network, which increases the individual's need to be part of a group. They are faced with major life problems and, due to their inability or inability to solve them, they seek a new religious identity.

Such has been the Albanian reality, after the installation of Ottoman power. The poor Albanian, with a materialistic nature, has seen the conversion to the religion of the strongest as an increase in self-confidence and power, but not as part of national identity. The Turks also knew this, for whom the word "arnaut" (Albanian) was synonymous with the word "infidel".

The Albanian "killed" God!

The ideal plays a secondary role for Albanians. The French historian, Rajwantee Lakshman-Lepain, affirms this in a recent study. The concept of the soul is central to both the Christian and Islamic religions, but Lakshman-Lepain says that this concept is foreign to Albanians, "who don't even have a correct term to properly translate this word".

Epistemologically, humans cannot know God nor determine his existence. Philosophically and psychologically, Ludwig Feurbach and Sigmund Freud said that God and religion are inventions designed to meet the psychological and emotional needs of man. Inspired by the work of the philosopher Feurbach, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels asserted that faith is an act used by power to oppress the working class.

Such concepts later establish all communist states. Therefore, in 1966, the American magazine "Time" asks the question: "Is God dead?" This dilemma concerns the time when almost one in two people of the world lived in anti-religious communist systems, while hundreds of millions more in Africa, Asia and Latin America, in systems that do not recognize the Christian God. The text takes into account philosophical principles about religion, from Soren Kierkegaard to the theological movement "Death of God", which thought that belief in God, in modern times, is impossible and meaningless.

A year after this writing, in 1967, inspired by the Chinese Cultural Revolution, Enver Hoxha makes Albania the first atheist country in the world. In 1976, with the new Constitution, Article 37 does not recognize any religion, while Article 55 of the Criminal Code of 1977 punishes religious activities, even with death.

"God is dead. And we have killed it," wrote Friedrich Nietzsche in "The Hilarious Science". This is one of his most quoted and misunderstood sentences. But, he did not kill God, because only the Albanians did this for the first and last time.

heretic ideas

Things changed after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1990. Anti-religious groups began to shrink. Timothy Shah, of the PEW Center, wrote in 2006 that religious movements are increasing their influence against secular and ideological movements. He thinks that democracy is giving greater political influence to religious leaders, in what he calls the "religious prophetic movement." According to him, the idea that wealth, education and political freedom will make the world secular has failed. "God is winning in global politics. Modernization, democratization and globalization have only made it stronger," he says.

But does this also apply to Albanians?

Certainly not, since religion throughout Albanian history has not been conceived as part of the national identity. The material, the ideal or the balance of both, depend on the material and psycho-emotional condition of the Albanian. Most of the time, the latter dominates - the dualistic nature - similar to what Roger Waters says in the song "It's a Miracle": "By the grace of God Almighty, and the pressures of markets, the human race has civilized itself." The roots of this philosophical concept can also be found in the Albanian religious past, of the early Middle Ages.

The Albanians, as an Illyrian tribe, are mentioned in the 1042st century by Pliny, and in the 1081nd by Ptolemy. Before you mentioned this ethnonym for a people – from Michael Attalia in XNUMX and Anna Komnena in XNUMX – a form of it would be used to identify a heretical dualist group influenced by Manichaeism.

Mani (210-276), born in Babylon, of Iranian parents, was the founder of Manichaeism. This was the greatest religion of the early Middle Ages, even the greatest rival of Christianity. When Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire, the persecution of the Manichaeans began, culminating in 1209 when Pope Innocent III declared total war against them. The last Manichaeans die in the XNUMXth century, in China (today's Neo-Manicheans are sympathizers, not direct heirs of his faith).

Mani presented himself as a savior and apostle of Jesus Christ. In some Coptic writings, he is even identified with the Holy Spirit. He was educated and combined the doctrines of Mandenism, Judaism, Zoroastrianism, Christianity, and later Buddhism, with the conviction that salvation is possible through education, self-denial, vegetarianism, and chastity. He declares himself a prophet and the heirs of the people led by God.

Dualism

Many of his teachings influenced Christianity, such as the idea of ​​good and evil nature, the idea of ​​Hell, the division of groups into the elect, hearers, sinners, as well as the rejection of sexual acts. Its influence can also be seen in Islam. Mani said that he is the heir of Jesus and other prophets whose teachings have been misinterpreted. He said that he is the last prophet and that this was revealed to him by an angel. The prophet Muhammad said the same thing, according to which the teachings of the previous prophets have been degenerated by the followers, especially the Christians.

Mani was a dualist, and spoke of two equal natures that existed from the beginning: light and darkness. The kingdom of light lived in peace, while the kingdom of darkness was in constant conflict with itself. The universe is the temporary result of the attack from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light. Whereas, man is the battlefield of these two forces. The good part is the soul (made of light), and the bad is the body (made of dark earth). The soul is intact, but under the dominion of another power. People can escape from this power if they know themselves and identify themselves with the soul.

Under the influence of Mani were the greatest heretical sects of the Middle Ages: the Paulicians, the Cathars and the Bogomils. Albanians are also included in this category.

In the Encyclopedia of Religions, the latter are heretics named after the diocese of Albi in Piedmont. But, Michael Heart says that Albi's heretics are the patarenes. Whereas, according to the Christian Encyclopedia, from the beginning of the 20th century, the Albanians are a group of heretics who lived in Albania, around the 8th century.

The temptation for a dualistic belief did not stop even in the late Middle Ages. It is not only the identification with the Janissaries that lured the Albanians to their Bektashi religion. Haxhi Bekteshi (the founder of Bektashism), like Mani once, combined different faiths: Islam, Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism and Hinduism. Pantheism, reincarnation, love for everyone, Heaven and Hell in this world, are the main evidence of this eclecticism, which enables Albanians to be sometimes materialistic, sometimes idealistic, sometimes dualistic, sometimes nothing.

"Four different faiths have not found a way in the heart of a pagan people".

That's what Noli said.

It is not difficult to come to this conclusion. It is enough to listen to how they do things: in water, earth, sun, bread, light, day, coca-cola, fanta, white lemonade...

And least of all in God.