ABSTRACT
Albania was among the last of the Balkan states to win its independence from the Ottoman Empire and to form an autocephalous Orthodox Church. The Albanian Orthodox community in the United States spearheaded the effort that led to the formation of the Albanian Orthodox Church in America under the leadership of Father Fan S. Noli in March 1908. In September 1922 the Congress of Berat proclaimed the establishment of the Autocephalous Albanian Orthodox Church (AAOC). But the Patriarchate of Constantinople did not approve the petition of the Albanians until April 1937, when he also authorized the formation of a Holy Synod under the leadership of Archbishop Kristofor Kisi.1
