ABSTRACT
The new congress would again declare the autocephaly of the Albanian Church, as the majority of Orthodox Albanians would reject autonomy. Ierothe sought to dissolve the Church High Council of the Albanian Orthodox Church and, along with the mayor of Korca, Vasil Avrami, to call a new ecclesiastical congress. Ierothe’s plan marks a key moment in the Albanian ecclesiastical movement, as it was drafted immediately after the Belgrade deal between Greece and Zog. The Church High Council did not react immediately and Xhuvani, considering the two-week silence from the Albanian Orthodox Church as consent, continued to lead the diocese of Durres. The Albanian government, for its part, tried to make the most of this favourable situation, with its first “victims” being Vasil Dilo’s newspapers Liria and Tirana, which were shut down for their stance towards the Albanian Church.
