Important Dates

The events we are celebrating are listed below with the precise dates of their occurrences. Since 2016–2017 is a jubilee year, we will not celebrate all of these events on the precise day of the anniversary. As we have specific events and dates, we will update this page.

October 31, 1517 (500 years ago)

On this day in 1517, Martin Luther nailed a piece of paper to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany, containing the 95 revolutionary opinions that would begin the Protestant Reformation.

August 28, 1816 (200 years ago)

Robert Pinkerton writes the British and Foreign Bible Society to convince them to engage in translating the New Testament into the Albanian language.

1866 (150 years ago)

Konstandin Kristoforidhi, Alexander Thomson and the Bible Society publish the Gospels and Acts into the Gheg Albanian dialect for the first time in history—making the Scriptures available to northern Albanians and affecting the unification of the Albanian people on the grounds of a common language.

October 23, 1891 (125 years ago)

Gjerasim Qiriazi and Sevasti Qiriazi establish the first Albanian school for girls, according to the model of Protestant mission schools established all over the Ottoman Empire and European Turkey in the 1800s.

November 14, 1892 (125 years ago)

Gjerasim Qiriazi and others establish the Evangelical Brotherhood with “its sole object the development of the Albanian language and extension of the knowledge of the Gospel.”

January 15, 1917 (100 years ago)

Paraskevi Kyrias (Parashqevi Qiriazi) began publishing a bi-monthly periodical containing historical, linguistic, literary, pedagogical, social, and cultural topics relevant to the Albanians.

June 27, 1996 (20 years ago)

Edwin Jacques, who with his wife Dorothy were Protestant missionaries to Korça in 1932–40, passed away. Dr. Jacques was a student of Albanian history and wrote a lengthy history about the Albanian people. Dorothy passed away on August 11, 1997.