FLASH
Shkruar nga Skënder Asani
In the public and family life of the Albanian Catholics of Skopje, holidays were part of the collective memory in general, while Christmas was the bread and salt of their religious and national revival...
This Christmas holiday finds us together again with the hope that in the remaking of the history of the nation and religion, our Illyrian-Dardan Skopje will restore the former attributes it had, when the Skopje-Prizren Bishopric was a very inherent factor in preserving of our national and spiritual cohesion.
In the calendar of cultural and scientific events, Christmas represents an important station in our journey as an Institute, because the spiritual dimension it carries is attributed precisely to the illumination of the tradition and life of the Albanian Catholic community in Skopje, like a chandelier that is trying to preserve the shine from the powerful winds of disintegration and assimilation.
In the public and family life of the Albanian Catholics of Skopje, holidays were part of the collective memory in general, while Christmas was the bread and salt of their religious and national revival.
Therefore, returning to this tradition, we as the Institute are making a self-sacrificing effort to make room for a part of our national fabric in a corner of our historical memory here in Skopje, which does not dare to wither and annihilate. Because without the glorious cultural and religious past of the Albanian Catholics of Skopje, our national history would resemble a book with only covers but without any pages inside.
Even this celebration that we are celebrating today together here at ITSHKSH, is a modest effort to return to this book the torn pages of the painful history of the Albanian Catholic community in Skopje, because they deserve to hold all religious services in the sweet language of Mother Teresa. Therefore, we have not given up on the idea of having an Albanian parish priest in Skopje, because only in this way will it make sense to protect this community from foreign destruction.
If from our Skopje came a woman of planetary dimensions of human and human greatness, such as Mother Teresa, why not bring back the echo of Gonxhe Bojaxhiu's songs and poems in Skopje through a shepherd who would address Grigja in Albanian his.
In the various storms of history, we managed to withstand all the challenges brought by denationalization and the unnatural change of our cultural-identity DNA, and this was done precisely thanks to the Bogdanian epic, which began right here in Skopje and spread enlightening rays throughout the arboreal space. We are trying to revive these epics even today, by organizing Bogdan Days, where this year we focused on Lazar Mjeda and Skopje in his time, as a practical demonstration of our persistence to declare war on oblivion. In any case, this also has an additional fact that is related to the publication of the book "The Bishopric of Skopje-Prizren through the centuries" authored by the last bishop of this diocese, Monsignor Gaspër Gjinin. This special publication by our Institute will clarify even more the scientific optics in the illumination of the glorious past of Skopje, and not only.
From here, I once again take the opportunity to wish you Christmas, and thank you for once again joining our idea that our sacral tradition is complemented with the distinctive signs of the ancient Illyrians, which remains the basis of our cultural and national identity.
Cheers!
(Speech delivered at the solemnity organized at ITSHKSH in honor of the Christmas holiday)
Skopje, December 23, 2023
Lini një Përgjigje