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Drawing on a wide range of unpublished sources from archives in Albania and Greece, Ardit Bido’s book provides a fascinating journey into the interplay between Orthodox Christianity, nationalism and political power in Albania. His meticulous and thought-provoking study focuses on key events and religious and political figures in the making of an independent Albanian Orthodox Church. The book is summarised in a key sentence, as Bido has eloquently argued: ‘the newly established Albanian nation desired to create its own symphony between Church and state in the hope of consolidating the nation-state’. This is the first detailed study on the Albanian Orthodox Church challenging the relationship between Orthodox churches and state authorities, and more broadly, between religion and nationalism in South-eastern Europe. - Lucian Leustean, Reader in Politics and International Relations, Aston University, United Kingdom

One of the best analysis of the history of the Albanian Orthodox Church and the fight for autocephaly. It is a succinct, readable and learned study based on primary sources of a "peripheral" Orthodox Church in a predominantly Muslim nation. The study is a gem for the specialist in Eastern Christianity, the student of Eastern Orthodoxy, and all those interested in the history of modern autocephalies and in the political history of Balkans in general. Highly recommended. - Ines Angeli Murzaku, Professor of Ecclesiastical History and Director of Catholic Studies Program, Seton Hall University, New Jersey, USA

Ardit Bido's monograph is a special historiographical contribution dedicated to the issue of autocephaly of the Albanian Orthodox Church. The innovative approach analyses crucial periods of the troubled path of the foundation on national basis of the Albanian Orthodox Church: the origins within the Rilindja movement (1878 -1918); the decade 1918-1929 of the affirmation and proclamation of Albanian ecclesiastical autonomy; the twenty years (1929-1945) of the consolidation preceding the Communist dictatorship. Of each of the three phases identified, Bido carries out an in-depth critical scan, which allows his historical and political reconstructions to be embedded in an interpretative framework that is as objective as it is convincing. The results of this research, thanks to the use of various archival sources, will undoubtedly constitute the subject of further debate among contemporary historians. - Matteo Mandala, Full Professor of Albanology and Director of the Albanology Laboratory, University of Palermo, Italy

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