Eulogios Kourilas Lauriotis

Eulogios Kourilas Lauriotes[1] (Greek: Ευλόγιος Κουρίλας Λαυριώτης, Albanian: Evlogji Kurila)[2] (1880–1961) was a bishop of the Orthodox Autocephalous Church of Albania. He was the Orthodox metropolitan bishop of Korçë (Korytsa) in Albania between 1937 and 1939, and a professor of philosophy and author on religious matters. He later became one of the leaders of the Northern Epirus movement, propagating that Greece should annex southern Albania.[3]

Metropolitan Eulogios of Korçë
Metropolitan of Korca
ChurchChurch of Constantinople, Orthodox Autocephalous Church of Albania
In office1937-1939
Personal details
Born1880
Ziçisht (Korçë), Ottoman Empire, now in modern Albania
Died1961 (aged 81)
Athens, Greece

Life

He was born in the village of Ziçisht (Zititsa, in Greek)[4][5][6] (then Ottoman Empire, today in Albania) in 1880.[7] He was of Greek[1][8] or Albanian origin.[9] During his youth he was attracted by ascetic and monastic ideals and joined the monastic community of Mount Athos. He graduated from the local Athonite School (1901) and the Phanar Greek Orthodox College in Istanbul.[5] He continued his studies in the Philosophy department of the University of Athens, where he acquired his Ph.D. in Humanities.[10] He continued studies in Germany. Kourilas also participated in the Greek Struggle for Macedonia and during the Balkan Wars (1912–1913) he was in charge of 100 armed men, among them many priests, that fought for Greece in the area of Chalkidiki.[5]

After an agreement with the Albanian authorities, in 1937, the Ecumenical Patriarchate chose a number of highly educated religious personalities for key positions in the recently declared as autocephalous Orthodox Church of Albania. Among them where Panteleimon Kotokos as metropolitan of Gjirokastër and Eulogios Kourilas as metropolitan of Korçë.[11] When the communist regime of Enver Hoxha came to power in Albania in 1945, he was declared an "enemy of the state" and was deprived from the Albanian citizenship.[12] By then he was already living in Greece where, parallel to his academic work, together with Panteleimon Kotokos became the heads of the Northern Epirus Central Committee propagating that parts of southern Albania, known among Greeks as Northern Epirus should be awarded to Greece.[3] He became professor at School of Philosophy of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (1935–1937) and of the University of Athens (1942–1949).[13]

He donated a significant part (10,000 volumes) of his library to the University of Ioannina.[5]

He died in 1961, Stratonike, Chalkidiki.

Works

Eulogios Kourilas wrote several historical, philosophical and theological books in Greek. His main works are (titles translated from Greek):

  • History of Ascetism (1929)
  • Catalogue of Kausokalyvia codices (1930)
  • Albanian studies (1933)
  • Gregorios Argyrokastritis (1935)
  • Moschopolis and its New Academy (1935)
  • Heraclea Sacra (1942) (title in Latin)
  • Hellenism and Christianism (1944)
  • Patriarchic History (1951).

References
  1. Peyfuss, Max Demeter (1976). "Die Akademia von Moschopolis und ihre Nachwirkungen im Geistesleben Sudeuropas". Wissenschaftspolitik Im Mittel- und Osteuropa: Wissenschaftliche Gesellschaften, Akademien und Hochschulen Im 18. Und Beginnenden 19. Jahrhundert (in German). Hobbing: 114–128 [119]. ISBN 978-3-921515-00-6. griechische Historiker und Mönch der Laura am Athos, Eulogios Kourilas Lauriotes...
  2. His family name is cited either in its Greek form "Kourilas" or "Kurilas" or in its Albanian Form "Kurila". His first name can be found spelled "Eulogios" or "Evlogios" in Greek, "Evlogji" in Albanian, or sometimes "Eulogio" in English.
  3. Tönes, Bernhard (1983). "Belastungsprobe für die albanisch-griechischen Beziehungen". Südosteuropa - Zeitschrift für Gegenwartsforschung (in German). Südost-Institut München. Abteilung Gegenwartsforschung: 440–456 [442].
  4. Εκδόσεις: Οι Αμπελώνες του Άθω. Μυλοπόταμος (Greek)
  5. Μαίρη Ζαγκλή-Μπόζιου. Γενικός Κατάλογος Αρχείου Archived 2011-07-21 at the Wayback Machine. Πανεπιστήμιο Ιωαννίνων. Τμήμα Ιστορία και Αρχαιολογίας. p. 13 (Greek)
  6. Encyclopedia "Papyrus-Larousse", Athens 1964, vol. 6, article "Eylogios Kourilas", in Greek language.
  7. Ramet, Sabrina (1998). Nihil obstat: religion, politics, and social change in East-Central Europe and Russia. Duke University Press. p. 208. ISBN 0-8223-2070-3.
  8. Fahlbusch, Erwin Bromiley, Geoffrey William (1999). The Encyclopedia of Christianity. "Hestia" Publishers & Booksellers; Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. p. 35. ISBN 9788889345047. "Archbishop Panteleimon of Gjirokastër and Bishop Evlogios of Korçë (both Greeks born in Albania) fled the country, and the last link with the Patriarchate of Constantinople was broken.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  9. "Albania, un musaico di religioni", La Civiltà Cattolica (in Italian), Rome: Holy See, "Gli ortodossi nel Impero ottomano" (chapter), IV (Issues 3727–3732, 3730): 343, 2005, ISSN 0009-8167, OCLC 1774680, UOM:39015063379849, Constantinopoli gli preferi Evlogi Kurila, un altro sacerdote di origine Albanese
  10. Europa World of learning online. Allen & Unwin, 1950, p. 384
  11. Kondis, Basil (1990). The Greeks of Northern Epirus and Greek-Albanian relations: historical review from the Greek edition : v. 3, 1922-1929-v. 4, 1930-1940. p. 41.
  12. Fahlbusch, Erwin Bromiley, Geoffrey William (1999). The Encyclopedia of Christianity. "Hestia" Publishers & Booksellers; Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. p. 35. ISBN 978-88-89345-04-7. "Archbishop Panteleimon of Gjirokastër and Bishop Evlogios of Korçë (both Greeks born in Albania) fled the country, and the last links with the Patriarchate of Constantinople was broken.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  13. Weitzmann Kurt. Sailing with Byzantium from Europe to America: the memoirs of an art historian. Editio Maris. 1994. ISBN 978-3-925801-17-4, p. 134.
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