Damian of Albania
Archbishop Damian (Albanian: Kryepeshkop Damian, secular name Dhimitër Kokoneshi; 1886 - 8 October 1973, Pogradec) was the bishop of the Orthodox Autocephalous Church of Albania from April 1966 until February 1967, when the religion was abolished in Albania.
Life
Kokoneshi was born in 1886 in the village of Llëngë in Mokër region, (part of then Ottoman Empire), near Pogradec in today's Albania. He was of Vlach descent. His early education included attending the Normal School of Monastir in 1896 and the Academy of Theology in Ioannina in 1925.
On November 27, 1918, the Émigré Albanian Orthodox clerics sent a signed petition to the U.S. President, then Woodrow Wilson, asking for support of Albanian Church becoming autocephalous. The cleric's position was based on Albania becoming an independent country. The petition was signed by Father Theofan Stilian Noli, Father Damian Kokoneshi, Father Naum Cëre, Father Vasil Marko Kondili, Father Pando Sinica, and Father Vangjel Çamçe, future metropolitan Agathangjeli. The petition was supported by the Albanian Church Assembly ("Kuvendi Kishëtar") in Boston, MA on July 30, 1919. Autocephaly was finally declared at the Congress of Berat on September 12, 1922.
