Saint Jovan Vladimir's Church () is an
Albanian Orthodox
The Autocephalous Orthodox Church of Albania (), commonly known as the Albanian Orthodox Church or the Orthodox Church of Albania, is an autocephalous Eastern Orthodox church. It declared its autocephaly in 1922 through its Congress of 1922, a ...
church in
Shijon
Bradashesh is a village and a former municipality in the Elbasan County, central Albania. At the 2015 local government reform it became a subdivision of the municipality Elbasan. The population at the 2011 census was 10,700. The municipal unit cons ...
,
Elbasan County
Elbasan County () is one of the 12 counties of Albania. The population is 232,580 (as of 2023), in an area of 3199 km2. Its capital is the city Elbasan.
Administrative divisions
Until 2000, Elbasan County was subdivided into four districts: ...
,
Albania
Albania ( ; or ), officially the Republic of Albania (), is a country in Southeast Europe. It is located in the Balkans, on the Adriatic Sea, Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea, and shares land borders with Montenegro to ...
. It is dedicated to the
Duklja
Duklja ( sr-Cyrl, Дукља; ; ) was a medieval South Slavs, South Slavic state which roughly encompassed the territories of modern-day southeastern Montenegro, from the Bay of Kotor in the west to the Bojana river in the east, and to the sou ...
n prince and saint
Jovan Vladimir
Jovan Vladimir or John Vladimir ( sr-cyr, Јован Владимир; – 22 May 1016) was the ruler of Duklja, the most powerful Serbs, Serbian principality of the time, from around 1000 to 1016. He ruled during the protracted war betwee ...
, the son-in-law of the
Bulgaria
Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...
n
Tsar
Tsar (; also spelled ''czar'', ''tzar'', or ''csar''; ; ; sr-Cyrl-Latn, цар, car) is a title historically used by Slavic monarchs. The term is derived from the Latin word '' caesar'', which was intended to mean ''emperor'' in the Euro ...
Samuil. It became a
Cultural Monument of Albania
In Albania, a cultural monument () is a construction or work of cultural, historical and artistic value that is built in a visible space, made in memory of important events or prominent people. Cultural monuments are usually under state protection ...
in 1948. The first temple is the oldest large Orthodox basilica from the times of
Tsar Samuil
Samuel (also Samoil or Samuil; , ; , ; Old Church Slavonic: Самоилъ; died 6 October 1014) was the Tsar (''Emperor'') of the First Bulgarian Empire from 997 to 6 October 1014. From 977 to 997, he was a general under Roman I of Bulgaria, the ...
, rebuilt as present church by the
Thopia family
The Thopia were one of the most powerful Albanian feudal families in the Late Middle Ages, part of the nobility of the Angevin Kingdom of Albania.
Early history
The first attestation of the Thopia can be found in an Angevin document from 1274 ...
in 1381.
Karl Thopia
Karl Thopia (; – January 1388) sometimes written as Charles Thopia, was an Albanian feudal prince and warlord who ruled Albanian domains from 1358 until the first Ottoman conquest of Albania in 1388. Thopia usually maintained good relatio ...
, the
Prince of Albania
This is an archontological list of Albanian monarchs, containing monarchs of the medieval Albanian principalities, Albanian kingdoms and to heads of state of modern Albania. Starting from the first established monarch Progon of Kruja from th ...
, died in 1388 and was buried in Saint John Vladimir's Church.
During the 18th century
Kostandin Shpataraku
Kostandin Shpataraku (; 17361767), also commonly known as Shpataraku, was an Albanian Orthodox icon and fresco painter of the Post-Byzantine period in the eighteenth century. He continued to combine Byzantine tradition with influences from the R ...
painted the walls of the church.
An Orthodox monastery grew around the church, and became the seat of the newly founded
Archdiocese of Dyrrhachium
In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop.
History
In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associated ...
in the 18th century.
Gregory of Durrës
Gregory of Durrës (; ; ; Gregory of Dyrrachium)Grigori is also recorded as Grigori Voskopojari (Eng: Gregory of Voskopoja) (); Gregory the Printer; or Gregory Constantinidhi (Greek: Gregorios Typografos) (). He has been confused with Gregory of ...
, the archbishop of Dyrrhachium from 1768 to 1772, wrote there the
Elbasan Gospel Manuscript
The Elbasan Gospel Manuscript is an 18th-century collection of translations from the New Testament into Albanian. Although the author is mainly known as the Anonymous of Elbasan (), according to Mahir Domi and Robert Elsie the linguistic and histo ...
, the oldest work of Albanian Orthodox literature; the manuscript is also notable for being the only document in the Albanian
Elbasan script
The Elbasan alphabet is a mid 18th-century alphabetic script created for the Albanian language '' Elbasan Gospel Manuscript'', also known as the ''Anonimi i Elbasanit'' ("the Anonymous of Elbasan"), which is the only document written in it. The ...
.
Later on, in the late 18th and early 19th century, the monastery became an important center for writing the Albanian language in another original script known as the
Todhri alphabet
The Todhri alphabet is an 18th-century Albanian alphabetical writing system invented for writing the Albanian language by Theodhor Haxhifilipi, also known as Dhaskal Todhri.
History
It is a complex writing system of fifty-two characters which ...
.
Gallery
See also
*
Thopia family
The Thopia were one of the most powerful Albanian feudal families in the Late Middle Ages, part of the nobility of the Angevin Kingdom of Albania.
Early history
The first attestation of the Thopia can be found in an Angevin document from 1274 ...
*
Principality of Albania (medieval)
The Principality of Albania ( Albanian: ''Principata e Arbërisë'') was an Albanian principality ruled by the Albanian dynasty of Thopia. The first notable ruler was Tanusio Thopia, who became Count of Mat in 1328. The principality would re ...
References
{{Authority control
Cultural Monuments of Albania
Buildings and structures in Elbasan
Churches in Albania