The '''Church of Albania''' is one of the [[autocephaly|autocephalous]] Orthodox churches whose territory consists of the Republic of Albania.

==Beginnings==

The '''Church of Albania''' as a church using the Albanian language is a latecomer to an ancient region of Europe. The heritage of the Byzantine Roman Empire that resided in the areas in which Albanians lived meant that Greek was the language of their churches. It was only in recent times, that is, the last hundred years or so, as nationalism came to the forefront in the Balkans that the idea came of an independent Albanian country in which the Orthodox church would use Albanian as its liturgical language. The idea of an Albanian liturgical language was in part realized through the efforts of an Albanian Orthodox émigré in the United States of America who began translating the Orthodox services into Albanian, became an Orthodox [[priest]], and began using the Albanian translations among Albanian communities both in America and Europe. This was [[Theophan (Noli) of Durres |Fr. Theophan (Fan) Noli]] in 1908. He was also part of the nationalist movement.