The Evaluation of the Arguments on the Albanians’ First Contacts with Christianity, in scope of St. Paul’s Journeys

Considering religious structure of today’s Albanians; although their majority is Muslims, their majority used to have Christian beliefs before adopting Islam. Some studies conducted on this subject indicate that the first contacts of Albanians with Christianity began with St. Paul. This claim is supported by the information that Christianity was firstly spread in Albanian cities of Dyrrhachium (Durr？s) and Apollonia which were visited by St. Paul while he was passing through Albania on his way to Italy, as a part of his “Journey to Rome”, a journey made in order to spread the Christian message to other nations. Although this claim is strongly advocated by the Albanian Churches, archaeological studies show that the earliest ruins of Christianity in Albania date from no earlier than IV – VI centuries. Besides this, our studies results show that St. Paul has no entered the borders of today’s Albania. However, the participation of bishops from the dioceses of Durr？s, Apollonia, Saranda, Berat and Vlora to the ecumenical councils of ？znik, Efes, Kad？k？y and ？stanbul is considered to take place at the head of the arguments that this belief has an early date and spread very quickly among Albanians