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Albanian Orthodox Diocese of America

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In the first half of the 20th century, the Orthodox Albanian communities in America were loosely affiliated with one another, with six of fifteen communities claiming "independent" status and the others not incorporated as dioceses until after the Second World War. The return of Bp. Theofan (Noli) from exile in Germany in 1932 had reopened the discussion of the need for a canonical Albanian diocese in North America. [Metropolitan Theofan had been consecrated in 1922 as Bishop of Durres by the Church of Albania, which did not claim any jurisdiction in North America, and thus could not gain recognition as head of a diocese in the Americas.]
With the controvery around Bp. Theofan's status, the end of WWII, and the increasing suppression and manipulation of the Church of Albania by the new communist government, a significant portion of Orthodox Albanian-Americans petitioned the Patriarch of Constantinople, Athenagoras (himself of Albanian ancestry), to send a canonical bishop. The Rt. Rev. Mark (Lipa) organized the Diocese in 1949-1950 and accepted into it the large community in Chicago and an older parish, the first of three Albanian Orthodox parishes to locate in South Boston. Bp. Mark immediately took his seat as a full member of [[SCOBA]].
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