With the death of Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi yesterday it is quite a week for dictators.
One hundred and three years ago this week one of the world’s worst dictators, Enver Hoxha, was born on October 16, 1908, in the town of Gjirokastra in the south of Albania.
Both Gaddafi and Hoxha (pictured below) were ruthless leaders who campaigned particularly against Christians.
When Hoxha came to power in 1944 he turned Albania into the world’s most isolated country, closing its borders to the rest of the world for 47 years.
He said: “There is no religion in Albania, except being an Albanian” and proudly announced in 1967 that “his country was the world’s first atheist state”.
With a ruthless campaign, this fanatical despot waged war on religion just as he had done with the Fascist Italian and German occupiers during the Second World War.
He destroyed churches or converted them into post offices, schools, weapon depots, cafes, barns, storehouses or museums.
The cathedral at Shkodra was even turned into a volleyball court and in 1972, a museum of atheism was opened in that city.
For the last 23 years of his Communist rule there was not a single functioning church in the country.
All 2,169 religious establishments, which included mosques, 268 Roman Catholic churches and buildings of other denominations, were closed.
Of the country’s 1,600 Orthodox churches, monasteries and cultural centres in 1967, fewer than 80 were still standing 23 years later when communism ended in 1991.
Many Orthodox priests and evangelical Christians were sent to prison, tortured and then executed by firing squad.
During Hoxha’s reign of terror, 335 Orthodox priests died by execution, mistreatment, untreated illnesses or exhaustion. By the time it finished, only 22 Orthodox priests were still alive.
In the Handbook of Prayer for the Persecuted Church produced by Open Doors, Libya is rated the 25th most difficult country in the world to be a Christian.
It says: “Libya adheres to Islamic law and all citizens are Sunni Muslims by definition.
“The government criminalises evangelism and converting from Islam brings social pressure and ostracism.
“Most Libyan Christians are afraid to meet with other believers.
“Small Christian communities mostly consist of sub-Saharan migrants and Western expatriates.
“The large network of secret police makes it difficult to organise church activities.
“Many expat churches have had their permits withdrawn.”
When Hoxha died on April 11, 1985, it ushered in a new era as the borders were opened in 1991and Christians came into the country and churches were reborn.
Twenty years later there is an evangelical church in every town and there is a growing church with more than 20,000 believers out of a population of 3.5 million.
One of the pastors of this growing church is Berti Dosti of the European Christian Mission who has experienced both life under Hoxha and the religious freedom since the dictator’s death.
It is to be hoped that Libyan Christians will be encouraged by the story of Albania and they too will experience the same religious freedom now that Gaddafi is dead.
To read more about what life was like under Enver Hoxha, see God’s Secret Listener, published by Lion Hudson Monarch. Signed copies can be ordered from John@jbutterworth.plus.com
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