Gjerasim Qiriazi

Gjerasim Qiriazi (1858–1894) was an Albanian Protestant preacher and educator. He is the founder of the Protestant Church of Albania and the Kosovo Protestant Evangelical Church. He also founded the first Albanian school in modern times in 1887 in Korçë, Albania, then part of the Ottoman Empire.

Qiriazi attended a Greek school of his native Manastir, Macedonia. He then went to Samokov, Bulgaria, to attend the American College. After he finished his studies, in 1883, he started to work for the British and Foreign Bible Society in Korçë.

On November 15, 1884, while traveling to Lake Ohrid, he was kidnapped by bandits, who held him for ransom for over a year. This episode was narrated by Gjerasim in Captured by Brigands and published after his death in English in 1901.

In 1889 he commissioned the printing of the book of Genesis and the Gospel of Matthew in Albanian Tosk, and the Gospel of Matthew in Aromanian, which were printed by "Dituria" in Bucharest on behalf of BFBS.

In 1891, he and his sister, Sevasti Qiriazi, opened the first Albanian school for girls in Korçë. He also had a younger sister, Parashqevi Qiriazi, who started to work at the girls' school (Albanian: Shkolla e vashave) when she was only 11.

He died at an early age from pleurisy, which he caught during his captivity.

In addition to Captured by Brigands, Qiriazi wrote an Albanian language grammar, poetry, songs and school books. A selection of his writings was published by his brother, Gjergj, in the collection Hristomathi a udhëheqës për ç'do shtëpi shqiptari (Monastir, 1902). Both brothers co-wrote the song collection Kënkë të shenjtëruara (Monastir, 1906).

• "Teacher of the People" - Socialist People's Republic of Albania, 1987
• "First Class Order of Freedom" - Albanian, 1992