Hudson incident

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With the refusal of the Greek clergy to offer a Christian burial to an Albanian patriot in Hudson, Massachusetts, Albanian leader Fan S. Noli began to lead the movement for an Albanian Orthodox Church in Boston. Noli was ordained to the priesthood, and Saint George Albanian Orthodox Cathedral was organized at the Knights of Honor Hall on Tremont Street in Boston. The church later evolved into Saint George Albanian Orthodox Cathedral - the seat of the Orthodox Church in America Albanian Archdiocese - which eventually relocated to South Boston.

Although the Albanians who came to America had long dreamed of establishing their own church, it was the notorious "Hudson incident" that rallied them to action and hastened Fan Noli's ordination as their spiritual leader. In 1907, a young man, Kristaq Dishnica, died in Hudson, Massachusetts of influenza. No Orthodox Church would perform the funeral rites because as an Albanian patriot, he was considered an excommunicant of the faith. And so he was laid to rest in a Worcester, Massachusetts cemetery without any religious service. The incident aroused the ire of the Albanians in Massachusetts and Fan Noli recognized his calling as an opportunity to serve the spiritual needs of his own community and to champion the cause for religious and political freedom in Albania. He was able to garner the support of Archbishop Platon, head of the Russian Orthodox Church in the United States, who ordained him on March 18, 1908 at the Cathedral of St. Nicholas in New York City. Just one week later, he was appointed administer of the Albanian Orthodox Mission in America, and later elevated to the rank of Mitred Archmandrite.^{[1][2][3][4][5][6]}

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