Nektarios Terpos (Aromanian: Nectar Tãrpo;[1]Greek: Νεκτάριος Τέρπος; late 17th century–18th century) was an Orthodox Christian scholar and monk from Moscopole (today in Albania) of Aromanian ethnicity. He was the author of an important religious book, called A Handbook called Faith (Greek: Βιβλιάριο καλούμενον Πίστις), which was first published in 1732. Terpos, together with Cosmas of Aetolia, was one of the major contributors of religious and cultural revival under the Ottoman rule.[2]
Life
Terpos came from a wealthy family and spend his childhood in Moscopole.[3] He was of Aromanian ethnic background.[4][5] As a missionary he travelled in Epirus, covering vast areas from Arta to Berat.[3] Terpos is also remembered for his work in the Ardenica Monastery where in 1731 he wrote a prayer in the form of a fresco. The prayer is in four languages (Albanian, Aromanian, Greek and Latin) and is the first writing in Albanian found in an Eastern Orthodox Church.[6] It is also the oldest known text in the Aromanian language.[7]
Persecuted, Terpo migrated to Italy, where in 1732 he published his main work named A Handbook called Faith (Greek: Βιβλιάριο καλούμενον Πίστις).[8] The book was republished 12 times in less than a century (1732–1818).[3] In the book Terpo chastises the Crypto-Christians of Albania, and invites them to never abandon the religion of their forefathers.[9]
^Elsie, Robert (1991). "Albanian literature in Greek script. The eighteenth-and early nineteenth-century Orthodox tradition in Albanian writing". Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies. 15 (1): 22. doi:10.1179/byz.1991.15.1.20. S2CID161805678. The Albanian text in Greek script reads Virgjin ë Mame eperndis uro prë nee faj torëte and is ascribed to one Nektarios Terpos, a cleric of no doubt Aromunian origin from Voskopoja.