text: meksi meksi ( 1770 – 1821 ) was an albanian physician , writer , and translator . one - time personal physician to ali pasha , the 19th - century albanian ruler of the pashalik of yanina , meksi produced the first translation of the new testament into albanian with the help and sponsorship of the british and foreign bible society ( bfbs ) . meksi did not live to see his work 's publication however , which was supervised by gregory iv of athens . as a member of filiki etaireia , a secret society whose purpose was to establish an independent greek state , meksi joined the greeks in the siege of tripolitsa during their war of independence against the ottoman empire and died shortly afterwards . as well as its value to albanian christians , who could for the first time read the gospels in their own language , meksi 's work advanced the study of written albanian , and in particular informed the work of 19th - century linguists and philologists such as joseph ritter von xylander , august schleicher , and johann georg von hahn . their studies of the albanian language were significantly influenced by meksi 's bible translation . early life meksi was born in 1770 in , a village near gjirokastër , a member of meksi family and pursued secondary studies in ioannina , then an important ottoman provincial center ( now in greece ) . his first employment was as a folk physician to the court of ali pasha , the albanian ruler of the pashalik of yanina , a position he held until 1803 . armed with a letter of recommendation from ali pasha , meksi was admitted to the university of naples in italy , where he studied medicine under dr. nicola and practiced in a hospital administered by the parish of san giovanni a carbonara . after completing his studies in 1808 , meksi returned to yanina and once again served in ali pasha 's court , this time as one of his four physicians . his colleagues were dr. , ( degree in medicine from the university of paris ) , dr. ( degree in medicine from the university of vienna ) , and dr. loukas , ( brother of , with a degree in medicine from leipzig university ) . philological activity after falling out of favor with ali pasha , for reasons unknown , meksi left the court in 1810 to travel around europe . during a brief stay in venice he began to develop an interest in the albanian alphabet and grammar . he published two translations into albanian during 1814 , both now lost , one of which was a religious work by abbé claude fleury ( 1640 – 1723 ) . meksi also wrote a grammar of the albanian language in albanian . it too has been lost , but it is mentioned in many letters reporting meksi 's work as an albanian philologist written by robert pinkerton to his superiors at the british and foreign bible society ( bfbs ) , which subsequently sponsored the translation of the new testament into albanian . the work must have been written before 1819 and may be either the first albanian grammar or the second , after that of jani ; it is not known which was published first . in this period meksi also created a new albanian alphabet , rationalizing and consolidating the many different pre - existing alphabets , employing a mix of greek and latin characters . using his new alphabet , he wrote a book called orthography of the albanian language , ( albanian : i ) . translation of the new testament pinkerton , who in 1816 was the bfbs 's representative in moscow , had met that year with a community of albanians in vienna , then capital of the austrian empire . they assured him that a translation of the new testament into albanian was indeed possible . in a letter to his superiors at the bfbs , dated august 28 , 1816 , pinkerton wrote that the albanian nation occupied a large part of the ancient illyria , that they spoke a language completely different from slavic , turkish , greek , or latin , and that for the albanian orthodox the mass was recited in greek , a language that believers and even some of the priests did not understand . according to pinkerton , the translation could be done by one or more albanians from the ionian islands under the supervision of an albanian bishop . in 1819 , apparently with the blessing of his superiors at the bfbs , pinkerton met with meksi ( referring him as evangelos mexicos ) in istanbul . meksi , who was then a teacher in serres , had been recommended to pinkerton because of his albanian grammar book . pinkerton also relates in one of his letters to the bfbs that meksi was well regarded by the albanian community , the greek orthodox church , and by patriarch gregory v of constantinople . gregory , according to pinkerton , also offered to find two suitable clergymen to assist meksi in his endeavor . lastly , pinkerton recommended that the greek alphabet be used as the most suitable for the albanian language . on october 19 , 1819 , pinkerton and meksi concluded a contract to translate the new testament into albanian on behalf of the society . it was agreed that the bible would have to be translated into the albanian dialect of yanina . meksi completed the work in two years , ten months earlier than the contract 's deadline . early in 1821 mr. leeves of the bfbs visited thessaloniki to supervise the translation . on february 8 , 1821 he wrote that the work had been completed , and that the only outstanding task was a final review by a competent person , who had already been assigned to the task . in 1822 the revised manuscript was sent to malta to be printed , and in 1823 leeves sent from malta to the representative of the society in corfu the first copy of a printed new testament in albanian . meanwhile , the new testament had had a final revision performed by the archimandrite of euboea , grigor gjirokastriti , an albanian who subsequently became archbishop gregory iv of athens . archimandrite grigor had recommended that the bible be printed in a large typeface in two columns , one in albanian and the other in modern greek , because albanians would rather read modern greek than koine . on march 16 , 1824 mr. lowndes , the bfbs 's secretary in corfu , sent a letter to the society in which he mentioned that the sum paid to meksi for his work was 6 , 000 and that archimandrite grigor was paid 60 crowns . on september 5 , 1824 the saint matthew 's gospel was published in albanian . according to lowndes ' letters , the albanian community of missolonghi was extremely excited when mass was said with a piece from saint matthew , as since its translation they had been impatient to hear it in albanian . in july 1827 the form in which the first 500 copies of the new testament were to be bound was decided in london . the entire edition amounted to 2 , 000 copies . although gjirokastriti 's edition of the new testament was written in albanian , it used the greek alphabet . it is not known which alphabet meksi used in his own manuscript . the ecumenical patriarchate of constantinople was not against the work of meksi or the bible society at that time . on the contrary , for the translation the british missionaries successfully appealed to gregory v and enlisted the help of an orthodox bishop , gjirokastriti , for the final edition of the new testament in albanian . greek war of independence meksi was a member of the filiki etaireia , a secret society whose purpose was to overthrow ottoman rule over the balkans and to establish an independent greek state . when the greek war of independence broke out in 1821 , after his translation had been completed , meksi joined the greeks in the siege of tripolitsa . despite suffering from a serious bout of pneumonia , he continued to work as a physician during the war . he is also said to have taken part in the negotiations leading to an agreement proposed by theodoros kolokotronis that permitted the albanians who were defending tripolitsa to leave unharmed , an arrangement that helped the greeks to capture the town from the turks . legacy meksi did not live to see the 1827 publication of his translation of the new testament ; he had died a bachelor six years earlier , at the age of about 51 . the first publication of a bible translation from greek to a modern language , it ran to 2 , 000 copies , a huge number for the time . it preceded the modern bulgarian version by two years and the romanian translation by twenty . a second edition was published in 1858 in athens , but as it had not been revised by any native speakers of albanian it was full of errors . meksi 's work was important for the development of written albanian , and his endeavors strengthened the conviction that a stable albanian alphabet had to be created . his translation served as the basis for joseph ritter von xylander 's studies of the albanian language , which definitively refuted the thesis that the language had a tatar origin . von xylander concluded that albanian had an indo - european root . two other international scholars also studied the albanian language mainly based on meksi 's translation of the new testament : august schleicher , who stated that his knowledge of the conjugation of albanian verbs was based on meksi 's work , and johann georg von hahn an austrian diplomat , philologist , and specialist in albanian history , language , and culture , who translated the bible into albanian with the help of .