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Kish Albanian Temple is located in Kish village, Sheki region, one of Azerbaijan’s oldest cities and cultural centers. This temple was one of the first Christian churches built in the Caucasus, not just in Caucasian Albania. This church, which dates from the first century AD, is a historical monument built on the foundation of the Moon Temple, symbolizing the spread of Christianity in the Caucasus approximately 2,000 years ago. According to legend, the Elysee built a church in the village of Kish in Uti Province, Albania, to spread Christianity at the request of St. James, Jesus Christ’s brother.
Once upon a time an inscription on the temple stated that it was the Church of the Holy Apostle Elysee and that the Albanian Church was rebuilt in 1244 by Seraphim, the archbishop. Following the Synod’s official dissolution of the Albanian Church in the 1930s, the inscription of this temple, like that of many other Albanian temples, was completely destroyed. For many years, the temple served as the Caucasian Albanian Church’s center of religious education. Interestingly, the village where the temple is located has been known for over 2,000 years as “Kish,” which means “religion, belief, worship.”
