The Orthodox Church of St. Mark is located on a plain, in a place called “Kthesa e Patosit”, in Griza, known today as Verbas. This area has historical importance, as the southern branch of the Egnatia road passed through it. According to tradition, the Church of St. Mark was built around 1910–1920 by the villagers, by order of the bey of the area, on a large black and white stone, considered the site of an angel.
The building was destroyed in 1967 during the atheist campaign that banned religious beliefs in Albania, but was later reconstructed by the Autocephalous Orthodox Church of Albania. The earliest records of the church date back to before World War II and are also mentioned by the writer Jakov Xoxa in the novel “The Dead River”, where he describes it as “the small, unroofed village church”.
