Webnews, 16/07/2020 “Converting Hagia Sophia into a mosque distances Turkey from Europe and it is a blow to the Orthodox Church and to interreligious dialogue”, stated Fr. Manuel Barrios Prieto, General Secretary of COMECE, on Friday 10 July 2020 commenting the decision of Turkey’s highest administrative court, the Council of State, to allow the change in status of World Heritage Monument Hagia Sophia from a museum to a Muslim temple.
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I spent one edifying year as a student at the Theological School of Halki in 1960-1961 and had the opportunity to experience the importance of our Ecumenical Patriarchate in Constantinople for World Orthodoxy. In 1971 Turkish government arbitrarily closed this historic School of 130 students, thus depriving our Patriarchate of educating future theologians to serve our Orthodox Church the word over.
By Gwynne Dyer, “Forget it, Jake. It’s Chinatown,” says an old friend to Jack Nicholson as the mother is killed, the little girl is handed over to the bad guy and the police wash their hands of it at the end of the 1974 classic film ‘Chinatown’. The movie was about the triumph of power and the futility of hoping for justice. ‘Chinatown’ was just a metaphor, and any other place where justice is denied would do as well. Which is probably why today I feel like saying “Forget it, Mehmetçik. It’s the Balkans.” Hagia Sophia mosaics will be covered with curtains during prayers — Turkish presidential spokesman7/20/2020 ISTANBUL: Mosaics depicting Christian figures in Istanbul’s ancient Hagia Sophia will be covered with curtains during Muslim prayers, Turkish presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said on Sunday, as work to prepare the building for use as a mosque continues.
Authorities had said last week that the mosaics would be concealed with either curtains or lasers when the first prayers are held next Friday. The gradual process of Turkey’s becoming an Islamic sharia-law country, again, is no longer so gradual. It has taken a sudden and sharp rightward turn, into Islamic-nationhood. Turkey’s Hagia Sophia, which had been “the world’s largest cathedral for nearly a thousand years, until Seville Cathedral was completed in 1520,” has now been officially declared by the Turkish Government to be, instead, a mosque.
Turkey’s decision to change the former cathedral into a mosque flies against the pluralist instincts of Islam’s founders. By Mustafa Akyol Mr. Akyol is a contributing Op-Ed writer. Mosaics depicting Christian figures in Istanbul’s iconic Hagia Sophia will be covered with curtains during Muslim prayers, Turkish presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said on Sunday, as work to convert the building for use as a mosque continues. Authorities said last week that the mosaics would be concealed with either curtains or lasers when the first prayers are held next Friday. In a move that sparked international criticism and concern, President Tayyip Erdogan declared Hagia Sophia open to Muslim worship earlier this month following a court ruling that said the building’s conversion to a museum in 1934 was unlawful. Hagia Sophia dates back to the 6th century and has a history as both a church and a mosque before it was turned into a museum. Kalin said some mosaics of Mary and Gabriel that are positioned in the direction of Qiblah, which Muslims face during prayer, would be covered with curtains. He said other mosaics of Jesus and other Christian figures did not pose an obstacle for Muslim prayers because they are not located in the direction of Qiblah. But he did not say whether they would remain uncovered at all times. Apart from prayers, Hagia Sophia will be open to all visitors and tourists and Mosaics of Christianity will be uncovered. Erdogan visited the mosque earlier on Sunday to inspect the progress in preparing the building. Source: Reuters Editor: Tang Shihui When Hagia Sophia is formally reverted to a mosque later this month, it will be yet another manifestation of Erdogan’s vision for a conquering Islamist Turkey.
by Arielle Del Turco Hagia Sophia mosaics will be covered with curtains during prayers: Turkish presidential spokesman7/20/2020 ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Mosaics depicting Christian figures in Istanbul’s ancient Hagia Sophia will be covered with curtains during Muslim prayers, Turkish presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said on Sunday, as work to prepare the building for use as a mosque continues.
Hagia Sophia, once Christendom’s greatest church, which was converted into a mosque under the Ottomans before becoming a museum in the 20th Century, has now been reinstated as a mosque.
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