Posted on 07/10/2020 3:25:12 PM PDT by CondoleezzaProtege
...The decision of the High Administrative Court opens the way for Hagia Sophia to become a mosque again, that will fill many Turkish Muslims with joy; after all, they have been waiting for so long to “break the chains” of Hagia Sophia and enter the place for free as they do with any other place of their faith.
...That, however, is not the view from outside Turkey. As the issue started gathering momentum this year, especially following the special celebrations organized in front of the monument for the 567th anniversary of its conquest. Christians around the world, Byzantine scholars or simply museum visitors suddenly realized that there was now a real chance that a major architectural landmark in the heart of Istanbul’s famous historical peninsula may radically change its character.
Perhaps we forget how old Hagia Sophia is. It is one of the oldest standing religious structures in the world. It was already operating as a major Christian cathedral for all Christians for around half a millennium before the great East-West Schism between the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches. It was founded in 537, which means about 1,000 years before St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican. So, it is, in a way, the mother church of Christianity. And you would have expected that the churches that followed after it would have protested any attempt to spoil its tranquillity as a cultural heritage monument.
Most of the reaction, though, against Hagia Sophia opening as a mosque has come from the Eastern Orthodox world. The Catholic Church has chosen to remain silent, although the current pope, Francis, did show an early interest in increasing the links between the Vatican and Eastern Orthodox Christendom after his election to the papal throne in 2013...
(Excerpt) Read more at hurriyetdailynews.com ...
I wish the left would understand the position of Islam on all the LBGQTYZ issues.
Great. Now Israel should turn the Al Asqa mosque into a church...and then start building the 3rd Temple next to it.
It was defaced a long time ago, so let it be m0sque and serve as a warning.
Nah. Muslim apologist say that Islam isn’t like that at all. Why would they lie? /s
Political islam continues it march to conquer everyone and everything.
Fight back, folks else become a slave to islam.
JoMa
Hagia Sophia was built before Muhammad was born—maybe before Muhammad’s father was born. It was Catholic cathedral from 1204 to 1261 after the Crusaders captured Constantinople and established the Latin Empire.
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