Free Republic

Last summer, Turkish authorities transformed Hagia Sophia ("Holy Wisdom") — which was originally built, and for a millennium functioned, as one of Christendom's greatest cathedrals — into a mosque (again). On that Friday, July 24, 2020 (which for millions of Eastern Christians is now deemed a "day of mourning"), Muslims met inside the desecrated church, where they were led in prayer by a sword-waving imam, to spasmodic cries of "Allahu akbar." The Turks, beginning with their president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, have been presenting this bit of cultural appropriation as their "right." Imam Ali Erbas, Turkey's president of religious affairs, has...

Hagia Sophia’s near-millennium as a cathedral, and the catastrophic events that led to its becoming a mosque – events that took place on this day in 1453, a day some Greek Orthodox Christians referred to as “the last day of the world.” ... May 29, 1453, the armies of the Ottoman Sultan Mehmet II finally broke through Constantinople’s defenses after a long siege, marking the end of the Eastern Roman Empire, more commonly known as the Byzantine Empire. The conquerors were extraordinarily brutal... the Muslim soldiers “slew everyone that they met in the streets, men, women, and children without discrimination....

"It was a very special day, July 24 [2020]," said France's leading expert on Islam, Gilles Kepel. "It was pilgrimage time to Mecca and, due to the pandemic, no one was there! It was the anniversary of the Treaty of Lausanne, the origin of modern Turkey within its current borders. Erdogan was about to twist the arm of the secular Ataturk, who had turned the old Hagia Sophia basilica into a museum that he had donated 'to humanity'. Erdogan... turned it back into a mosque". This was the moment, remarked Kepel - who just published a new book, "Le Prophète...

The ritual decapitation of 800 Christians who refused Islam 539 years ago—and whose commemoration was last Friday, August 14—sheds much light on contemporary questions concerning the ongoing conflict between Islam and the West. Background: When he sacked Constantinople in 1453, Ottoman Sultan Muhammad II was only 21-years-old—meaning he still had many good decades of jihading before him. He continued expanding into the Balkans, and, in his bid to feed his horses on the altar of Saint Peter’s basilica—Muslim prophecies held that “we will conquer Constantinople before we conquer Rome”—he invaded Italy and captured Otranto in 1480. More than half...

Columbus set sail on his first voyage AUGUST 3, 1492, with the Nina, Pinta and the Santa Maria. He explained how the Spanish monarchs approved his plan: "... And ordained that I should not go by land (the usual way) to the Orient (East), but by the route of the Occident (West), by which no one to this day knows for sure that anyone has gone." Why did he seek to find a sea route to India and China? Because 40 years earlier Islamic Ottoman Turks closed off the land routes. The background to Columbus' voyage goes back to the...

The government of Syria has begun plans to construct a smaller-scale replica of the Hagia Sophia Cathedral in Istanbul(formerly Constantinople) in the country’s Hama province, in response to the decision of the government of Turkey to convert the historic 6th century cathedral into a mosque for a second time. Hagia Sophia, which was first constructed as a Christian cathedral in the medieval Byzantine Empire, was turned into a mosque upon the 1453 conquest of Constantinople by the Ottoman Empire. It was later converted into a museum shortly after the foundation of the modern-day Republic of Turkey, and Turkish President Recep...

Just ignore those rivers of blood. No one should be concerned about the conversion of Hagia Sophia, the foremost cathedral in the Christian world for nearly a thousand years, into a mosque – at least according to Shahid Qureshi, writing Monday in a Muslim publication known as the London Post. Why not? Because Mehmet the Conqueror, the Ottoman Sultan who conquered Constantinople and destroyed the Byzantine Empire on May 29, 1453, bought the place fair and square. So who could object? Once a mosque, always a mosque, and after all, the Christians sold it to him! Qureshi claims that Mehmet...

Boston-born Thomas Whittemore, a friend of Turkish reformer Atatürk, uncovered the gems that had been hidden for 500 years.If Istanbul’s Hagia Sophia gets turned into a mosque, as many expect it will, its precious Byzantine mosaic icons are likely to be covered up during Muslim prayers. The mosaics were plastered over for centuries when the former cathedral of the Church of Constantinople served as a place of Muslim worship. On July 10, in an address to the nation, Turkey’s President, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, announced that Hagia Sophia would be reopened for Muslim worship on July 24. The Turkish Council of...

...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...

Vatican silent as verdict triggers geopolitical tremorsISTANBUL (ChurchMilitant.com) - In a historic verdict, Turkey's top court has returned the world's greatest Byzantine basilica to its previous status as a mosque after it abolished President Atatürk's 1934 decision to turn Hagia Sophia into a museum. Turkey's highest administrative court, the Council of State, reached a unanimous verdict declaring that president Kemal Atatürk's cabinet had no right to turn Hagia Sophia into a museum as part of his secularist reforms and has rendered the decision unlawful. The court is expected to deliver its judgment Friday, but Turkish journalist Mehmet Ardıç, a close...

In a “resounding” intervention with multidimensional nuances on the issue of Hagia Sophia, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow called not to turn Hagia Sophia into a mosque. In a statement, Patriarch Kirill stressed his deep concern over the calls of certain Turkish politicians to reconsider the status of Hagia Sophia as a museum, “one of the greatest monuments of Christian culture.” He highlighted that there have been different, sometimes rather difficult periods in the history of relations between Rus’ and Constantinople. But “the Russian people responded in the past and respond now with bitterness and indignation to any attempt to degrade...

Yesterday a statue of the last Emperor of the Byzantine Empire, often called the Eastern Roman Empire, was unveiled in Athens. In the square of the Holy Metropolis Church of Piraeus (Athens), a statue of Emperor Constantine XI Palaiologos, was unveiled. Emperor Constantine XI Palaiologos is not only remembered for being the last Byzantine Emperor who put up a brave last stand against the Ottomans, but also for his last speech to his officers and allies before the Fall of Constantinople on May 29, 1453 by Ottoman Sultan Mehmet II. Constantinople was the largest and wealthiest city in Christendom during...

Last Friday, May 29, was the 567th anniversary of the Islamic conquest of Constantinople, one of ancient Christianity's greatest capitals that for the previous seven centuries had, as Europe's easternmost bulwark, withstood Islam. Lesser known is what immediately transpired — which Turkey is immensely proud of — on the taking of "New Rome," as described in what follows (note: all quotes were derived from contemporary sources, mostly eyewitnesses). Once inside the city on that fateful May 29, the "enraged Turkish soldiers ... gave no quarter," wrote an eyewitness: When they had massacred and there was no longer any resistance, they...

Today in history, on May 29, 1453, the sword of Islam conquered Constantinople. Of all Islam’s conquests of Christian territory, this was by far the most symbolically significant. For not only was Constantinople a living and direct extension of the old Roman Empire and current capital of the Christian Roman Empire (or Byzantium), but its cyclopean walls had prevented Islam from entering Europe through its eastern doorway for the previous seven centuries, beginning with the First Arab Siege of Constantinople (674-678). Indeed, as Byzantine historian John Julius Norwich puts it, “Had the Saracens captured Constantinople in the seventh century rather...

Today in history, on May 29, 1453, the sword of Islam conquered Constantinople. Of all Islam's conquests of Christian territory, this was by far the most symbolically significant. Not only was Constantinople a living and direct extension of the old Roman Empire and contemporary capital of the Christian Roman Empire (or Byzantium), but its cyclopean walls had prevented Islam from entering Europe through its eastern doorway for the previous seven centuries, beginning with the First Arab Siege of Constantinople (674–678). Indeed, as Byzantine historian John Julius Norwich puts it, "[h]ad the Saracens captured Constantinople in the seventh century rather than...

The chairman of the Religious and Foundation Employees’ Union (Diyanet Bir-Sen), Hasan Türüt, has called on Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to allow a Muslim prayer to be performed in Hagia Sophia in Constantinople, following the lifting of the ban due to the coronavirus pandemic. According to Turkish media reports, Türüt said that the first Friday after the coronavirus pandemic the Muslim prayer should be performed in Hagia Sophia, as Mehmed the Conqueror did on the first Friday after the Fall of Constantinople. “Hagia Sophia is the means to bring about the resurrection of the world. We must all show...

“Despite the many challenges and opposition from ill-wishers, the past year witnessed the birth of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church,” Epifaniy said on December 14, 2019, at Kyiv’s St. Sophia Cathedral. “As such, a centuries-long struggle for autocephaly, establishing historical justice by freeing Ukraine from the unsanctioned control of the Russian Church over Ukraine, was accomplished.” The move to establish the OCU heralded a historic break with the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP), ending more than three centuries of Russian spiritual and temporal control of the dominant faith in Ukraine. It also sparked one of the biggest rifts...

The Eastern Orthodox Church is breaking apart. The Russian Orthodox Church cut ties with the patriarch of Alexandria on December 26, following his decision to recognize an independent Ukrainian Orthodox Church. This schism follows the Russian church’s decision to cut ties with the archbishop of Athens and the ecumenical patriarch of Constantinople. Both leaders also recognized the new Ukrainian church. There are 14 universally recognized Orthodox churches, plus the Orthodox Church of America and the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (which are not universally recognized). The Russian Orthodox Church holds jurisdiction in Russia, Ukraine and other former Soviet nations. Therefore, Patriarch...

He says this is the violation of the right to freedom of conscience and religion. Photo: Epifaniy/Facebook Photo: Epifaniy/Facebook Metropolitan of Kyiv and All Ukraine, Primate of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU) Epifaniy (Epiphanius) says de-facto authorities in Russia-occupied Crimea are planning to demolish the building of the OCU's temple in the town of Yevpatoria. Read alsoPatriarchate of Alexandria recognizes autocephaly of Orthodox Church of Ukraine According to him, the right to freedom of conscience and religion is being violated at the Cathedral of St. Vladimir and St. Olga in Simferopol and the temple of the Orthodox Church of...

An extraordinary meeting of the leadership of the Church of Greece decided on October 12 to recognize the autocephalous Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU), making it the first of the Eastern Orthodox churches to take such a step. The Orthodox Times said the Greeks' formal recognition will take place on October 19 in Thessaloniki, with Archbishop Ieronymos and the OCU's Metropolitan Epifaniy of Kyiv and All Ukraine present. The Patriarchate of Constantinople, generally considered the spiritual headquarters for Orthodoxy, granted the Orthodox Church of Ukraine independence in January in a move that was adamantly resisted by Moscow and the Russian...