Free Republic

Note: Below image is the Archangel Gabriel, not one of the newly uncovered images.Official: Long-lost mosaic seraphim uncovered at Istanbul’s Haghia SophiaSUZAN FRASER, Star Tribune ANKARA, Turkey – Restoration workers have uncovered a well-preserved, long-hidden mosaic face of an angel at the former Byzantine cathedral of Haghia Sophia in Istanbul, an official said Friday.The seraphim figure — one of two located on the side of a dome — had been covered up along with the building’s other Christian mosaics shortly after Constantinople — the former name for Istanbul — fell to the Ottomans in 1453 and the cathedral was...

The European Union Parliament is pressuring the Turkish Government to restore Saint Sophia Cathedral from a museum into a Greek Orthodox Church. However the Parliament has set a requirement of 1.000.000 signatures on a petition before it makes this conversation a prerequisite for Turkey's admission into the European Union. Please sign the petition and forward to friends.

Pope Benedict XVI toured the 1,500-year-old Haghia Sophia on Thursday as part of his pilgrimage of landmarks of Christianity's ancient roots in Turkey.The domed complex was for centuries a majestic center of Christianity before Constantinople — now Istanbul — was conquered by Muslim armies in 1453.The site was a mosque until 1935, when it was converted to a museum under the secular reformers who founded modern Turkey from the ruins of the Ottoman Empire.A massive operation by Turkish security was in force around Istanbul's ancient center, including armed security officers on minarets added to Haghia Sophia following the Muslim capture...

The European Union Parliament is pressuring the Turkish Government to restore Saint Sophia Cathedral from a museum into a Greek Orthodox Church. However the Parliament has set a requirement of 1.000.000 signatures on a petition before it makes this conversation a prerequisite for Turkey's admission into the European Union. You are requested to cast your vote by logging on to the link above. This is an opportunity for each of you to have an impact on world events. Get as many Greek Orthodox, other Orthodox and Christian friends of yours to sign the petition and make history.

Turkey aspires to join the European Union. The time has come to restore Hagia Sophia’s spirituality as a place of Christian worship. Turkey has to remember that old wisdom that says, “Do not do to others what you don’t wish them to do unto you”. Justice must prevail so that religious integrity might be restored. Turkey has to face up to its history and address this vital issue.

If you believe in the just case that Hagia Sophia should be restored to its proper religious role as a church, for which it was built in the first place, then we ask you to support our petition to the EU Parliament that Turkey should not be admitted as a member of the European Community until it restores Hagia Sophia to its original purpose as a church and not a museum. We need a minimum of 1.000.000 signatures in order to force the European Union to consider this proposal seriously and debate it immediately as one of the conditions to...