Posts Tagged ‘Istanbul’

Turkey’s Erdogan opens former church to Muslim worshippers

Thursday, May 9th, 2024

Turkey has reopened a mosque converted from an ancient Orthodox church in Istanbul for Muslim worship four years after the president ordered its transformation. The Kariye Mosque was formerly a Byzantine church, then a mosque, and then a museum. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared on May 6 that the Kariye Mosque was reopened for worship Read more

St Andrew: A saint of division

Tuesday, December 3rd, 2013

For all his ubiquity, the biblical Andrew is a shadowy figure. In one of a handful of scriptural references, he is the apostle who tells Jesus that five loaves and two fishes won’t feed 5,000 people; a miracle soon proves otherwise. Like other widely honoured saints, Andrew himself defies the laws of finitude by appealing Read more

Patriarch opposes plan to make Hagia Sofia a mosque

Friday, February 22nd, 2013

The Greek Orthodox Church in Turkey is strongly opposing plans to reconvert Istanbul’s Hagia Sofia basilica into a mosque. ”We want Santa Sofia to remain a museum. It was a Christian church for over 1000 years,” Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople has said. ”If it is to be reconsecrated, then it should go back Read more