It was a
Church, it became a Mosque, and then a Museum, and now back to Mosque. It is a
65,000 square-foot building completed in 537 AD when Justinian I was Eastern
Roman Emperor. What am I talking about? The Hagia Sophia, Cathedral of
Constantinople, an exceptionally beautiful building. If you have never seen it
Google it, and view the images. Of course, Constantinople is no more, it is
Istanbul. There is a 1953 song written by Jimmy Kennedy and Nat Simon that
talks a little about it. In 1453, the Ottoman Empire took over the area in reference.
Islam did not exist yet in 537, obviously. In 1923 the Republic of Turkey was
founded, and in 1930 Constantinople became what is now Istanbul. Recently, the
Turkish government basically has allowed the Hagia Sophia to be open for Muslim
prayers again. This decision has bothered many. In this post, I am sharing an
article from the World Council of Churches. The following excerpt is from said
article.
The head of the Geneva-based World Council of Churches has
written to Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan expressing “grief and
dismay” from WCC members at his decision to convert the world famous Hagia
Sophia into a mosque (oikoumene.org).
Read the
full article at the following link.
Hagia Sophia decision by President Erdogan evokes 'grief and dismay' from World Council of Churches — World Council of Churches
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