“O Lord save your people and bless your inheritance! Give victory to those who battle evil, and with your cross protect us all!
The Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church held its meeting and once again expressed its opposition to the change of status of Hagia Sophia. They agreed on a statement made in recent days by Metropolitan Serapheim of Piraeus of the Church of Greece that the Ukraine schism made it difficult for the Orthodox world to unite against a common threat. In other developments in recent days, the Islamic Society of America came out in opposition to Turkish plans to convert Hagia Sophia. A very welcome gesture indeed!
The Arab News newspaper published two articles criticizing Turkey’s conversion of Hagia Sophia into a Mosque. In addition, NBC News has interviewed dissidents in Turkey who see the conversion of Hagia Sophia as an ominous sign of things to come. President Erdogan has become repressive in recent years and this attack on Hagia Sophia has been widely condemned by many Turkish intellectuals including Nobel Prize Winner Orhan Pamuk and novelist Elif Shahak. Likewise historian Taner Ackam a Turkish academic who has published books on the Armenian Genocide has also opposed the move.
In America, the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese has declared July 24 a”day of mourning”. I am not quite sure what that is intended to accomplish but the fact of the matter is that the Greek Archdiocese has been quiet for the last seven years on this matter. The move to make Hagia Sophia a Mosque began in 2013 when the Church-Museum of Hagia Sophia in Trebizond was converted into a Mosque.
Since then, the Turks have converted two other Church-Museums (both named Hagia Sophia) in Nicea (Iznik) and Adrianople (Edirne) into Mosques. I do not recall any protests in response to these conversions. In my opinion, these were test runs by the Erdogan government in Turkey to get a feel for international opinion. Having received virtually no criticism for converting these former Churches, the Turkish President was encouraged to prey upon the Great Cathedral itself.
It is only now at the last minute that the international community weighed in. In recent days, the Church of Greece urged UNESCO to be more assertive on the matter. Like the Greek Archdiocese of America, the Synod of the Church of Greece remained quiet until the last minute. The same can be said for the academic community which remained quiet for many years.
Byzantine historian Judith Herrin (an author of very fine books on Byzantine history) had an op-ed published in the Washington Post. A very welcome criticism of Turkey, but what took so long? It is in fact great to see so much international interest in Hagia Sophia but it should have manifested itself earlier than this.
The Greek world in particular has to think long term at this point. In the event that a miracle does not occur (a possibility that Orthodox Christians never dismiss) the Greeks will have to consider what to do then. The Greek Churches badly need to reconcile with the Orthodox world, and this means resolving the schism in Ukraine.
Greece in turn needs to reflect on the matter of its identity and role. It is good to see Greeks taking an interest in Hagia Sophia. Let this be the occasion for the faithful in Greece to overturn gay marriage and the transgender agenda that the former ruling party of Syriza imposed on Greece. Whatever happens with Hagia Sophia, the Greek world must recapture the moral, theological, and spiritual ethos of the gospel, the apostles, and the fathers of the Church which produced Hagia Sophia.
One reply on “Hagia Sophia Diaries 3 Analysis”
The Church leadership will only be as active as the Laity demand and no more. They’re mostly politicians focused on their agendas, not focused on issues like Hagia Sophia. It’s great that a few of the leaders in Russia and elsewhere have spoken out, but they’re the exception rather than the rule. The Greek Orthodox Church in America is too passive and too unwilling to take these type of issues to Washington DC. This is an election year, yet it’s apparent Trump has been unapproached on this topic. He spoke to Erdogan the other day and it wasn’t even a subject of their discussion-and that’s tragic. The Greek American leadership, both within the Church and private life, is focused on their singular issues and not strategic topics like this. The Trump Administration makes sure to promote issues important to Israel, so as not to offend his Jewish supporters-but Greeks and other Orthodox apparently aren’t a concern to him. It’s mostly our own fault.