The "Secret" of Hagia Sophia That Can Only Be Seen on December 21st

 

December 22, 2020

A pilgrimage to Hagia Sophia on the morning of December 21 gives us the opportunity to witness the architectural secret that has protected the purpose of the Temple of God's Wisdom for centuries.

Guided by the painter Olga Alexopoulou, she explains that Hagia Sophia was designed in such a way that once a year, the first light of the dawn after the longest night of winter enters the monument, symbolizing the birth of Christ. We started at 8:00 in the morning. The goal was 8:25 to be in our place, inside the monument, to see the sun's rays piercing through the small window above the entrance of Hagia Sophia.

"We will be the first witnesses for the first time after so many years, maybe even centuries if we manage to do it," whispered Olga.

Hagia Sophia in Constantinople and the Winter Solstice

Many may not be aware that the Church of Hagia Sophia in Constantinople was built to be aligned along the sunrise on winter solstice. The same is true for the Church of Hagia Sophia in Thessaloniki, which was modeled after that in Constantinople in the 8th century.

Hagia Sophia was therefore designed so that once a year, the first light of dawn after the longest night of winter, that is, on December 21st, enters the sacred temple, symbolizing in this way the birth Christ. Therefore, every year can be witnessed the rays of the sun piercing through the small window above the entrance of Hagia Sophia.

The Church of Hagia Sophia in Thessaloniki

Just as Constantinople is adorned with the unique work of art dedicated to the Wisdom of God, so Thessaloniki has its own "Hagia Sophia". It is a representative example of the Byzantine churches of the city, revealing its deep theology. And indeed Thessaloniki is the city that respectfully maintains its churches. It keeps all its churches in operation. Thus, the Church of "the Wisdom of God", which is located in the center of its marketplace, stands loftily inviting passers-by to rest mentally in its peace. Although it is a monument of the Byzantine period and in fact of the first centuries and it could have been deserted, the deep faith of the Christian does not leave it. It always gives her the value and grandeur she deserves. It is very characteristic that of all the cathedrals dedicated to the Wisdom of God, only the church of Thessaloniki is in operation.

The Scandal of (Divine?) Revenge

 

 

By Metropolitan Joseph of Buenos Aires

To my surprise I read a transcript of an interview with the Patriarch of Moscow on the Russian channel Россия-1 on the occasion of the recent Christmas celebration according to the Old Calendar. In this interview, His Holiness assures that "the conversion of Hagia Sophia into a mosque last July is a punishment from God to Patriarch Bartholomew for granting the autocephalous tomos to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church."*

I re-read this sentence, which summarizes the whole interview, and the surprise turned into frustration and discomfort.

Gli, the Famous Cat of Hagia Sophia, Has Died

 

 

Just weeks after Hagia Sophia was converted from a museum to a mosque, Gli, the world famous cat of Hagia Sophia, has died.

Gli was born at Hagia Sophia in 2004, and she had 2 siblings, Pati and Kızım. Gli was loved by the tourists who visited Hagia Sophia, which was a museum at the time, and she became a symbol of Hagia Sophia.

Gli first rose to fame when Barack Obama visited Hagia Sophia in 2009, and he was filmed with Recep Tayyip Erdoğan stroking Gli.

When the Soldiers of Plastiras Wept for Hagia Sophia

By Nikolaos Zaimi

It was February 1919, when the then Lieutenant Colonel, Nikolaos Plastiras, one of the emblematic figures of the military and political history of Greece during the first half of the 20th century, together with the officers and soldiers of the 5/42 Evzoni Regiment, could not hold back their tears when, passing through Constantinople to go to the Ukrainian campaign, they saw Hagia Sophia. "And then it was that not an eye was without tears," Plastiras will write a few years later, remembering the event.

Departure for Ukraine

On January 15, 1919, the decision of the Greek government to take part in the allied campaign in Ukraine, with the participation of the I, II and XIII Division of the 1st Army Corps, under the orders of Lieutenant General Constantine Nieder, became known. Among the Regiments that would take part in the campaign was the Evzoni 5/42, which belonged to the XIII Division, whose command was recently taken over by Plastiras, leaving previously the 6th Infantry Regiment, with which his name was associated. On February 3, the departure of the units from the port of Eleftheri in Macedonia began in sections. Among them were the men of Plastiras, who boarded the Russian steamer "Emperor Nicholas". They crossed the Dardanelles and then arrived in Constantinople.

A Video Tour of Hagia Sophia After It Reopened From the Pandemic and Before It Became a Mosque (Filmed on June 7, 2020)

A Guided Tour of the Mosaics of Hagia Sophia with Photios Kontoglou

By Photios Kontoglou (1895-1965)

Hagia Sophia is the boast of Orthodoxy, the mother of all churches.

For us Greeks it is the castle of our freedom and religion, a fairytale church as well as a palace.

The building was built by the architects Anthemios and Isidoros, by order of the pious emperor Justinian.

Today we will not talk about the building, but only about the mosaics that decorate it.

Most of them represent ornamentation.

Of the iconography most were icons of Christ, the Panagia, angels, saints, as well as emperors and empresses.

Compositions are very few.

Turkey’s Test of Civilization

By Taner Akçam

July 13, 2020

Ahval

Basically, the whole Hagia Sophia affair can be summed up with the phrases “improper” or “a shame”. But I think that the audience whom I am addressing do not possess the cultural delicacy to find these words meaningful. For their sakes, it would better to formulate it in a frank manner that they could more easily understand: the deed that is being performed in regard to Hagia Sophia is a clear show of barbarism.

It is a declaration of a “Turkish lack of culture and destructiveness” to the entire world. And the pairing of President and AK Party leader Recep Tayyip Erdoğan with MHP leader Devlet Bahçeli is the political alliance through which this lack of culture and destructiveness has been made manifest.

Hagia Sophia and the Ottomans

By Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos

Great sorrow filled our souls with the transformation of Hagia Sophia into a mosque, which is an ecclesiastical and cultural rape, especially in our time, which is characterized as an era of human rights and respect for religious freedom. This shows both the mentality of the Turks and the response of those who supported them in their decision, because I do not think that they made such moves without any support from some great Heads of State.

However, Hagia Sophia has nothing to do with the Turkish-Ottomans, unless they consider it as booty of a continuous conquest of the Queen City from the year 1453 until today. However, history cannot be erased nor silenced nor misinterpreted.

The Proposal of Metropolitan Nicholas of Mesogaia Regarding Hagia Sophia

On the occasion of today's completely unjustified desecration of the Holy Temple of Hagia Sophia in Constantinople, which has deeply wounded every Greek and Christian soul, His Eminence the Metropolitan of Mesogaia and Lavreotiki, Nicholas, made the following statement and proposal:

"Perhaps now is the right time, in response to the ungodly provocation and insult of Turkey to turn the historic Christian temple of Hagia Sophia into a mosque, with the initiative of the Holy Synod and the help of the Greek State, for the Greek people as a whole to undertake the reconstruction of a new imposing temple to the Wisdom of God, which is in fact a fulfillment of the oldest Vow of our heroic ancestors.

Troparion on Behalf of the Desecration of the Temple of Hagia Sophia in Much-Coveted Constantinople

Troparion
on Behalf of the Desecration of the Temple
of Hagia Sophia,
in Much-Coveted Constantinople

Mode pl. 1. The co-beginningless Word.

Hasten to banish the desecrating horde,

from Your most-beautiful Temple

of Hagia Sophia, which

brilliantly adorns, Savior,

renowned Constantinople unto the ages,

and find us worthy,

who, alas, lie in sin,

to glorify You within It

without ceasing, Lord.

The least of suppliants,

Dr. Haralambos M. Bousias

Great Hymnographer of the Church of Alexandria

The Hagia Sophia Churches (Fr. George Florovsky)

By Fr. George Florovsky

The first temple in Constantinople dedicated under the name of "Holy Wisdom" was possibly designed by Constantine himself. The building was however completed much later and the "Great Church" was first consecrated only in 360, under Constantius, by an Arian bishop. It is not at all clear when the name "Hagia Sophia" was first given to the church. Socrates says only: "which is now called Sophia" (II, 43). It is quite possible that the "Great Church" in the beginning had no special name, and the name of Sophia came to prominence later; it was probably a current connotation rather than an intentional dedication.

The British Intended for Hagia Sophia To Be a Church Again in 1918

By Nikos Chiladakis

The important revelation that after the occupation of Constantinople on November 13, 1918 by the Allied troops of the Entente, the British intended to return Hagia Sophia to the Christians of the city but at the last moment they took a step back, was made by the Turkish newspaper Zaman on 6/30/2013. One realizes that if such a thing happened and if the cross would have again dominated majestically atop the dome of Hagia Sophia, this would be an event of great historical, symbolic and psychological significance and would decisively affect the final return of the city into Greek hands. The reappearance of the cross on the dome of Hagia Sophia would be one of the biggest historical blows for the Turks and would trigger the evacuation of the city from the Islamic element, as the Allied troops estimated at the time, according to the Turkish newspaper.

Saint Raphael and the Uniate Liturgy in Hagia Sophia

According to the revelations of the newly-revealed martyr Saint Raphael, he was in Constantinople as an Archimandrite with his Deacon Nicholas at the time when there was a false union between Emperor Constantine Palaiologos and the Pope of Rome. On December 12, 1452 a Joint-Liturgy took place in Hagia Sophia with Cardinal Isidore (the Pope’s emissary) present. Emperor Constantine was under the illusion, out of his desperation, that the Pope would send help from the West to drive the Ottomans away from the region and prevent them from capturing Constantinople.

Hagia Sophia Painting Mystery Solved

Yesterday I posted about a mysterious painting of Hagia Sophia that has been circulating the internet for many years with a false origin story, and I requested of my readers to help me solve the mystery. It appears the mystery has been solved, thanks to the help of Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick and the Society for Orthodox Christian History in the Americas. They provided evidence that the painting is of Richard the Lionheart receiving the Lord's Supper in Hagia Sophia, it was painted by Gaspare Fossati in 1849, and it is currently held in the Swiss National Museum.

When I first set out to find the true origins of this painting, my first thought was that it was a Fossati lithograph, but after looking into it I noticed many differences between this and his other work, and there were no sources to connect this image with him, so I dismissed the idea. It seems therefore that my first impression was correct. The only online link that confirms this is from the blog of the Swiss National Museum (here), which I find to be unfortunate, as the truth opens up other questions that I would like answered. For example, why did Fossati paint this image in particular? Not only did Richard the Lionheart never go to Constantinople, but he never entered Hagia Sophia let alone receive Holy Communion there. What, therefore, is the point of this image? If someone has an answer, please get in touch with me. I also want to know why this painting is in the Swiss National Museum apart from his other lithographs of Hagia Sophia which I believe are located in Greece.

Help Me Solve a Mystery About Hagia Sophia

The painting above has been circulating the internet for over a decade now, and no one as far as I know has been able to trace its origins. The common explanation is that this painting dates back to the 12th century and is an accurate depiction of what Hagia Sophia looked like at that time. It supposedly depicts King Richard the Lionheart being received by the Emperor in Hagia Sophia during a ceremony. Others say it depicts Prince Bohemond I of Antioch being received by the Emperor. It is said to be the only painting of the interior of Hagia Sophia as a church, painted before it became a mosque, as all other paintings usually depict the interior as a mosque.

The problem with the explanation above is that this painting is clearly not a 12th century painting, but more like a 19th century painting that reimagines what Hagia Sophia may have looked as a Christian church. There seems to be no other explanation online other than the theory that it is a 12th century painting by an anonymous painter. Because most of my books are in boxes, I can't look to see if this painting appears anywhere. Therefore I am putting this out to the public so we can finally figure out the origins of this painting. If anyone has any good and reliable information, message me at mystagogy@aol.com. You will get the credit if this mystery is solved.

Update: The mystery has been solved! Will post result tomorrow.

How Hagia Sophia Became a Museum in 1934

Thomas Whittemore in front of Hagia Sophia

For almost a thousand years Hagia Sophia in Constantinople served as a house of worship for Orthodox Christians, until 1453 when the City fell to the Ottomans and Hagia Sophia became a house of worship for Muslims. Despite the majority of the population of Turkey being Muslim, the first president of the newly-established Turkish Republic, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, turned Hagia Sophia into a museum in 1934.

There were at least three primary factors for Ataturk making Hagia Sophia a museum. First, it was very expensive to maintain. In 1934, Hagia Sophia was on the verge of falling into ruin, being a neglected dump. According to Ataturk, this was because he didn't have the funds to renovate it. If it became a museum, however, then the funds would allow for its renovation. Second, the Balkan Pact was a treaty signed by Greece, Turkey, Romania and Yugoslavia on 9 February 1934 in Athens, aimed at maintaining the geopolitical status quo in the region following World War I. To present a united front against Bulgarian designs on their territories, the signatories agreed to suspend all disputed territorial claims against each other and their immediate neighbors which followed in the aftermath of the war and a rise in various regional ethnic minority tensions. Ataturk thought that the conversion of Hagia Sophia into a museum would be seen as a favor to the Greeks and would help save the Balkan Pact. Third, the conversion of Hagia Sophia into a museum would be seen by Europeans and the West as a form of diplomacy and progressivism on the part of the Turkish Republic, which was surrounded by Orthodox Christian countries such as Greece, Bulgaria and Russia that viewed Hagia Sophia as part of its own inheritance. By inching closer towards the values held dear by the West, Turkey could also profit by becoming more European.

Hagia Sophia - A Symbol of Unity

Our history has taught us that unhealthy nationalism only opens wounds, destroys consciences, fanaticizes people, breeds enemies, divides populations.

Our Holy Monastery has been facing the effects of fanaticism for so many years, with the occupation of its main building by people who preach fanaticism.

Whose heart did not ache to hear the news!

Virtual Tour of Hagia Sophia with Şerif Yenen

By Şerif Yenen

Hagia Sophia (Ayasofya), dubbed the "Eighth Wonder of the World" by historians, is one of the most visited places in the world in terms of art and architecture history. Hagia Sophia was a Greek Orthodox Christian patriarchal basilica (church) for 916 years, later an imperial mosque for 481 years, and now a museum for 85 years.

We feel very lucky to have Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, Turkey. Can you imagine, how many other 1500-year-old monuments with the roof still on top, there are around the world?