Hagia Sophia Converted Back to a Mosque by Turkey’s President
Orthodox leaders and UNESCO object to famous former church no longer being a museum.
As Christians feared and many expected, the Hagia Sophia is now—again—a mosque.
The Turkish Council of State ruled today that the original 1934 decision to convert the sixth-century Byzantine basilica into a museum was illegal.
When Ottoman sultan Mehmet II conquered then-Constantinople, he placed the iconic church in a waqf—an Islamic endowment administering personal property, usually designated for religious purpose. The original stipulations opened the building for Islamic prayers, and sharia law keeps waqf designations in perpetuity.
Shortly after the decision, President Recep Erdogan signed—and tweeted—a decree handing the building to Turkey’s Religious Affairs Directorate.
Istanbul-based Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, considered the spiritual leader of the world’s Orthodox Christians, warned in late June that the building’s conversion into a mosque “will turn millions of Christians across the world against Islam.”
Greek Orthodox Archbishop Ieronymos II earlier stated that Erdogan “would not dare.”
And UNESCO reminded Turkey of its international obligations, as the Hagia Sophia is registered as a World Heritage site.
“A state must make sure that no modification undermines the outstanding universal value of a site listed on its territory,” the UN body stated.
In response to the Turkish decision, the Russian Orthodox Church expressed regret, stating it could lead to “greater divisions.”
And the foreign minister of Cyprus called it a “flagrant violation” against “a universal symbol of the Orthodox faith.”
The official conversion could take place as early as July 15, as Erdogan marked that day for prayers in ...
from Christianity Today Magazine https://ift.tt/2BOmgtR
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