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Bendecida
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Birdpreacher
Guest
Meh, they won it fair and square, besides its a beautiful mosque. The Church is bigger than a mere pile of stones, no matter how majestic they appear.
/wouldn’t this be like forcing Spain to reconvert buildings to mosques due to the expulsion of the moors?
/wouldn’t this be like forcing Spain to reconvert buildings to mosques due to the expulsion of the moors?
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Aelred_Minor
Guest
It isn’t currently a mosque, it is a secular museum.Meh, they won it fair and square, besides its a beautiful mosque. The Church is bigger than a mere pile of stones, no matter how majestic they appear.
/wouldn’t this be like forcing Spain to reconvert buildings to mosques due to the expulsion of the moors?
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Dale_M
Guest
This isn’t a news story, its just some blogger trying to start an online petition.
Online petitions are, as a rule, worthless. They provide individuals with the illusion that they are doing something productive, but such petitions are routinely ignored by government officials because there is no way of verifying that the “signatures” are from real people.
And in this particular case, the cause is already lost. As others have noted, Hagia Sophia is currently a museum. It has that designation because the nation of Turkey is officially secular and it strives to avoid endorsing religions. Many other formerly religious sites in the country have been turned into museums or similar secular function.
If Hagia Sophia were to revert to religious use, it most likely would be to that of a mosque since that is what it was before the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. And also because Turkey is predominantly a Muslim country.
Any de-secularization effort, if is to have any chance, will need to involve high level government and religious officials. Such an effort is currently underway to re-open the Theological School of Halki. Online petitions, however, will just go into the wastebasket.
Online petitions are, as a rule, worthless. They provide individuals with the illusion that they are doing something productive, but such petitions are routinely ignored by government officials because there is no way of verifying that the “signatures” are from real people.
And in this particular case, the cause is already lost. As others have noted, Hagia Sophia is currently a museum. It has that designation because the nation of Turkey is officially secular and it strives to avoid endorsing religions. Many other formerly religious sites in the country have been turned into museums or similar secular function.
If Hagia Sophia were to revert to religious use, it most likely would be to that of a mosque since that is what it was before the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. And also because Turkey is predominantly a Muslim country.
Any de-secularization effort, if is to have any chance, will need to involve high level government and religious officials. Such an effort is currently underway to re-open the Theological School of Halki. Online petitions, however, will just go into the wastebasket.
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JamestheOlder
Guest
The online petitions are worthless, but we can pray for the restoration as a Catholic Church. That may be more powerful than a petition.
Please also pray for those disposessed of their churches in Egypt and Iraq…those churches that were destroyed, and the refugees who may need to flee their homelands.
Holy Mother Mary, pray for us!
Please also pray for those disposessed of their churches in Egypt and Iraq…those churches that were destroyed, and the refugees who may need to flee their homelands.
Holy Mother Mary, pray for us!
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Elizium23
Guest
Rather than ‘restore’ a mere building to bygone days of glory, we should instead direct our prayers to convert Turkey and countries like it. With over 97% adhering to Islam, only 35,000 Roman Catholics, and only 85,000 Orthodox, in the land of Byzantium, Christianity has truly lost the battle in this country. Why restore a building if you can’t put any people into it?
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Bendecida
Guest
Sorry for the confusion. I wasn’t sure which forum to put this under.
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Not_Sure_1
Guest
I pray for the full restoration of Anatolia (it will never be Turkey to me), Constantinople, the churches of the East and the Hagia Sophia. Long live Christian Europe!
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mdgspencer
Guest
I think it would be great if the Hagia Sophia became a church again. But I would think the Turks giving the Hagia Sophia to a Church is as likely as the United States giving New York State back to the British. And if the Turks did turn it over to a Church, I would think the most likely church would be the Greek Orthodox Church, and as a Catholic I don’t think such a request should involve myself.
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