Istanbul, February 7, 2024
The Chora Monastery is home to perhaps the most famous icon of the Resurrection of Christ in the world. Photo: Wikipedia
Just months after the world-famous Hagia Sophia Cathedral in Istanbul was converted back into a mosque in the First Islamic prayers in Hagia Sophia have begun, to last 24 hoursThe first Islamic prayers have already begun in the Hagia Sophai Cathedral in Istanbul, newly reconverted into a mosque by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
“>summer of 2020, Turkey’s President Erdoğan Turkey conceals beauty of Chora Church in preparation for Muslim prayersFollowing the reconversion of the famous Agia Sophia Cathedral in Istanbul into a mosque in July, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan also ordered the reconversion of the famous Chora Church into a mosque in August.”>announced the same fate for the nearby Christ the Savior Chora Church.
The 6th-century monastery was initially converted into a mosque after the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople in the 16th century. Beginning in 1945, it operated as a museum, until the decision of the Turkish Supreme Court in 2019 and Erdoğan’s decree in August 2020 that ordered it to be turned back into a mosque.
Photo: pravlife.org
Since then, the church has been undergoing restoration work in preparation for its reopening as a mosque, which the state has announced will happen on February 23, reports Vima Orthodoxias.
The Chora Church is home to a fresco of the Resurrection of Christ known to all Orthodox Christians, as seen above.
The initial decision four years ago sparked protests from the Church and international organizations.
“It’s a fact that the conversion of Hagia Sophia and now the Monastery of Chora into mosques has hurt us,” Agia Sophia and Chora icons are “Heavenly food for the soul and an inexhaustible joy for the eyes”—Pat. Bartholomew“It is a fact that the conversion of Agia Sophia and now the Monastery of Chora into mosques has hurt us,” the Patriarch stressed.
“>Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople said at the time.
“These two unique monuments of the city were built as Christian churches. They express the universal spirit of our faith, love, and the hope of eternity. The incomparable mosaics and their other icons are Heavenly food for the soul and an inexhaustible joy for the eyes, as Photios Kontoglou from Ayvalik would say, and they belong to the world cultural heritage,” the Patriarch stressed.
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