Beauty in the Church of Holy Wisdom

On July 24, 2020 «Ἡ Μεγάλη Ἐκκλησία τῆς Ἁγίας τοῦ Θεοῦ Σοφίας», “The Great Church of the Holy Wisdom of God,” once again became a functioning Islamic mosque. Commonly named «Ἡ Μεγάλη τοῦ Χριστοῦ Ἐκκλησία», ”The Great Church of Christ,” it was the chief and largest Christian Church in the Roman (incorrectly-called ‘Byzantine’) Empire. It is generally known today as “Ágia Sophía” – often transliterated as “Hagia Sophia” – a mispronunciation of «Ἁγία Σοφία» or “Agía Sofía.” Sometimes «Ἁγία Σοφία» is quite inaccurately translated as “Saint Sophia” and very wrongly assumed to have been dedicated to a woman saint of that name. The Church is, in actual fact, named for God’s “Holy Wisdom”; i.e., “Jesus Christ.” For, “Christ (is) the power of God and the wisdom of God” (1 Corinthians 1:24). The current church was the third built on the site, constructed during the reign (AD 527-565) of Emperor Justinian I. Construction began on February 23, AD 532 followeng the NIKA riots, and the church was inaugurated 5 years and 10 months later on December 27, AD 537. The exterior of the church was originally covered with white marble veneer with gilding of some parts. Its sixth-century shimmering appearance was thus vert different from the brickwork as we see it today. The interior surfaces were polychrome – green and white marble with purple porphyry – stone and gold mosaics. The church suffered greatly during the Latin occupation of Constantinople (AD 1204–1261) when it was used as a Roman Catholic cathedral. Following this first conquest and fall of Constantinople, traditional Orthodox Christians avoided Agía Sofía sensing that it had been somehow tainted by its conversion to Roman Catholic use. Prior to the city’s second conquest and fall to the Islamic Ottoman Empire on May 29, 1453, an alarming sight was beheld by many in the city. On May 21, 1453, “The sky lit up, illuminating the city, and many people gathered and saw on the Church of the Wisdom, at the top of the window, a large flame of fire issuing forth. It encircled the entire neck of the church for a long time. The flame gathered into one; its flame altered, and there was an indescribable light. At once it took to the sky. The light itself semed to have gone up to heaven; the gates of heaven were opened; the light was received; and again they were closed." The phenomenon was understood by the faithful to be the Holy Spirit abandoning Constantinople, prophesying the fall of the city, and the conversion of most churches into mosques for Islamic worship. The magnificent mosaic iconography was covered by whitewash and plaster in the 15th and 16th centuries, Some of these have been revealed between 1930 and 2020 when the former church and mosque was converted for use as a museum by secular Turkish authorities. “Today, Romiosini laments and weeps... ” but my friends let us never stop glorifying God! For even if Agia Sophía our beloved temple is being used to worship a false God, we always remember that our God is an awesome God who loved us so much he gave his only begotten Son. Keep praying and never lose hope. The ruler of this world has no power in the face of our God. (Romiosini is a Greek translation of the Latin Romanitas which simply means “the Roman” or “Romanity.” Like the word Hellenistic, Romiosini denotes “civilized” as opposed to barbaric. There can simply be no Christianity apart from Hellenism, insofar as the latter denotes all that is good, peaceful, noble, graceful – in short decent and civilized – in the human condition. Without civilization, man descends into barbarism and the soul of one who descends into barbaric behavior – evil, belligerent, degenerate, crude – has great difficulty recognizing and embracing Christian principles.)