Hagia Sophia! The \u201cgreat Monastery\u201d! Rooted deep in the soul of the Greek t\u03bf his marrow. Not only (for him) though. For all Christianity, it is the centre of their faith, as it was built by (the emperor) Justinian, before the Schism of the Churches. How many myths and legends exist about Hagia Sophia, its Holy Alter, that all Christianity knows well! For anyone who visits Constantinople, either being a Christian or even a Muslim, his first pilgrimage would be t\u03bf this emblem.<\/p>\n
We, nearly every year, visited Hagia Sophia with numerous missions! I remember the time when we attempted a cultural landing on the coast of Asia Minor with a cruise ship, the moment when 600 Greeks spread on this sacred place, each of them trying to read, to look and to discover its myths and legends, but its holiness too.<\/p>\n
So, Erdogan uses this symbol now, in order to realize his sinister and perverted thoughts. However, the weight of Hagia Sophia is such, that he doesn\u2019t dare to convert it exclusively to a mosque. So, addressing himself not only to the interior of his country, but to all the \u039cuslim people, as he wishes to show that he is their \u201cfather\u201d and that he is able to represent the vision that the Muslims have about the conquest of the West, but in reality fearing the West, he doesn\u2019t complete the transformation to a mosque. That is, he doesn\u2019t smudge the icons, he doesn\u2019t transform the building, but he hangs curtains and carpets during the long prayers and he permits visits by the Christians. You see, the power of this holy building is such that it doesn\u2019t allow even him to bypass it.<\/p>\n
I, personally, didn\u2019t worry. However, I was outraged with the western world, the civilized world, that, lost in their riches and well-being, didn\u2019t react as they ought to and should, about this matter. You see, whereas Muslims live with the expectation of population leveling of the planet, the western people live without any visions and ideals. The western people were always inactive at the breastwork of Hellenism. We don\u2019t forget the Conquest of Constantinople by the Crusaders in 1204, but even more we don\u2019t forget their complete lack of action during the Fall of Costantinople in 1453 by Muhammad the Conqueror.<\/p>\n
People, be on the alert! However, what people are we talking about? Those who have lost their relation with the family? Those who no longer give birth to many children, as they don\u2019t look forward to the future and the 1-2 they give birth to, they kick away when they become 18 years old, in order not to obstruct their personal life, so that they cover only their own existential gap?<\/p>\n
God peals, the world peals, heaven peals,<\/em><\/p>\n Hagia Sophia, the great Monastery, peals too,<\/em><\/p>\n with four hundred church beacons and sixty two bells.<\/em><\/p>\n By each bell there is a priest, by each priest a deacon.<\/em><\/p>\n And we, the Greeks, will always be crooning, however romantic and unbelievable, as it may be for our days\u2026 \u201cbe silent, our Virgin Mary, and don\u2019t tear a lot, as, after many years and times, these places will be ours again\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Hagia Sophia! The \u201cgreat Monastery\u201d! Rooted deep in the soul of the Greek t\u03bf his marrow. Not only (for him) though.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10928,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ocean_post_layout":"","ocean_both_sidebars_style":"","ocean_both_sidebars_content_width":0,"ocean_both_sidebars_sidebars_width":0,"ocean_sidebar":"0","ocean_second_sidebar":"0","ocean_disable_margins":"enable","ocean_add_body_class":"","ocean_shortcode_before_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_after_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_before_header":"","ocean_shortcode_after_header":"","ocean_has_shortcode":"","ocean_shortcode_after_title":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_bottom":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_bottom":"","ocean_display_top_bar":"default","ocean_display_header":"default","ocean_header_style":"","ocean_center_header_left_menu":"0","ocean_custom_header_template":"0","ocean_custom_logo":0,"ocean_custom_retina_logo":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_height":0,"ocean_header_custom_menu":"0","ocean_menu_typo_font_family":"0","ocean_menu_typo_font_subset":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_size":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_unit":"px","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_line_height":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_unit":"","ocean_menu_typo_spacing":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_unit":"","ocean_menu_link_color":"","ocean_menu_link_color_hover":"","ocean_menu_link_color_active":"","ocean_menu_link_background":"","ocean_menu_link_hover_background":"","ocean_menu_link_active_background":"","ocean_menu_social_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_links_color":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_color":"","ocean_disable_title":"default","ocean_disable_heading":"default","ocean_post_title":"","ocean_post_subheading":"","ocean_post_title_style":"","ocean_post_title_background_color":"","ocean_post_title_background":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_image_position":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_attachment":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_repeat":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_size":"","ocean_post_title_height":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay":0.5,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay_color":"","ocean_disable_breadcrumbs":"default","ocean_breadcrumbs_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_separator_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_hover_color":"","ocean_display_footer_widgets":"default","ocean_display_footer_bottom":"default","ocean_custom_footer_template":"0","ocean_post_oembed":"","ocean_post_self_hosted_media":"","ocean_post_video_embed":"","ocean_link_format":"","ocean_link_format_target":"self","ocean_quote_format":"","ocean_quote_format_link":"post","ocean_gallery_link_images":"off","ocean_gallery_id":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[52],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11435","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nea-en","entry","has-media","owp-thumbs-layout-vertical","owp-btn-normal","owp-tabs-layout-horizontal","has-no-thumbnails"],"yoast_head":"\n