That's what the Byzantine Emporer Justinian is reputed to have said upon the completion of the Great Church of Constantinople, the Hagia Sophia, the Church of the Holy Wisdom. The church was completed in 537, repaired in 563, sacked in the Latin conquest of the 4th Crusade, converted to a mosque in 1453 after the Ottoman conquest, and finally turned into a museum by the secular government of modern Turkey in 1937.
For over 900 years, this magnificent church was the seat of the Greek Orthodox faith, the home of the Patriarch of Constantinople. This church was the site of the last act of the Great Schism that split the Catholic and Orthodox faiths (the placing upon the church's High Altar of the Bull of Excommunication, by Cardinal Humbert of Mourmoutiers) in 1054.
Now, it seems that Angeliki Papagika and partners have launched a petition drive to encourage the European Union to make the return of the Hagia Sophia to use as a Christian Church a condition of Turkish membership in the EU.
Truthfully, I'm about as Christian as a garden gnome, but I support this idea. I'm much more in awe of the place as a historical monument than as a church, but I believe that a place of worship is not like other, secular buildings (though I feel mostly the same way about Yankee Stadium, Wrigley Field, and Fenway Park). The Hagia Sophia has seen 70 % of the history of Christendom, even if the last 550 years have been as an observer and not a participant. Faithful all over the world might find it all the more rewarding hearing a service that has changed little since, well, God was a boy. It'd be a grand gesture from the Turkish people, as well, and a gesture that wouldn't cost Islam anything. The former mosque was secularized when it was turned into a museum, so how could this be a loss? I hope the European and Turkish Governments considers this.
Frankly, I think it'd be a great idea for Turkey's tourist trade as well. Give the musuem back to the Orthodox, a few million dollars. A chance to hear the Byzantine Litugy pronounced by a Patriarch in a space dedicated by a Roman Emporer. Priceless.
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