Hagia Sophia lithograph from the album by the Fossati brothers, Aya Sofia Constantinople, London 1852, (Athens Gennadeios Library).
Detail of a mosaic icon of Christ from Hagia Sophia
Ping
And after the Hagia Sophia is returned to Christians, let's pressure our dear allies in Saudi Arabia to get their asses in gear and get cracking on permission for us to build a new cathedral!
There's a giant Islamic Mosque and Cultural Center in Rome.
Where's the cathedral in Riyadh?
I don't know about everyone else, but we should all be damn sick and tired of bending over backward (and sometimes forward) for the "great peaceful religion."
You wanna show great?
You wanna show peaceful?
Then, RECIPROCATION !!!
Get that cathedral built in Saudi Arabia sometime before next Ramadan, or we turn your mosque in Rome over to the Missionaries of Charity!
I LOVE THIS IDEA!!!! Awhile back the Holy Father - Pope John Paul (Martyr) the Great - gave the Patriarch of Constantinople a church in Rome. I think it only fit and proper and just that the Hagia Sophia be given to us Catholics as our church in Istanbul.
Btw at the time of the fall of Constantinople (1453) the Greeks were in union with Rome and thus the Hagia Sophia was actually a Catholic church!
Why? The Ottoman Turks conquered Constantinople fair and and square. The Hagia Sophia was theirs to dispose of as they saw fit. I'm glad they didn't raze it.
For intellectual honesty, however, I need to sign this one, since I have believed the same thing since I was a child.
A.M.D.G.
An Orthodox ping.
I was there in March and it looks truly awful. All the mosques are gorgeous and so well kept. The Hagia Sophia is dusty and dirty and looks terrible. I think it's such a shame.
There's probably a better chance of asking them to restore the Emperor.
This idea rests on the premise that the European Union is more sympathetic to Christianity than Islam, and I have not seen evidence of that so far.
Very much related earlier link:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1442899/posts
My inner conspiracy theorist thinks that it's so they can flood Istanbul with Greeks and take back the great jewel of their civilization.
Detail of a mosaic icon of Christ from Hagia Sophia
They should also be forced to issue an "apology" and pay back rent (with interest).
"Fr. Anthony Chadwick has posted on his blog ( http://perso.wanadoo.fr/civitas.dei/blog_07-05.htm )an appeal to sign a petition to the European Union's Parliament. It calls for them to require Turkey to restore the great Byzantine Cathedral of Hagia Sophia to Christian use as a church, as a precondition for admission to the EU. I support this call and hope that all Christians (Eastern and Western alike) will join me in signing this petition. If you know of other places to post the link please pass it around. You may sign the petition at http://www.hagiasophiablog.com/mainpage.html"
translation
I would like to see Hagia Sophia restored as a church. However, there are no circumstances under which Turkey should be allowed to join the EU. Facilitating more mass migration of Moslems into Europe is suicidal.
as a precondition for admission to the EU >>
problem is that I don't agree with the EU. No part of it.
Here's a better idea, fill the churches you already have.