Source: Huffington Post Religion News Service | By Jacob Resneck ISTANBUL (RNS) In this ancient city, there are few sights more iconic than the dome of the Hagia Sophia, towering over the old city for more than 1,400 years. But recent conversions of former Byzantine-era churches from museums into mosques, encouraged by religious and political leaders, have caused alarm among religious minorities and Turkey’s Christian neighbors. “We currently stand next to the Hagia Sophia Mosque,” Turkey’s deputy prime minister, Bulent Arinc, remarked last month during a dedication of a museum of Caucasus carpets and rugs in the Hagia Sophia complex.…
Trending
- ‘The heart of Orthodox monasticism’: Historic monasteries on Mount Athos damaged by earthquakes
- Ecumenical Patriarchate Issues Statement on Status of Saint Catherine Monastery of Sinai
- Council of Nicaea anniversary is call to Christian unity, speakers say
- Call for Nominations: 2025 Medal of Saint Theodora Award
- Save the Date: October 11, 2025 – Frederica Mathewes-Green to Headline OCL’s 38th Annual Conference
- Metropolitan Elder Dimitrios of the Princes’ Islands Named Honorary Doctor in Athens
- Fordham’s Orthodox Christian Studies Center Annual Benefit Reception on June 16
- Saint-Sophia-Seminary-Quarterly-No. 2
