Αγία Σοφία

My long journey of writing and thinking has taught me that: "Nothing is more true than the certainty the spirit has when it is in front of the Truth".

And my own "truth", the one that I have in front of me with my soul and my inner vision, tells me that: Hagia Sophia DID NOT BECOME A MOSQUE AND WILL NEVER BE, although in a little through their speech and presence their own prayer will make it a realization.

Hagia Sophia remains to the hidden depths of its "soul" and to the extreme ends of its spirituality, to the ends of its never forgotten Memory and to the still unexplored energy that hides deep in its bowels, the Hagia Sophia remains for centuries The Sacred Symbol of the World along with its beloved City. It is a Symbol and a "Sacred invincible rock on which the waves of Islam broke upon" for 1123 years and 17 days.

They had their own mosques, their own places of worship. The chroniclers of the time of the Fall spoke with respect for the religious piety of the genuine Muslim, referring to Khalil who was the first general of Muhammad at that time - even if he betrayed his ruler to the emperor.

And I, so small, who was in so much pain while writing my novel, for four whole years sitting for hours in the dark and silent Hagia Sophia, sometimes to cry along with her and sometimes to feel the vibrations from the brutal and bloody events of the three days of the final slaughter, now I say, today, tomorrow, always, until they respect her silence again and give her back the respect they owe her, they should give her back the peace of silence. Until then, there I will be, in the corners where I sat alone and wrote inside me the pages of the historical novel.

I will only put a small paragraph from my book - and I did not know the time I wrote it that I would live it again. It was the moment when the Cross fell from its dome with a huge thud on the 29th of May. And my hero, Porphyrios, says:

“(…) The cross that stood for centuries on the dome of Hagia Sophia fell to the ground with a frightening sound. Christianity was falling apart. The thousand-year-old empire was now surrendered to the foreign god of Islam. And the glorious City was no longer guarded by God. Did the West listen to that creepy thump? Did the pope and the Christian kings, who left the emperor alone and helpless at the last hour of his doom, listen to him? Did they hear him? Or piece by piece, cry by cry, will rule the time to come, disturbing the consciences throughout the centuries".

Today, with its second desecration, I only wish that not only the "Christian kings" but also every civilized person will "listen" to the cry of Hagia Sophia and that they will prevent it with the power of justice.

And one more thing: A lifetime crouched on books and writings, I learned that: "Nothing is lost if it has existed". Everything that has existed, exists throughout the century. There are all those who preferred the honored death on the bloody walls of Agios Romanos, they became martyrs. And martyrs never die, they just lie sleepless. And they are waiting.

This post is for you, my unknown Facebook friend, whether you believe or not. For justice

Posted on Friday, July 24, 2020

And since everything now takes the path of a clean negotiation

Because post-crying or post-grief is of no use.
Because History and the mistakes throughout History are repeated without teaching any lesson - since only consciousness teaches.
And because something good can still come out of all this, if only there is some measure of good decision-making.

I am suggesting this dialectic:
In the camp of Sultan Mehmet - then - in May 1453, there were 35 thousand Christians, while the defenders along with the emperor were five thousand bloodied and exhausted. But young Mehmet used them with an infallible method. He let them use their arrows to send messages to the emperor about his decisions.

Today, the sad events took place with the same strategic method: The current sultan announced his decision to turn the Hagia Sophia into a mosque and waited. And when he saw that the "road was open" without any resistance, he proceeded. This has always been their strategy. They were feeling out their way first.

Nor will they stop proceeding in the same way.

I had my hopes that the Pope would intervene - especially with the historical guilt that weighs on him, if it weighs on him, for the annulment of the Pope then, the one he had agreed with Palaiologos - against the unifying liturgy of the filioque.

And I say. How fair would an effort be: If there was an understanding that the Hagia Sophia, instead of becoming a mosque, would function, together with the status of a Museum, as a Christian church also, acquiring its original identity - even once a year.

How fair and respectful such an agreement would be! Against their own mosques being prepared here.

Because beyond the official politics, the issue of Hagia Sophia concerns not only the governments but also the soul of every civilized person. Because the Hagia Sophia is not only the Ecumenical Symbol of Christianity, it is also a Symbol of the History of Hellenism, it is a Symbol of the self-sacrifice of those who prefered an honourable death and passed into the pantheon of the immortals together with the martyred emperor and his people.

And my proposal does not exist only in the dimension of Poetry.
I want to believe that it is completely realistic and historically honest. It has all the historical justice.

Posted on July 13, 2020

Professor Maria Efthymiou had called me on the eve of the conversion because I had sent her my novel "The City has been taken" and we had talked about Hagia Sophia

The enlightened professor Mrs. Maria Efthimiou posted today on Athens Voice that:
"Mr. Erdogan is in vain. Even if the walls of Hagia Sophia are scraped to turn the monument into a mosque, Byzantine hymns will be released. In flawless Greek. In the ages to come! ”

I could not answer her where she posted it, that is why I am writing my comment here: Thank you, Mrs. Maria Efthimiou. Your words about Hagia Sophia are the most beautiful I have heard!

And to complete her thought:
Now the scientists at Stanford University - who managed to digitally reproduce and reconstruct the chants that were heard there 1500 years ago - now is the time to release these chants, to make your speech or your vision a real scientific miracle! So that inside our Hagia Sophia, only those chants can be heard! And to be true!

And let everyone remember, both those who did not help and those who for the second time desecrate the holy temple, that History does not forgive.

Posted the day after the conversion, July 11, 2020 

“Σώπα, κυρία Δέσποινα, μην κλαίεις μην…”

But I can't keep quiet. No one has helped our Hagia Sophia. Just a few comments here and there. Helpless it surrendered to the mercy of this new plunder. Except that today's plunder is not about gold and silver. This plunder will take place deep inside its Soul. And in its Silence. In the deep Mystery hidden inside its aching guts. This Mystery that elevated it to a universal Symbol. But the civilised world Christian or not betrayed it once again. As it was betrayed back then. That time - when the pope left the martyred emperor helpless, canceling the promised - against the unifying liturgy of the filioque - assistance.

A comment:
This uprising, which is now taking place over the pain of Hagia Sophia, should have taken place BEFORE its new vandalism. To prevent this new bloodshed. Because that's what it's all about. Only this time it will not show even a drop of blood. Deep in its bloodied soul this new abandonment by God and Men will be hidden. And the guilt of the Christian West will become a deeper wound - continued by the betrayal of the pope.

Posted on July 10, 2020, the day of the conversion of Hagia Sophia into a mosque

Lament of monk Porfyrios

Bell of Hagia Sophia
Bit by bit may thou break the silence
And once more may the new ages sound the Resurrection

May an azure glory sprout
Upon the lamentation of the ruins
From this glory of thine that will come
From this flash of the lightning bolt
was I born
That is why my voice, too,
Is a loosened bell
That still weeps.

I raised my tearful eyes to see in all its glory the Hagia Sophia, this miracle of the centuries, which guarded the soul of the genus like a womb, covered it under its domes, so that sacrilegious time would not touch it. And I say, perhaps, even now that the blood of the faithful has soaked its stone and enamels, now that their blood has soaked Time and the coming of other Side the invisible one, I say, it is and will remain forever The Sacred Symbol, our oath, the fragrance of Roses burning in the century.

This post was made on Thursday, July 9, 2020, just hours before the signing of the conversion of Hagia Sophia into a mosque.

In the photo, my hand on the spot where, according to legend, the horse of Muhammad hit with its hoove and, as if from the mourning the marble had softened, opened a hole.