Athens, August 27, 2020
romfea.gr
Meeting in Athens under the chairmanship of Archbishop Ieronymos of Athens yesterday and Tuesday, the Holy Synod of the Church of Greece issued a statement of protest over Turkey’s conversion of Istanbul’s ancient Chora Church into a mosque.
The statement from the Holy Synod, published on Romfea, reads:
On the occasion of the conversion of the present museum status of the catholikon of the Monastery of Chora into a mosque and a place of prayer of the Islamic religion, the Holy Synod expresses its disappointment and strong protest against the decision of the of the neighboring country Turkey, which also turned this monument from a place of culture into a point of division and disintegration.
As it did in the similar case of Agia Sophia, the Church of Greece immediately makes international appeals and actions, requesting the return of the Monastery of Chora to its pre-existing use.
Following the reconversion of the famous Agia Sophia Cathedral in Istanbul into a mosque last month, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan also ordered the conversion of the iconic Chora Church into a mosque again on August 21, thus implementing a decision of the Turkish Council of State from last November.
In his homily on Sunday, Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople addressed the conversion of the two iconic churches into mosques, noting that it caused great pain in the hearts of all Christians.
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The Chora Monastery was built in 534 and is one of the oldest historical monuments in Istanbul. The Holy Savior Church is richly-decorated with 14th-century frescoes and mosaics of the Resurrection, the Last Judgment, and others, that are treasured throughout the Orthodox world. It was originally converted into a mosque a few decades after the Turkish conquest of Constantinople in 1453, and was later converted into a museum following WWII.
A group of American art historians helped restore the church’s original mosaics, and it opened to the public in 1958.
