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Hagia Sophia in Constantinople and the Winter Solstice

Source: Mystagogy

December 21, 2021

Many may not be aware that the Church of Hagia Sophia in Constantinople was built to be aligned along the sunrise on winter solstice. The same is true for the Church of Hagia Sophia in Thessaloniki, which was modeled after that in Constantinople in the 8th century.

Hagia Sophia was therefore designed so that once a year, the first light of dawn after the longest night of winter, that is, on December 21st, enters the sacred temple, symbolizing in this way the birth Christ. Therefore, every year can be witnessed the rays of the sun piercing through the small window above the entrance of Hagia Sophia.

... Read the rest at Mystagogy.

12/22/2021

See also

The New Status of Constantinople’s Hagia Sophia

The New Status of Constantinople’s Hagia Sophia
Archpriest Vladislav Tsypin

The New Status of Constantinople’s Hagia Sophia

The New Status of Constantinople’s Hagia Sophia
Archpriest Vladislav Tsypin
The fifteen hundred year history of the Hagia Sophia has recently seen the beginning of a new era. In the distant past the conversion of it from an Orthodox cathedral into a mosque also coincided with the beginning of a new era.

Greek hierarch proposes building new Agia Sophia in Greece

Greek hierarch proposes building new Agia Sophia in Greece

Greek hierarch proposes building new Agia Sophia in Greece

Greek hierarch proposes building new Agia Sophia in Greece
Responding to the situation in Turkey, His Eminence Metropolitan Nicholas of Mesogaia and Lavreotiki proposed that the Holy Synod, the Greek state, and the Greek people unite together to build a new cathedral outside of Athens.

What Ever Happened to the Holy Altar of Hagia Sophia After 1453?

What Ever Happened to the Holy Altar of Hagia Sophia After 1453?

What Ever Happened to the Holy Altar of Hagia Sophia After 1453?

What Ever Happened to the Holy Altar of Hagia Sophia After 1453?
According to legend, after the fall of Constantinople to the Ottomans in 1453, three Venetian ships fled the city filled with various relics to avoid their capture by the Turks, but the third which carried the Holy Altar of Hagia Sophia, sank into the waters of the Bosphorus in the Marmara region. Since then, in the exact area of the sinking, the sea is always calm and serene, no matter what weather conditions are prevailing in the area. This phenomenon is testified by modern Turkish scientists, who have attempted at various times to discover the cause of this strange phenomenon, but due to the muddy composition of the seabed, their efforts have been fruitless.

Comments

Rdr Andreas Moran1/11/2022 12:08 pm

This chimes with the words of the troparion for the Nativity of the Lord Jesus Christ: 'Thy Nativity, O Christ our God, hath shone to the world the light of knowledge; for by it those who worshipped the stars were taught by a star to worship Thee, the Sun of Righteousness, and to know Thee, the Dayspring From On High, O Lord, glory to Thee!' See Malachi 4:2 for ‘Sun of Righteousness', and see Luke 1:78 where Zacharias says, ‘through the tender mercy of our God; whereby the dayspring from on high hath visited us’. The new dawn heralds the new era.