You may think I’m a bit fixated on the actions of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his government’s plan to convert former Orthodox Christian churches into mosques with this third column on the subject, but I feel it receives scant coverage in the secular media. Once again just a month after the controversial conversion of the beautiful Hagia Sophia, which has existed for three quarters of a century as a museum dedicated to interfaith cooperation between Muslims and Christians to a mosque, he now has converted yet another historic Christian church, Saint Savior Church in Chora, Turkey, to a mosque.
Erdogan is engaged in a rather provocative plan to boost his sagging poll numbers due to a painful economic downturn in Turkey by pandering to his conservative and religious constituents by re-Islamizing Christian churches. It is a dangerous move that has set back growing ties among Christians and Muslims for the past 50 years.
Erdogan has intentionally inflamed the passions of Muslim believers in Turkey with these moves to convert these venerable churches into mosques. Last month Erdogan joined some 350,000 Muslim worshipers in prayers at Hagia Sophia during its inauguration as a mosque. Realizing the political gain of converting these museums dedicated to interfaith cooperation established by the secular founding government in 1945 into mosques disregards the ancient Christian patrimony in Turkey and disrespects the religious sentiments of its Christian citizens.
Saint Savior Church was built in the fourth century on a smaller scale but equal in beauty and dignity with Hagia Sophia. It was built as a Byzantine church and adorned with some of the most beautiful frescoes of the Last Judgment, treasured by Christians throughout the world. It was converted into a mosque 50 years after Hagia Sophia, following the 1453 conquest of Constantinople by the Ottoman Turks. It was known as the Kariye Mosque. After World War II the Kariye Mosque was converted to a museum. In 1958 a group of American art historians helped to restore the magnificent frescoes of the Last Judgment. Saint Savior Church possesses some of the most superb Byzantine mosaics and frescoes in all Christendom.
Erdogan’s chief opposition leader, HDP party lawmaker, Garo Paylan, called the conversion to a mosque “a shame for our country.” He added, “One of the symbols of our country’s deep, multicultural identity and multi-religious history has been sacrificed.”
Zeynep Tukyilmaz, an Ottoman Empire historian said that the conversion is “destruction” because the conversion necessitates that the beautiful frescoes and mosaics would have to be covered up or plastered over. He said, “It is impossible to hide the frescoes and mosaics because they decorate the entire building.”
The Church of Saint Savior was the church building built for the fourth century monastery located just outside the city walls of Constantinople. The correct name for the building is the Church of the Holy Savior in the Country, better translated in English as, the Church of the Holy Redeemer in the Fields. It was erected by Constantine the Great and eventually encased within the city limits of Constantinople by Theodosius’ new wall.
Among many other magnificent works of art stands the image of the Last Judgment, which includes the Anastasis (the Resurrection of Christ), depicted as smashing the gates of hell and pulling Adam and Eve out of their tombs. It also includes the second coming of Christ and the Last Judgment.
Greece’s Foreign Ministry strongly condemned the conversion of Saint Savior, accusing the Turkish president and his government in “once again brutally insulting the character” of another UN-listed world heritage site. “This is a provocation against all believers. We urge Turkey to return to the 21st century and the mutual respect, dialogue and understanding between civilizations,” they said.
Elpidophoros, the Greek Orthodox archbishop of America, said, “After the tragic transgression with Hagia Sophia, now the Monastery of Chora (Saint Savior), this exquisite offering of Byzantine culture to the world! The pleas and exhortations of the international community are ignored.”
There are 82,693 mosques in Turkey. Why other than political gain would there be a need to convert these magnificent relics of Byzantine spirituality and artistic genius into mosques?
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