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Editor’s Note:
Yes, I know that Soros finances EurasiaNet, which means that it’s pro-corporatist and pro-Western. However, the lamestream media (both “progressive” and “conservative”) isn’t covering this, and it’s of interest to Orthodox Christians. As you read it, do consider the source… and who pays for it.
BMD
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Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç’s call to turn Istanbul’s Hagia Sophia from a museum back into a mosque is stoking a dispute between Turkey’s Islamist-rooted government and Orthodox Christians in Turkey. Metropolitan Genadios Lymouris of Sasima, a senior official in the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople New Rome, one of the autocephalous Eastern Orthodox Churches, warned, “We do hope that the Turkish government will reconsider and have to think very seriously”.
For over 900 years, Hagia Sophia (“Holy Wisdom” in Greek), built in 537, was Christendom’s most important church, but when Constantinople (as Istanbul was then called) fell to the Ottomans in 1453, it became a mosque, and for nearly 500 years, it ranked among the Ottoman Empire’s grandest places of worship. In 1935, the founders of Turkey’s secular republic transformed Hagia Sophia into a museum. The iconic building continues to carry important political significance. İştar Gözaydin, a professor of law and politics at Doğuş University, an expert on the relationship between the state and religion, noted, “The Islamists always aspired for it to be a mosque”, whilst Turkish secularists want it to remain “a neutral place”, and Christians see it as a church,.
Until Turkey’s governing Justice and Development Party (AKP) came to power in 2003, the chances of Hagia Sophia reverting to a mosque were slim to none. However, with the country’s Islamic heritage now experiencing revival after decades of government-imposed secularism, the prospect isn’t entirely unlikely. On a 16 November trip to Hagia Sophia, Arınç, who oversees policy toward historical buildings that once belonged to religious minorities, declared to television reporters, “The days of a mosque being a museum are over”. With Turkey heading into an 18-month election-cycle in 2014, most believe that politics motivated Arınc’s statements. In campaign speeches for next March’s municipal elections, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan draws heavily on the country’s Ottoman past. He aims the message at both religious and nationalist voters, key AKP constituencies. The strategy could well prove a vote-winner. Recently, one teenager leaving Hagia Sophia said, “God willing, it’ll be a mosque. Fatih Sultan Mehmet wanted this. When he conquered Istanbul, the first thing he did was to convert it into a mosque. That’s why it should be a mosque again”.
Arınç has the reputation of a political maverick, a man prone to making incendiary statements that the government doesn’t always followed up. Nevertheless, the fact that Arınç has links to the mosque-makeover of two other church-museums also named Hagia Sophia (in İznik and Trabzon) means that even the mention of a similar fate for Istanbul’s Hagia Sophia sparked alarm among the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Istanbul. Metropolitan Genadios, referring to Arınc’s comments, said, “We’re surprised, but not surprised, with this statement. I don’t want to believe our Turkish authorities said this in a concrete way or that they realised the consequences of this decision to open Hagia Sophia as a place of worship [for Muslims]. Hagia Sophia, for Christians and Orthodox… it represents, for us, a monument of Christianity”. The Orthodox Church has powerful international allies, and a visit to Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew Archontonis often features on the itineraries of visiting foreign leaders and ministers.
In the coming months and years, some observers believe the status of Hagia Sophia would become part of a wider controversy between Greece and Turkey over religious freedom. Increasingly, the Turkish government challenges Athens over what it sees as restrictions put on the religious practises of Greece’s tiny Turkish minority, believed to make up most of the country’s miniscule Muslim minority of roughly 100,000 people. Ankara retaliated by refusing to reopen Halki, a Greek Orthodox seminary near Istanbul, which many expected to reopen as part of a broad democratisation package announced in October. Greece, which sees Byzantium (sic) as part of its cultural heritage, declared last month that statements “about converting Byzantine (sic) Christian churches into mosques offend the religious feelings of millions of Christians”. Officials in Ankara scoff at such statements as hypocritical. Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Levent Gümrükçü said, “Athens is in no position to question us, considering Athens is the only capital in Europe that doesn’t have a mosque, even though there are many Muslims there”. Amidst diplomatic rancour and Turkey’s own charged political atmosphere, Hagia Sophia’s fate is far from clear. Metropolitan Genadios sighed, “We now live in unpredictable times”.
5 December 2013
Dorian Jones
EurasiaNet
Voices from Russia 
Something that the West Overlooks in a “Grexit”
Tags: 2015 Greek parliamentary election, Alexis Tsipras, Angela Merkel, Balkans, Byzantine Empire, civil unrest, Constantinople, Constantinople New Rome, Constantinopolis Nea Romana, diplomacy, diplomatic relations, Eastern Roman Empire, EU, European Union, Greece, Greek government, Greeks, history, NATO, North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, Novorossiya, Orthosphere, political commentary, politics, Politics of Greece, Roman Empire, Russian diplomacy, Russian history, sanctions, Ukraine, Ukrainian Civil War, unilateral sanctions, United States, USA, war and conflict, Western world
The Baptism of Grand Princess St Olga
Part 1 of the Triptych Holy Rus
Sergei Kirillov
1993
This was the baptism of Equal-to-the-Apostles Grand Princess St Olga… the grandmother of Equal-to-the-Apostles Grand Prince St Vladimir, the Enlightener of all the Russias. It happened at Hagia Sofia (Church of the Holy Wisdom of the Incarnate Word of God) in Constantinopolis, in the 10th century AD (some say 955, others say 957). Russians haven’t forgotten that… neither have Greeks. Russians and Greeks go WAY back. By the way… one of the things in contention in the present Ukrainian Civil War/War of Liberation of Novorossiya is the “ownership” of the legacy of St Vladimir. Is he “Uniate” or is he “Orthodox?” That’s why no Orthodox Christian can support the US Republican Party… they support those who advance the Uniate argument in that case. Just sayin’…
BMD
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Editor:
This is an excerpt from a longer, rather boring, piece by a humdrum Affluent Effluent self-important “wealth advisor”. However, this part not only rings true, it’s rather good. If you really want to read the rest of his neoliberal crapola, click the link at the end. This part, though, is a real read n’ heed.
I retained the original author’s emphasis.
BMD
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I wish to remind my readers of one unseen risk in all this, one that literally no one else has talked about. Southern Europe and much of the Balkans, whilst nominally “Western” in lip service, is really a long-lost religious remnant of the Eastern world. The mediaeval Orthodox world was born from the Orthodox Byzantine Empire (sic), which stretched from Asia Minor, all the way through the Balkans, and westward as far as Serbia! The Greeks, who always had a great deal in common with Russia, are of the same Orthodox religious cloth as the Russians are. Both Russia and Greece represent ancient civilisations, formed by Constantinople. Serbia, Bulgaria, Greece, Macedonia, and even parts of Bosnia all have the same religious lineage… they’ve all felt for centuries that they were “fish out of water” within Catholic Europe. Excepting Romania, there’s almost a direct ecumenical “land bridge” connecting Russia to the Balkans (remember, the Ukraine is very much Orthodox).
“Watchman, I think you’re making too big a deal out of this religious angle!”
Maybe, but ask yourself… what would a Grexit mean for Russia and the Orthodox world?
Trust me, if Greece leaves the EU, they’d find a most hearty reception in Eurasia, as it’d be a religious homecoming! Moreover, what of Orthodox Bulgaria? Do you think that the Bulgarians are maybe feeling more than a tad bit slighted, after Brussels and DC forced them to give up South Stream to the Turks (their historic enemies)? There’s so much going on here that 99 percent of commentators are totally missing. Look, I understand that some of you aren’t religious, but when we’re talking about geopolitics and the make-up of civilisation itself, don’t underestimate the important reality of religious considerations that come into play here. Besides… Merkel doesn’t want Greece (and its newly discovered hydrocarbon reserves) to slip through her fingers. With Russia acquiring a huge, new energy boon in its reunification with the Crimea, The EU’s list of friends with untapped extensive hydrocarbon reserves is growing rather thin!
26 January 2015
The Wealth Watchman
http://thewealthwatchman.com/the-hidden-threat-of-this-greek-situation/
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Bulgarian Martyrs
Konstantin Makovsky
1877
Such events as those pictured in the painting did occur in the Ottoman-ruled Balkans. The worst of the Ottoman bullyboys were the Albanians, their cruelty, barbarity, and rapine was well-known, yet, they often showed cowardice in open battle. Not much has changed in that regard, has it? The locals welcomed the Russian troops as liberators from Turkish oppression wherever they went. The ordinary people of the Balkans have never forgotten that the Russians freed them from slavery. Only small minorities of the so-called local élites support the USA and its militant nihilism. Most Balkan people still support Russia and Orthodoxy. NATO had best not count on any of its Balkan members; they’re in for a rude surprise…
BMD
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Editor:
In Mediaeval Europe, until its treacherous sack by perfidious Crusaders in 1204, Constantinopolis Nea Romana (Constantinople New Rome) was the brightest light of civilisation on the continent. It was the literal lineal embodiment of the Roman Empire… indeed, that’s what it called itself… “Rhomania”… ROME. It wasn’t Rome’s successor… it WAS Rome… they never tired of reminding the Western barbarians of that fact. It was NEVER the “Byzantine Empire”… that’s a nasty German 16th century neologism that no Orthodox Christian should ever use.
As Constantinopolis was “I Polis” (THE City), so, Moscow is “the Centre” today. Moscow is as much the centre of the Orthodox World (Orthosphere) today as Constantinopolis was the centre of the Orthodox World prior to its final fall in 1453. As Hagia Sophia was the main temple of all Orthodoxy then, the Khram Spasitelya in Moscow is the main temple of all Orthodoxy worldwide today. If you’re Orthodox… you’re a “Muscovite”. Just as being Orthodox at one time meant being “Greek”… today, you’re “Russian”… even if you’re Greek! V V Putin went to the Mountain… to an ecstatic welcome from the Fathers there. V F Yanukovich went to the Mountain regularly on otpust, with the blessing of his late starets Zosima Sokur. The Fathers gave him an equally enthusiastic welcome. Don’t listen to Uniate lies about Viktor Fyodorovich… he was much more honest than the Rabbit is (after all, the Rabbit was Yuliya the Landshark’s bagman; he stole much more than Yanukovich ever did… remember the Kiev “street” gibe, “The Rabbit shits in a solid gold toilet”)… reflect on this, Yanukovich was the MOST honest president that the Ukraine ever had.
Russia’s traditional foreign policy has been to liberate the Orthodox lands of the Balkans and to keep them free of papist interference. No one in the Balkans (INCLUDING Romania) has ever forgotten the Russian liberation of their lands in the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-78 and their subsequent betrayal by the Brits and Germans (the very same parties, along with their American cousins, are interfering there today). No one has forgotten the “White Marshal”… Marshal Skobelyov… who led the victorious armies to the gates of Tsargrad (Constantinople).
In short, the war in the Ukraine and the coming Western interference in Greek internal affairs are nothing new for the hubristic West. SYRIZA had best keep its wits about them or its leadership will end up dead like Allende… the Anglos and Germans are nasty-ass terrorists of the worst-possible sort… they make al-Qaeda look infantile in comparison. Look at the Bush torture programme, the Holocaust, the British firestorm air raids of World War II, Lidice’s destruction, the drone murder campaign, the concentration camps of the Boer War, the Easter Bombing of Belgrade, Wounded Knee, and the Gitmo Gulag. I do daresay that the West’s shield isn’t pure (and hasn’t been, from the start)… yet, they caterwaul incessantly about “human rights” and about how “exceptional” they are.
Excuse me… I have to find a corner to be sick in… there’s only so much of that arrant shit that a decent person can take.
BMD