International Congregation of Agia Sophia Calls for Lift of the 557 Year-Old Blockade on Agia Sophia, The Great Christian Church in Istanbul, Turkey

International Congregation of Agia Sophia Calls for Lift of the 557 Year-Old Blockade on Agia Sophia, The Great Christian Church in Istanbul, Turkey | Business Wire

-Chris Spirou, President of the “International Congregation of Agia Sophia,” www.freeagiasophia.org, has asked Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to return the ancient Basilica of Agia Sophia, the seat of Orthodox Christianity for over one thousand years, located in Istanbul, Turkey, to a functioning Orthodox Church.

According to the International Congregation of Agia Sophia, Agia Sophia, named for God’s holy wisdom, was violently and illegally seized by the Ottoman Turkish forces during the conquest of Constantinople in 1453. It was then converted into a mosque, its religious icons, frescos, and holy sites desecrated, and is currently a state-run museum.

“Lift the 557 year-old blockade on the holy Church of Agia Sophia - so we may pray in it,” said Mr. Chris Spirou, president of the International Congregation.

“Mr. Prime Minister - you and your government have it in your power to do the right thing, to undo the sacrilege of the seizure of our holy church, Agia Sophia, and return it to Orthodox Christians, which was and remains the center of worldwide Orthodox Christianity, just as the Vatican represents the locus of worldwide Catholicism.”