In the Hagia Sophia

A journey into one of the most famous churches in Christendom

Today we visited the Hagia Sophia, a famous church (re)built by Emperor Justinian in the sixth century, but is now a mosque.

I saw the famous mosaic of Christ the Pantocrator! Always wanted to see this up close and it did not disappoint.

Originally it looked something like this:

Took lots of piccies of other mosaics. This one has Justinian holding a model of the Hagia Sophia and Constantine holding a model of Constantinople, both are presented as gifts to Mary and the baby Jesus.

Interesting too that in the main auditorium of the Hagia Sophia there is an image of Mary and the baby Jesus which is covered up with sails for some apparent reason, but they’re happy to have pictures of Mary and Jesus elsewhere in the building. My suspicion is that the authorities are worried that worshippers may venerate the virgin and child in the very area where they’re meant to be conducting Muslim worship.

As much as I liked our tour guide, his narration of Greek Orthodox theology made it sound like it had degenerated into a pagan worship of saints and idolatrous veneration of images. It was quite striking how similar is Protestant and Muslim iconoclasm! If you ever visit Istanbul, Hagia Sophia is a must-visit.