The Hagia Sophia: The “Great Church” of Holy Orthodoxy

By Bp. Joseph Boyd (Ancient Church of the West)

Built by Justinian the Great in 537 AD, the Great Church of Constantinople was established as a central cathedral for the Patriarchate of the United Roman Empire. It is the oldest continually used and grandest structure in Christendom, representing a time before the bifurcation of Eastern and Western Christianity. It represents the highest achievements of the Christian Greco-Roman Culture, and contains the seeds that grew into the three distinct traditions of Roman Catholicism, Greek and Russian Orthodoxy, and the Anglican Patrimony. Never forget that the Hagia Sophia was a church for almost one thousand years before Islam ever claimed it. It is not being restored to its “original purpose”, but rather, triumphalistically returned to its previous subjugation. May God restore this great monument of Christian Heritage to the Worship of the Holy Trinity sometime in the future, as a symbol of unbroken and unbreakable continuity with the Apostolic Deposit of the Orthodox Catholic Gospel! 

537-1453 - A Christian Cathedral
1453-1934 - Turkish Mosque
1935-2020 - World Heritage Museum
2020- Returned to being a Mosque