United States Catholic Diocese Conference set Friday (24/7) as a day of mourning because the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, Turkey, will again function as a mosque.
They stated in a tweet through a Twitter account participating in solidarity with the Diocese of the Greek Orthodox Church in the US, regarding the Turkish government’s decision to make the Hagia Sophia a mosque.
“The Diocese of the Greek Catholic Church invited all Christians and all people to mourn together on July 24 for the Hagia Sophia,” wrote the US Catholic Diocese.
They also asked the whole church to ring the bell and fly the half-mast flag the next day.
The Turkish government plans to begin inaugurating the Hagia Sophia as a mosque, by holding its first Friday prayer service tomorrow.
The decision was taken after on 10 June the Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, decided to re-function the Hagia Sophia into a mosque.
Hagia Sophia was originally a church built by Emperor Justinian I of the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, in 537 AD in the city of Constantinople (Istanbul). The church was called the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople.
After Sultan Muhammad al Fatih (Mehmet II) of the Ottoman Empire (Ottoman) captured the city, Hagia Sophia was then converted into a mosque. The imperial architects added a tower to echo the call to prayer, and still maintain the main building.
However, a number of mosaics and paintings depicting Christian symbols such as Jesus and others were closed.
When the Ottoman Empire collapsed and was replaced by a secular nationalist government led by president Mustafa Kemal in 1934, Hagia Sophia has designated a museum. The building was designated cultural preservation by the United Nations Agency for Education, Science, and Culture in 1985.
According to the decision of the Turkish religious affairs body, Diyanet, the caretaker of the Hagia Sophia mosque will close Christian symbols with curtains when entering prayer time and will be reopened afterward.
They also promised that visitors from other religious communities would still be allowed to come outside the time of worship. Turkey’s decision to make the Hagia Sophia a mosque has drawn criticism, from the US to the Vatican. However, Turkey stated that it was their sovereign right and no one was allowed to interfere.
Sources: CNN Indonesia