Hagia Sophia and Persistence of Sacred Memory & Conflict

Back in 2020, when the Turkish government formally re-converted the Hagia Sophia (also known as the Ayasofya in Turkish) into a mosque, the decision was framed domestically as a restoration of national sovereignty against the rising tide of Western secularism. However, internationally, the news was received very differently, particularly in Greece, Russia, Georgia, and the Balkans. For much of the Orthodox Christian world, the move reopened old wounds going back five centuries that never fully healed after the fall of Constantinople. The Hagia Sophia is not solely a historic structure or an architectural marvel. Rather, it is, first and foremost, a living symbol of Eastern Orthodox Christian theology and the continuity of Orthodox identity.