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orthodox christianity

The large dome of the UNESCO World Heritage site Hagia Sophia is shown from above at a distance.

Turkey’s president formally makes Haghia Sophia a mosque

Religion

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Friday formally reconverted Istanbul’s sixth-century iconic Haghia Sophia into a mosque and declared it open to Muslim worship, hours after a high court annulled a 1934 decision that had turned it into a museum.

In this photo from 2009, the Ecumenical Patriarch, Bartholomew I (left) and Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill stand side-by-side during a Sunday service in the Patriarchal Cathedral of St. George at the Ecumenical Orthodox Patriarchate in Istanbul, Turkey

Orthodox Christianity faced with a political divide

Religion