This is one of the signs our Lord, God and Savior Jesus Christ warned us of: "Kingdom against kingdom." The kingdom of darkness, raging against the Kingdom of Light, that is, of Christ.
We can tell which kingdom Islam belongs to by its fruits: bloodshed, war, rapes, kidnapping, persecution of Christians, treating women as inferior, and every crime against God and man. It seems now that the darkness of Islam is advancing all over the globe.
Yet the kingdom of darkness cannot extinguish the Church herself, for the gates of hell shall not prevail against her, per the promise of the Incarnate God-Man Jesus Christ.
Largest monastery in Istanbul to become a mosque
ANSAmed via Creeping Sharia — 12/1/2013
ISTANBUL – The largest Byzantium monastery in Istanbul, the Monastery of Stoudios, also known as the Imrahor Monument, will be converted into a mosque after its restoration next year and be titled Imrahor Ilyas Bey Mosque as daily Hurriyet columnist Vercihan Ziflioglu reports today.
The renovation of the mosque, which forms part of the Hagia Sophia Museum, will follow the same fate as that of Hagia Sophia churches in Trabzon and Iznik, which had been already turned into mosques.
“I wouldn’t like to speak as a member of a council but my personal opinion is that cultural heritage shouldn’t be reflected as an antagonistic heritage. If we reflect it like this, it will damage societies on a macro level,” said Laki Vingas, acting as representatives of the Directorate General of Foundations. Vingas added that the issue creates grief within society, and it was not only the Greek community’s problem. “Cultural heritage is universal heritages, meaning that they are humanity’s common heritage,” he said.
Imrahor’s conversion into a mosque came at a time debate continues as to whether to reopen Hagia Sophia as a place of worship. Most recently, Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc has expressed his hope to see the Hagia Sophia to be used as a mosque. The Monastery, which dates back to the fifth century, was the most important monastery of Istanbul during the Byzantium era, also serving as the center of Byzantine intelligentsia. The basilica was converted to a mosque, during the period of Ottoman Sultan Bayezid II.
After two major fires in the 18th and 19th centuries, the monastery was mostly destroyed. In 1946, it was turned into a museum in line with a ministerial cabinet decision.