The Hundred Thousand Holy Martyrs of Tbilisi (+1227)

"The invaders goaded the people to the bridge, ordering them to cross it and spit on the holy icons. Those who betrayed the Christian Faith and mocked the icons were spared their lives, while the Orthodox confessors were beheaded."

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This is one of the most compelling mass-martyrdom accounts in Christian history. Of course, the "Turkmen" referred to are the Muslim Turks, who during the thirteenth century were waging jihad to expand the dar al-Islam.

Notice the practice of beheading by the Muslims, used by the Islamic State today, following the example of Muhammad, who personally beheaded between 600 and 900 Jewish men and boys from the Quraiza tribe at Medina. (See The Life of Muhammad, by Ibn Ishaq, trans. A. Guillaume, New York, 1980, pp 463-464).

The Hundred Thousand Holy Martyrs of Tbilisi are commemorated by the Orthodox Church on October 31 (which is today, on the 'Old Calendar').

See also:

OCA - Lives of the Saints - 100,000 Martyrs of Tbilisi by the Mongols

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The Hundred Thousand Holy Martyrs of Tbilisi  (+1227)

from Lives of the Georgian Saints, by Archpriest Zakaria Machitadze

St Herman of Alaska Press, Platina CA, 2006, pp 403-404.

From the book, 'Lives of the Georgian Saints'

In 1227 Sultan Jalal al-Din of Khwarazm and his army of Turkmen attacked Georgia. On the first day of the battle the Georgian army valorously warded off the invaders as they were approaching Tbilisi. That night, however, a group of Persians who were living in Tbilisi secretly opened the gates and summoned the enemy army into the city.

According to one manuscript in which this most terrible day in Georgian history was described: "Words are powerless to convey the destruction that the enemy wrought: tearing infants from their mothers' breasts, they beat their heads against the bridge, watching as their eyes dropped from their skulls...."

A river of blood flowed through the city. The Turkmen castrated young children, raped women, and stabbed mothers to death over their children's lifeless bodies. The whole city shuddered at the sound of wailing and lamentation. The river and streets of the city were filled with death.

The sultan ordered that the cupola of Sioni Cathedral be taken down and replaced by his vile throne. And at his command the icons of the Theotokos and our Savior were carried out of Sioni Cathedral and placed at the center of the bridge across the Mtkvari River. The invaders goaded the people to the bridge, ordering them to cross it and spit on the holy icons. Those who betrayed the Christian Faith and mocked the icons were spared their lives, while the Orthodox confessors were beheaded.

Order the book from St Herman Press!

One hundred thousand Georgians sacrificed their lives to venerate the holy icons. One hundred thousand severed heads and headless bodies were carried by the bloody current down the Mtkvari River.

0 ye thousands of stars, the chosen people guarding the Georgian Church with your golden wings, intercede for us always before the face of God!

Remembering the Orthodox Holocaust

The Armenian Genocide is commemorated on April 24 each year, the Pontian Greek Genocide on May 19. Together with the Assyrians and other Christians under Ottoman rule, the combined total of Orthodox and Eastern Christians massacred by the Muslim Turks from 1894 to 1923 reached 3.6 million.

Still from the film 'Ravished Armenia', based on a survivor's eyewitness account.

While it is essential to remember the Armenian Genocide and to work to stop the Islamic genocide against Christians in the Middle East and Africa being committed today, we must recall that the term 'genocide' is a secular one.

As Christians we commemorate those killed not so much as 'genocide victims', but as Martyrs — Witnesses for Christ — for they were persecuted and killed by the Turkish Muslims primarily because they were Christians, who refused to renounce their faith in Jesus Christ. As the Lord tells us, "You will be hated by all for My Name's sake. But he who endures to the end shall be saved" (MT 10:22), and "The hour is coming when those who kill you will think they offer service to God" (JN 16:2).

Therefore, the Armenian, Assyrian and Greek Martyrs from a hundred years ago are a sign for us today, who are living through a new age of mass Christian martyrdom, which may even result in the extinction of Christians from huge areas in the Middle East and Africa. They call out to us to be zealous and faithful to Jesus Christ to the end, for He has conquered the devil and death itself. They and all the New Martyrs of the 21st Century join to call us to deep repentance, and they admonish us to live fully the Christian life.

'Now one cannot be a half-hearted Christian, but only entirely or not at all.' 

~ Hieromonk Seraphim Rose (†1982) ~

For further reading:

May 19, Pontian Greek Genocide Remembrance Day - Records show a minimum 350,000 Pontian Greeks exterminated through systematic slaughter by Turkish troops, deportations involving death marches, starvation in labor and concentration camps, rapes and individual killings. Entire villages and cities were devastated, while thousands were forced to flee to neighboring countries.

The Orthodox Christian Holocaust: 1894 to the Present - The most significant Orthodox Christian resource on this subject, compiled by the Very Rev. Archimandrite Nektarios Serfes. Includes summaries of genocide against 3.6 million Armenians and Greeks by Turkish Muslims from 1894-1923.

Armenian Church canonizes victims of Ottoman genocide

Islam, via both Turkey and ISIS, threatens 5,000-year-old Assyrian culture with annihilation

Christian Genocide in the Middle East and Public Apathy in America

'Sacrificing and Sacrificed for the Faith' — Martyrdom a Hundred Years Ago and Today

Much more on my Armenian Genocide Resource Page...

Serbian Orthodox Church to canonize three holy neo-martyrs, killed for refusing to convert to Islam

A young monk, a simple baker, and a pure maiden — each bravely confessing to the death their Orthodox Christian Faith in Jesus Christ — are soon to be formally recognized as saints and martyrs by the Serbian Orthodox Church.

These three — Gregory of Peć, Vasilije of Peć, and Bosiljka Rajičić, who lived during the 17th-18th centuries — are among the "great cloud of witnesses," the thousands of holy neo-martyrs killed by the Muslim Turks during the Ottoman occupation. You can learn about many of them in the landmark book, Witnesses for Christ, Orthodox Christian Neomartyrs of the Ottoman Period, 1437-1860, by Nomikos Michael Vaporis.

The plight of the Holy Neomartyrs under the Ottoman yoke is part of the historical continuity of Muslim persecution of Christians across the centuries from Muhammad's time until now, wherever Islam has conquered. We see the exact same phenomenon in our own day in such geographically far flung nations as Egypt and Indonesia, Nigeria and Malaysia, Pakistan and Sudan, etc. Different languages, different geographies, different politics, yet all these countries are among the worst persecutors of Christians in the world, and they are all Muslim majority countries. In fact, about 80% of the 50 worst countries for persecution of Christians are Muslim.

We are now well into the 21st century and this new era of Christian martyrs under the sword of Islam. Those still in denial about the true nature of Islam may be helped to see clearly by the witness of the Holy Neo-Martyrs under the Muslim Turks, and by the witness of todays New Martyrs, all of whom were killed for refusing to deny Jesus Christ and convert to Islam.

Two of these accounts also tell of Christian maidens being kidnapped by Muslims, who then tried to force the girls to covert to Islam and marry their captors, a practice sanctioned by Muhammad and the Koran [1], and prevalent today in Egypt, Nigeria, Iraq, and other Muslim countries.


Serbian Church canonizes Three Martyrs

OrthoChristian.com, May 12, 2018:

(Belgrade) At its latest session, from April 28 to May 10, the Holy Synod of the Serbian Orthodox Church resolved to canonize three holy martyrs among the saints, reports The Union of Orthodox Journalists.

The official canonization of Sts. Gregory of Peć, Vasilije of Peć, and Bosiljka Rajičić and those who suffered with them will soon be held.

***

St. Gregory of Peć (17th-18th C.) was a young monk of the monastery of the Patriarchate of Peć. He was martyred after refusing to convert to Islam. Miracles began to take place at the place where he was secretly buried by faithful Christians and a small church was later built on the site. Atheist authorities demolished the church and built an institute in the mid-20th century, although the martyr’s incorrupt relics were discovered during the demolishing of the church. His memory will be celebrated on January 22/February 7.

Trump & Sobieski - Defenders of the West against Islamic Jihad

The symbolism of this photo op sends a powerful message of encouragement to a revitalized Christian Europe, plus a wake-up call to the chronically weak and sick Globalist EU, and a blunt warning to the militant Muslim world.


Coincidence? Polish Government Seats Trump Beside Painting of Polish King Famed For Routing Islam from Europe

by Oliver J.J. Lane, Breitbart News, July 6, 2017:

A Portrait of King Jan Sobieski III hangs over President Trump’s right shoulder, Thursday morning / AP IMAGES

President Donald Trump’s first photo-call in Poland after his arrival in Air Force One was with President Andrzej Duda and saw him sat beside an oil painting of a prominent figure in Polish history and folklore — the 17th-century king who kicked Islam out of Central Europe and is remembered as “the Hammer of the Turks”.

Warsaw’s Royal Palace, where the meeting took place — lavishly reconstructed after it was dynamited by Nazi German troops during the Second World War — benefits from a surfeit of grand rooms and hundreds of works of art.

From oils of kings and statesmen by artists such as Rembrandt to impressive murals and sculpture, the Polish authorities had a great deal of choice for where to host the symbolic first meeting of President Trump’s first European visit.

It may be seen as a remarkable coincidence, therefore, that of all the rooms and of all the paintings, they chose to sit President Trump besides a portrait of one of Poland’s best-known warrior kings. King Jan (John) III Sobieski is today remembered and celebrated in Poland, and elsewhere in Central Europe, for his pivotal role at the Battle of Vienna in September 1683.

At the culmination of the two-month siege of Vienna by the forces of the Ottoman Turkish Empire, Sobieski led an army to relieve the city. Despite leading a force significantly smaller than the invading Ottomans, the coalition of Polish and Germanic troops staged one of, if not the largest, cavalry charge in the history of warfare and defeated the Ottoman army — ending centuries of Islamic attacks and invasions reaching the heart of Europe.

The Fall of Constantinople, 29 May 1453

"The great doors of Saint Sophia were forced open, and crowds of angry soldiers came in and fell upon the unfortunate worshippers. Pillaging and killing in the holy place went on for hours. Similar was the fate of worshippers in most churches in the city..."

by Dionysios Hatzopoulos, Romiosini:

In the city everyone realized that the fateful moment had come. In the city, while the bells of the churches rang mournfully, citizens and soldiers joined a long procession behind the holy relics brought out of the churches. Singing hymns, men, women, children, soldiers, civilians, clergy, monks and nuns, knowing that they were going to die shortly, made peace with themselves, with God and with eternity.

When the procession ended the Emperor met with his commanders and the notables of the city. In a philosophical speech he told his subjects that the end of their time had come. In essence he told them that Man had to be ready to face death when he had to fight for his faith, for his country, for his family or for his sovereign. All four reasons were now present. 

Furthermore, his subjects, who were the descendants of Greeks and Romans, had to emulate their great ancestors. They had to fight and sacrifice themselves without fear. They had lived in a great city and they were now going to die defending it. 

As for himself, he was going to die fighting for his faith, for his city and for his people... He thanked all present for their contribution to the defense of the city and asked them to forgive him, if he had ever treated them without kindness. 

Turkey assigns permanent imam to Hagia Sophia to lead daily prayers...

...Turns clock back to 1453 in second conquest of Constantinople. This is effectively a re-conversion of Hagia Sophia back into a functioning mosque after over 80 years.

"Observers are warning about Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s increasingly neo-Ottoman stance..." 

This new move by emboldened Islamic supremacist Erdogan will certainly have an impact on Turkey's relations with Russia, as Russia recently urged Turkey to return Hagia Sophia to the Orthodox Church.

Might this be an unfolding of Elder Paisios' prophecy of a war between Russia and Turkey?

Hagia Sophia gets permanent imam as tensions rise in Aegean
Ekathimerini, October 22, 2016:

Dark clouds over Hagia Sophia...

A few months after a controversial decision by Turkish authorities to allow readings from the Quran to be broadcast from Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, reports on Friday said Turkey had decided to appoint a permanent imam for the venue.

According to the Anadolu state news agency, the country’s religious affairs directorate and the mufti of the Fatih district have agreed to assign a permanent imam who will lead five daily prayers, instead of the current two.

Turkish Authorities Ban Christian Liturgy in Panagia Sumela Monastery

The doors of the Sumela Monastery reopened in June 2010, after 88 years. The Turkish government had given permission to the Ecumenical Patriarchate to have a patriarchal liturgy for the Feast of the Assumption every year. That permission has been suddenly revoked.

That the Greek Orthodox need special permission to celebrate divine services in any of their churches in what is now Turkey is a dark reminder of Islamic oppression of Eastern Christians from the mid-7th century, and especially from 1453 through the fall of the Ottoman Empire after World War I.

From my article, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew Assassination Plot in Historical Context:

Ever since the Fall of Constantinople to the Muslim armies in 1453, Christians in what is now Turkey have been reduced to second-class citizens (and persecuted nearly to extinction) through the institution of the dhimma, the contract of protection which subjugates Christians to Muslim rule under humiliating, demeaning terms. 

Under the dhimma, Christians have to pay the exorbitant jizya tax, cannot build new churches, cannot repair existing ones, cannot share their faith outside their church buildings, cannot convert Muslims, etc. One aspect of the dhimma most terrifying is the concept of "collective punishment." If one Christian violates the dhimma contract, Muslims may attack any or all Christians...

Important to keep in mind is the role played not only by the faithful Patriarch Martyrs, but by other clergy and even monastics in the eventual liberation of Greece... Eventually, the Serbs and Bulgarians threw off the Muslim yoke as well. 

It was this series of humiliating defeats during the nineteenth century, and losses in the Balkan Wars of the early twentieth century, which enraged the Turkish Muslims, who turned on the weakest elements of their Christian population, precipitating their infamous genocide against the Christians of Armenia, Greece, Pontus, and Syria, massacring over 3.6 million men, women and children (some dying from starvation, disease and the forced deportations) from 1894 to 1922. 

Sporadic persecutions against remaining Christians extended well into the 1950s, perhaps the worst example being the Istanbul Pogroms of 1955, which dealt a crushing blow to the Orthodox Christian community in Turkey. 

The Greek population of Turkey had already been reduced to about 120,000 in 1927 (following the main period of the Orthodox Christian Genocide); by 1978 it had collapsed to only 7,000. According to the Human Rights Watch, by 2006 there were only 2500 Greeks in Turkey.

First call to Islamic prayer inside Hagia Sophia in 85 years

Turkey has been moving towards formally converting Hagia Sophia into a mosque for some time now. This is a significant move in that direction.

See also: Is Russia Targeting Turkey over Hagia Sophia?

First call to Islamic prayer inside Istanbul’s Hagia Sophia in 85 years

by Robert Spencer, Jihad Watch, July 2, 2016:

The Orthodox Church has protested, but the Turks know that there is nothing whatsoever that they can do that would lose them the favor of the European Union. They know they have nothing to lose, and that Islamization is the wave of the future in Europe and the West in general. The Orthodox protests are feeble voices raised against a tidal wave, with even the Catholic Church standing mute, too afraid of harming their chimerical, self-defeating, and fruitless “dialogue” with Muslims to stand with their fellow Christians in this.

“Görmez used his appearance to describe the terrorist attack on Istanbul’s Ataturk airport, in which 44 people were killed, as part of a ‘war waged on Islam.'” Muslims murder other Muslims whom they deem to be insufficiently Islamic, and this is a “war waged on Islam.”

“First call to prayer inside Istanbul’s Hagia Sophia in 85 years,” Hürriyet Daily News, July 2, 2016:

A muezzin’s call to prayer reverberated inside the 6th century Istanbul landmark Hagia Sophia for the first time in 85 years on July 1. 

The building in the city’s historic Sultanahmet district broadcast the azan from its minarets following July 1’s Laylat al-Qadr, or night of power, marking the first revelation of the Quran to the Prophet Muhammad. 

The broadcast of the morning call to prayer from within Hagia Sophia is likely to reignite the controversy over the use of the building, which was designated a museum in 1935 under Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of the modern Turkisjh [sic] Republic. 

Although the prayer call has been played from Hagia Sophia’s minarets for the last four years, the muezzin has always chanted from a prayer room in the museum grounds rather than from inside the former mosque and cathedral. 

The Revealing of Neo-Martyr St. Ephraim of Nea Makri in 1950

St Ephraim was martyred by the Muslim Turks over six-hundred years ago, but like the newly-appeared Martyrs Raphael, Nicholas and Irene, his story was concealed by God's providence, only to be revealed in our days.

The lives of these newly-revealed Neo-Martyrs are a sign and call to us to persevere in Christian faith, godliness and holiness, and to be strengthened to defend our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ even unto death. They ought also to be a great encouragement to those who struggle and persevere in isolation and obscurity, for God preserves and rewards the righteous, and reveals them in His time.

The Revealing of Neo-Martyr Ephraim of Nea Makri

Read the full account of St Ephraim here.

...These things remained forgotten for nearly 500 years, hidden in the depths of silence and oblivion until January 3, 1950 (December 21, O.S.). By then a women's monastery had sprung up on the site of the old monastery. Abbess Makaria (+ April 23, 1999) was wandering through the ruins of the monastery, thinking of the martyrs whose bones had been scattered over that ground, and whose blood had watered the tree of Orthodoxy. She realized that this was a holy place, and she prayed that God would permit her to behold one of the Fathers who had lived there.

After some time, she seemed to sense an inner voice telling her to dig in a certain spot. She indicated the place to a workman whom she had hired to make repairs at the old monastery. The man was unwilling to dig there, for he wanted to dig somewhere else. Because the man was so insistent, Mother Makaria let him go where he wished. She prayed that the man would not be able to dig there, and so he struck rock. Although he tried to dig in three or four places, he met with the same results. Finally, he agreed to dig where the abbess had first indicated.

In the ruins of an old cell, he cleared away the rubble and began to dig in an angry manner. The abbess told him to slow down, for she did not want him to damage the body that she expected to find there. He mocked her because she expected to find the relics of a saint. When he reached the depth of six feet, however, he unearthed the head of the man of God. At that moment an ineffable fragrance filled the air. The workman turned pale and was unable to speak. Mother Makaria told him to go and leave her there by herself. She knelt and reverently kissed the body. As she cleared away more earth, she saw the sleeves of the saint's rasson. The cloth was thick and appeared to have been woven on the loom of an earlier time. She uncovered the rest of the body and began to remove the bones, which appeared to be those of a martyr.

Avenging the Defeated Caliphate: The Significance of November 13 in the Paris Attacks

Did the Muslim jihadists in Paris choose November 13 for its symbolic value in planning their attacks?

Over at Terror Trends Bulletin, a brief but weighty post conveys what to most of us is a forgotten historical footnote (Thanks to Emanuel):

The Historical Significance of November 13th in Islam:

On November 13, 1918 the Allied troops occupied Constantinople, the capital of the Ottoman Empire. The Ottoman Empire was the Caliphate, the Islamic State of its day.

A little extra background, from the Wikipedia entry, Defeat and Dissolution of the Ottoman Empire:

The Occupation of Constantinople took place in accordance with the Armistice of Mudros [signed on 31 October 1918], ending the Ottoman participation in World War I. The occupation had two stages: the initial occupation took place from 13 November 1918 to 16 March 1920; from 16 March 1920 - Treaty of Sevres. 

1918 saw the first time Constantinople had changed hands since the Ottoman Turks conquered the Byzantine capital in 1453. An Allied military administration was set up early in December 1918. Haghia Sophia was converted back into a cathedral by the Allied administration, and the building was returned temporarily to the Greek Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarch.

Now, several additional news reports are revealing that the Paris Jihad Attacks were not only carefully orchestrated in Paris, but across Europe, with cells acting in Germany and the UK:

• German police arrest Muslim linked to Paris jihad attacks: had guns, explosives, hand grenades
• London: Gatwick Airport terminal evacuated, police arrest man with grenade in his bag
• As Paris Burned, UK Muslims Told To ‘Struggle’ For Islamic State In Unprecedented Islamist Show Of Force

It seems clear that, whether or not the date was chosen by the jihadis for its link to the Western Allies occupying Constantinople in 1918, it was indeed a carefully planned and executed operation, spanning at least three countries, and marks an ominous turn in Islam's war on the West. 

Monkmartyr Joseph of Dionysiou on Mt Athos (Oct 26)

This story should shock us all and call us to repentance. 

An obedient monk travels with a repentant apostate who, like many others under the Ottoman yoke, wished to wipe away the sin of denying Christ by confessing Him publicly in the city where his apostasy took place. But the penitent's faith and courage collapses, and he betrays not only Jesus Christ — a second time! — but also the godly monk Joseph, blaming him for turning him from Islam. The monk Joseph refuses to deny his Lord and God, and is tortured and eventually killed by the Muslims, inheriting the crown of glory.

Dramas like this are played out every day in the Middle East, Africa, Central Asia, Indonesia, and throughout the Islamic world. Would we confess Jesus Christ even unto death?

Monkmartyr Joseph of Dionysiou on Mt Athos (Oct 26)
OCA, October 26, 2015

Saint Joseph was a monk of Dionysiou Monastery on Mt. Athos, where he shone forth with the virtues of monastic life. He was an iconographer, and he painted the icon of the holy Archangels on the iconostasis of Dionysiou’s main church.

In obedience to the instructions of Igumen Stephen, St Joseph traveled to Constantinople with Eudocimus, who had apostasized from Orthodoxy to become a Moslem. Eudocimus repented, and wished to wipe out his sin through martyrdom.

When faced with torture and death, however, the unfortunate Eudocimus denied Christ again, blaming Joseph for turning him from Islam.

St Joseph was arrested and threatened with death. In spite of many tortures, he refused to convert to Islam. This holy martyr of Christ was hanged on February 17, 1819, and so he obtained an incorruptible crown of glory.

Some sources list his commemoration on February 17, while others list him on September 14 or October 26.

New Martyrs of the Turkish Yoke

Learning of and becoming inspired by the accounts of the neo-martyrs of the Orthodox Church is essential for our time, in which Muslim persecution of Christians is a truly global phenomenon, and in which pressure against traditional, orthodox Christians in the West generally and the United States in particular is mounting by fits and spasms.

by Fr. Alexey Young (Schema-Hieromonk Ambrose in monastic tonsure)

via Orthodox America, (The following article is condensed from a lecture delivered at the St. Herman Summer Pilgrimage, August, 1982)

Slain For Their Faith - Orthodox Christian

Martyrs Under Moslem Oppression

On May 29, 1453, the troops of the Moslem leader, Mohammed II , took the great city of Constantinople. For more than 1000 years Orthodox Christians had assumed that the Byzantine Christian Empire would stand until the Second Coming of Christ. They had always called their city the "God-protected City," and indeed, until now it had been protected by Heaven. But when their Emperor, Constantine XI , fell in battle, the holy city of Byzantium became the capital of a new empire, the Ottoman Empire, ruled by a pagan people, enemies of Christ and Christianity, the Moslems. It was a dark, dark time for Orthodox Christians in that part of the world.

In their violent hatred of Christianity, the Moslem Turks embarked on a course of persecution designed to effectively muzzle the flock of Christ. Their strategy was no less cruel than that of atheist communists in the Soviet Union today; the parallels are striking. 

Most of the churches of Constantinople (whose name was changed to Istanbul, just as years later Petersburg was changed to Leningrad) were converted to mosques. Their movable icons were destroyed and whole walls of inspiring and radiantly beautiful mosaics were covered with paint or plaster. Crosses were torn off domes and broken off the roofs of churches. 

The Moslems guaranteed Christians a definite place in Turkish society; but it was a place of guaranteed inferiority. Orthodox Christians were required to pay an annual head tax, like cattle. To the Turks they were unbelievers, and they had absolutely no rights of citizenship. They even had to wear distinctive dress. They could not marry Moslems, nor could they engage in missionary work of any kind; in fact, it was a crime, usually punishable by death, to convert a Moslem to the Christian Faith.

Turks Glorify Historic Slaughter and Rape of Christians

The annual Muslim celebration of the conquest of Constantinople in 1453 by Sultan Mehmet is "tantamount to their saying 'We are proud of our fellow Sunni Muslims of the Islamic State—who are currently slaughtering, beheading, enslaving, and raping people simply because they are Christian 'infidels'.”

by Raymond Ibrahim — June 8, 2015

Fall of Constantinople, 1453; artist, Theofilos

A recent news report unwittingly demonstrates how Turkey—once deemed the most “secularized” Muslim nation—is returning to its Islamic heritage, complete with animosity for the infidel West and dreams of the glory days of jihadi conquests:

A group of devout Muslims from across Turkey prayed before the city’s historic Hagia Sophia on the 562nd anniversary of the Turkish conquest of Istanbul [Constantinople], demanding that the site be turned back into a mosque. 

Men and women from across the country gathered before the Hagia Sophia museum early May 31, as part of an event organized by the Anatolian Youth Association (AGD) with the motto “Break the chains, Open Hagia Sophia,” and prayed the morning prayer with a call for the reconversion of the museum into a mosque.

In fact, this is an annual ritual.  Thousands of Turks surround Hagia Sophia every May and call for it to become a mosque—often to Islam’s war-cry, “Allahu Akbar!”

This is not about a “minority of radicals.”  In a survey conducted with 401 Turks, more than 97 percent wanted Hagia Sophia to be turned into a functioning mosque.   Nor is this about Muslims needing a place to pray.  As of 2010, there were 3,000 active mosques in Istanbul alone.

Rather, this is about Muslims wanting to revel in the glory days of Islamic jihad and conquest.

Unlike historically-challenged Westerners, Muslims fully understand the significance of Hagia Sophia.  Hagia Sophia—Greek for “Holy Wisdom”—was, in fact, Christendom’s greatest cathedral for almost one thousand years.  Built in Constantinople, the heart of the ancient Christian empire, it was also a stalwart symbol of defiance against an ever encroaching Islam from the east.

After parrying centuries of jihadi thrusts, Constantinople was finally sacked by the Turks under Sultan Mehmet II on May 29, 1453.  Its crosses desecrated and icons defaced, Hagia Sophia—as well as thousands of other churches—was converted into a victory mosque, the tall minarets of Islam surrounding it in triumph.

Reading the primary historic texts from the period is not unlike reading current headlines concerning Islamic State atrocities—the massacres, beheadings, rapes, enslavement of Christian “infidels” and the defilement of their churches.  Writes an eyewitness to the 1453 Turkish conquest of Constantinople:

The Last Divine Liturgy in Hagia Sophia – Constantinople

"They entered the Holy Church with reverence, making the sign of the cross. Father Lefteris said, quietly, with great emotion: 'I enter into your house; I worship towards your Holy Church in fear…'

"He quickly moved towards the Holy Sanctuary, where the Holy Table would have been. He found a small table and placed it within the Sanctuary. He had everything in a small bag; he took everything out, he put on his vestments and began:

“'Blessed is the Kingdom of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, now and for ever, and to the ages of ages'.

“'Amen', replied the Major Liaromatis. The Divine Liturgy had begun in Hagia Sophia, for the first time since the 29 May 1453."

The Last Divine Liturgy in St. Sophia – Constantinople

Londinoupolis via OCP Media — May 29, 2015

Many, even Orthodox, even Greeks, believe that the last Divine Liturgy in St. Sophia, in Constantinople, was celebrated on the 29 May 1453. However, the last Liturgy took place in 1919. The priest who celebrated the Divine Liturgy was Fr. Lefteris Noufarakis, who was from Alones Rethymnou, Crete. He was an army priest in the Second Greek Army Division, one of the two army divisions which was part of the allied expeditionary body in Ukraine. This Army Division went to Ukraine via Constantinople, which then was under ‘allied sovereignty’, after the end of WW I.

A group of Greek Officers, led by the priest, General Frantzis, Major Liaromati, Captain Stamatiou and Lieutenant Nikolaou were observing the City and Hagia Sophia, keeping to themselves their secret, i.e. to celebrate the Divine Liturgy in St. Sophia – a decision taken primarily by the priest. The difficulty of this endeavour was the fact that during that period St. Sophia was a mosque, creating therefore some major issues. This could have created a diplomatic incident between Greece and Turkey. However, Fr. Lefteris had decided that he was going to celebrate the Divine Liturgy in St. Sophia, whatever difficulty came his way.

Muslims from across Turkey demand Hagia Sophia be turned back into mosque

Timed to coincide with the anniversary of the Muslim defeat of Constantinople in 1453. More Islamic supremacism in rapidly re-Islamizing Turkey. 

Related:

• End of Days: A Lamentation for Constantinople
• Thousands call for Hagia Sophia to be converted into mosque in Istanbul rally
• Muslim Prayers at Hagia Sophia: A Sign Calling Us to Repent

Morning prayer held before Hagia Sophia to demand re-conversion into mosque
Hürriyet Daily News, May 31, 2015 (via Jihad Watch)

A group of devout Muslims from across Turkey prayed before the city’s historic Hagia Sophia on the 562nd anniversary of the Turkish conquest of Istanbul, demanding that the site be turned back into a mosque.

Men and women from across the country gathered before the Hagia Sophia museum early May 31, as part of an event organized by the Anatolian Youth Association (AGD) with the motto “Break the chains, Open Hagia Sophia,” and prayed the morning prayer with a call for the reconversion of the museum into a mosque.

End of Days: A Lamentation for Constantinople

The great clouds of Christian martyrs of the 20th and early 21st centuries join the heroic witnesses of the Imperial City of the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire.

May 29 is the anniversary of the capture and desolation of the great Christian city of Constantinople by the forces of Islam in 1453.

The Fall of Constantinople

We live in an age of global upheaval, of titanic forces and epochal change. After the bloody twentieth century, which saw 50 million or more Orthodox and Eastern Christians martyred for their faith in Jesus Christ, now we see a new wave of genocide committed by Muslims against Christians at the start of the twenty-first. A new harvest of holy martyrs joins the ranks of the saints in the heavens...

Many young people today may see Islam become the world’s largest religious group and dominant military-political force during their lifetime, and Europe may itself soon fall or capitulate to the pressures of millions of Muslim immigrants within their borders, and tens of millions more without.

The United States seems to have lost its way, conniving and plotting — and when the cost is not too high waging open warfare — against Orthodox Christian nations like Russia, Ukraine, Greece, Serbia and Romania. Christians here at home are now the targets of a perfect storm of neo-pagans, liberals, and the LGBT mob. We are mindful of the words of our Lord Jesus Christ:

"If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you.
If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would have no sin; but now they have seen and also hated both Me and My Father.
But this happened that the word might be fulfilled which is written in their law, ‘They hated Me without a cause'."
— John 15:18-24-25

We live in dire times, not dissimilar to the gathering darkness which preceded the defeat of Constantinople in the fifteenth century. For the Christian citizens of the Great City, it must have felt like the ‘End of Days’.  It feels like that now, at times.

The Fall of Constantinople is a sign for us, that it can happen here, now. That our earthly cities can and will be swept away by the enemies of Christ. Yet we are called to stand firm in the Faith, knowing that Jesus Christ has already conquered, and that He will not forsake us.

"This calls for the patient endurance of the saints..." —Rev. 13:10

In somber commemoration of this dark event, below are two accounts of the Muslim Turks’ crime against God and His people. May we be moved to deep repentance, faith and steadfast courage by the noble examples of our brothers and sisters, martyrs and confessors of so long ago.

Thousands call for Hagia Sophia (Church) to be converted into mosque in Istanbul rally (VIDEO)

Pressure continues to build for converting Hagia Sophia into a mosque in rapidly re-Islamizing Turkey.

Related:

• Qur'an read inside Hagia Sophia for the first time in 85 years
• Muslim Prayers at Hagia Sophia: A Sign Calling Us to Repent
• More posts on 'Hagia Sophia'...

via Jihad Watch — May 25, 2015

Thousands call for Hagia Sophia (Church) to be converted into mosque in Istanbul rally

Well, they say hundreds: www.hurriyetdailynews.com

Hundreds of people demanded that the historic Istanbul Hagia Sophia museum be converted into a mosque during a rally in Istanbul on May 24.

People gathered outside Istanbul’s Hagia Sophia, in the historical Sultanahmet district, with some carrying signs that read: “Hagia Sophia needs to be reopened as a mosque,” and “Let our lives be sacrificed for Islam.”

The protest was led by many Turkish nongovernmental organizations, including the Humanitarian Relief Foundation (İHH).

Designed as a Christian basilica in the sixth century by Anthemios of Tralles and Isidorus of Miletus, Hagia Sophia is now a UNESCO World Heritage site.

100 Years of Silence

Of the 2.6 million Greeks of Ottoman Turkey in 1914, over 700,000 additional Thracian and Anatolian Greeks were slaughtered, bringing the total Greek deaths to over one million.

Related: The Armenian Genocide

by Thea Halo, Author of Not Even My Name, and A Lid for Every Pot, painter, former WBAI news correspondent.
Huffington Post — May 20, 2015
h/t AINA

In the struggle between denial and silence, silence wins hands down. That is, silence wins out over denial if the genocide of a people is to be complete. For almost 100 years, Pontic Greeks have mourned the loss of the 353,000 fathers, mothers, grandparents, children, friends and community members who were slaughtered outright, or who died agonizing deaths on long death marches to expulsion from 1916 to 1923. My mother was among them. Of the 2.6 million Greeks of Ottoman Turkey in 1914, over 700,000 additional Thracian and Anatolian Greeks were slaughtered, bringing the total Greek deaths to over one million.

Although the Pontic Greeks had settled on the southern shores and in the mountains along the Black Sea since 875 B.C., and other Greeks had settled in Anatolia since 1200 B.C., over 2,000 years before the first Turkish tribes invaded, today it's difficult to find anyone who has heard of the Pontians or Anatolian Greeks, as if they never existed? Ditto for the Assyrians who had settlements in Asia minor dating back four thousand years before the genocide that took the lives of at least 275,000 Assyrians, more than half their population. As with the Pontic Greeks, until recently, it was rare to find anyone who knew Assyrians still existed in the modern world.

VIDEO: Timothy Furnish — 'Rejecting Millennial Time: The Ottoman Empire's 700-year War against Mahdism'

The usual Ottoman kinetic response to Mahdist rebellions started with the janissaries--but often this was supplemented with IO/IW in the form of fatwas and other religious salients.

Video of Tim Furnish's presentation at the recent Boston University Conference, "Apocalyptic Hopes, Millennial Dreams and Global Jihad."  The introduction by Richard Landes is noteworthy for his high estimation of Dr. Furnish in this formerly obscure but now frighteningly relevant field of Islamic Eschatology and Mahdi Movements.

This is a profound talk, which touches on Sufism and other Islamic sects, complexities of Ottoman rule, and an array of related topics which are of great help in informing our understanding of the Islamic State and its apocalyptic ambitions.

The COIN of the Ottoman Realm Spent Against Proto-ISIS Groups

Timothy Furnish, Mahdi Watch — May 19, 2015

"My lecture from the Boston University conference on Islamic apolcalyptic movements, "Rejecting Millennial Time: The Ottoman Empire's 700-year War against Mahdism" is up. [Scroll down for video.]

Hereditary Martyrs: the Christian Victims of ISIS's Massacres

"At the news that her son was dead, Nana collapsed. Her cries filled the cold, desolate room. Nana's husband, a priest of the Ancient Assyrian Church, had been murdered the year before -- dragged behind his horse by Muslim neighbors. The following year, another family member would be shot by his Muslim servant..."

Read and share this powerful reflection by a descendant of survivors of the Assyrian Genocide.

Hereditary Martyrs: the Christian Victims of ISIS's Massacres

By Juliana Taimoorazy

AINA — May 18, 2015

Woody Allen once joked that sterility is hereditary: If you don't have any children, you won't have grandchildren either. In my family, we pass down a different condition: martyrdom.

My great-grandfather and my great-uncle both were murdered for their religion in 1915. Decades later, my own immediate family had to flee Islamist harassment in Iran. My colleagues' cousins even now are hiding from ISIS in isolated villages and on mountaintops. This is the heritage of all Assyrian Christians.

The butchery last month of Ethiopian Copts in Libya was not some new kind of atrocity. It's the latest incident in 100 years of Islamist religious and ethnic cleansing all across the Middle East.

The first genocide of the 20th century was launched by the Ottomans and the "Young Turks" against Assyrian Christians in Mesopotamia. The next victims were Armenians and Greeks. For nine long years the slaughter went on, ending only in 1923 after claiming 2.5 million victims. The Ottomans "cleansed" Turkey, and much of Iraq, of their Christians. In November 1916, the Atlantic Monthly reported:

"Within six months they [Young Turks] succeeded in doing what the Old Turks were unable to accomplish in six centuries .?.?. Thousands of Nestorians and Syrians [Assyrians] have vanished from the face of the earth."

For many years, my mother stayed silent about the genocide. But one cold night in Tehran, in 1985, as we huddled around the space heater, she finally opened up. She told me how Nana (her grandmother) was awakened in her little clay house by violent knocks. Nana's nephew George burst in. He threw himself down on her sickbed and wept for a solid minute. Then he reared up and whispered the news: "Nana, they killed Uncle Augustus. Those merciless animals cut his body into pieces and made me bring it home in a rice bag -- our ration bag."