Greek hierarch calls to build new Hagia Sophia in place of the present one

Metropolitan Nikolaos (Hatzinikolaou) of Mesogaia and Lavreotiki. Photo: romfea.gr

On July 24, 2020, the hierarch of the Greek Orthodox Church, Metropolitan Nikolaos (Hatzinikolaou) of Mesogaia and Lavreotiki, proposed to build a new temple of the Wisdom of God instead of Hagia Sophia in Turkey.

“Perhaps now is the right time, in response to the disrespectful provocation and insult of Turkey – the conversion of the historic Christian temple of Hagia Sophia into a mosque, that the entire Greek nation should begin the construction of a new majestic temple of the Wisdom of God at the initiative of the Holy Synod and with the assistance of the Greek state,” the information outlet Romfea cited Metropolitan Nikolaos.

The hierarch noted that in this way the Greeks would be able to fulfill an old vow of their heroic ancestors.

"To build a temple at the entrance to our country from the Athens airport ‘Eleftherios Venizelos’, on the hill in Paeania, that is, in the area that was designated twenty years ago, but it was not possible to build an Islamic mosque there," Metropolitan Nikolaos suggested.

Today, on July 24, the first Muslim prayer in 86 years began in Hagia Sophia.

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