About the `Church of Hagia Sophia`

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Church of Hagia Sophia

Over a long period of time the Hagia Sophia , which is a renovation of a former basilica , was believed to be the largest church in the whole world . Hagia Sophia was 1st named Megale Ekklesia ' which could be roughly translated to The Great Church ' since it is believed to be the largest church in Constantinople and even in the whole world Socrates implied that Hagia Sophia was given the name Sophia during the time in power

of the emperor , Constantius . This particular name of the church represents the 2nd divine quality of the Holy Trinity . Initially Sophia (Holy Wisdom ) was a name which had been given to Christ by early theologians (Istanbul Mosques , 2007

For a long period of time the church was placed in the heart of two religions the Christians and the Muslims . The Christians call the church as Hagia Sophia which means Church of the Holy Wisdom , and they consider it to be the church of the Orthodox faith , and of the Byzantine Empire , however the Muslims calls it Ayasofya Camii or Mosque of Holy Wisdom and jewel of Istanbul (Constantinople ) and up to this point in time it still remains as one of the most main museum in Turkey . The church had been renovated by Emperor Justinian in 532 AD and it became his greatest undertakings . In 1453 the church had been changed into a mosque and it was that time that the minarets were added in the place (Epiphany Byzantine Catholic Church , 2005

The church could be located at the peak of the 1st hill in Istanbul at the apex of the celebrated peninsula . It is enclosed within the Sea of Marmara , the Bosphorus and the Golden Horn , and it was erected by Emperor Justinian I around 532 AD . The church is also situated in near the Great Palace of the emperors (Hippodrome ) and the Church of Hagia Irene , and as was mentioned earlier , it was a renovation of a former basilica which was built by Theodosius II in 415 . The said basilica was burned to the grounds in the Nika disturbances against Justinian I and Empress Theodora and after the revolt was taken care of the immediate reconstruction of the church was seen to by Justinian himself . It was Justinian who hired the physicist , Isidoros of Miletus and the mathematician Anthemios of Thales to construct a bigger and more enduring church than the one it was to replace . This particular decision has got something to do with the emperor 's desire to unite the church and restate his authority . Nothing much was left with the previous churches it was to replace aside from the baptistery and the skeuphylakion which in turn is a circular edifice which is the lodging of the patriarchal riches and is positioned at the east of the baptistery . This edifice was made into an Ottoman crypt in the year of 1639 (Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America , 2002...