“I deeply regret that the powerful of this world, at least, most of them, beat around the bush or hide behind their own geopolitical and geostrategic calculations,” Archbishop Ieronymos of Athens and all Greece underscored in a statement in ANA-MPA, referring to the opening of Hagia Sophia as a mosque on July 24.
He continues: “And with their attitude, they tolerate or in fact accept, in contravention of all international law, an unholy act of desecration not only of a sacred spiritual center of our Orthodoxy, of Christianity in general, and of a symbol of our Faith, but also of a universal monument of culture and reciprocal inclusion between peoples and peoples of different religious identities.
The great Church of Hagia Sophia is becoming a plaything in the hands of people who, systematically and over time, trample international law and human rights underfoot and stir up the darkest form of religious intolerance to consolidate, as they think, their sovereignty.
On July 24, a day of mourning and pain for all Orthodoxy, Christianity and all Greek community, I will preside over the Service of the Akathist Hymn at the Metropolitan Cathedral of Athens and I call on all of you to chant in one voice ‘To the Invincible Champion’ for the help and strengthening of our nation.”