The head of the Church of Greece on Tuesday wore a paper mask to attend a meeting of the Holy Synod and had his temperature taken by a health worker before entering the assembly.
Archbishop Elpidophoros of America on Friday decried a decision by Turkish authorities to re-convert the Byzantine Greek Orthodox Church of the Holy Saviour in Chora into a mosque.
Archbishop Elpidophoros of America delivered a benediction on the third day of the Democratic National Convention on Wednesday, urging listeners to “fight against injustice, inequality and hatred.”
“Hey brother! Have you heard? Hagia Sophia is a mosque! No, I didn’t get a raise, my son didn’t get a job and I’m still trying to pay for the house, but Hagia Sophia has become a mosque!”
The Holy Synod of the Greek Orthodox Church of Greece and Patriarch Ieronymos have sent a letter to Patriarch of Antioch John offering their full support in the relief effort following Tuesday’s deadly blast in Beirut.
Muslims in Greece celebrating Kurban Bayram (starting Friday) should carefully implement health and safety guidelines to protect themselves from coronavirus, Deputy Civil Protection Minister Nikos Hardalias said on Friday in a press release.
A church service will be conducted on the holiday of the Dormition (or the Assumption) of the Virgin Mary (August 15) at the Monastery of Panagia Soumela in Turkey, which has reopened after five years of renovations, the Ecumenical Patriarch announced on Wednesday.
The Istanbul-based Ecumenical Patriarchate has confirmed that a religious ceremony will take place to mark this year’s August 15 feast day of the Greek Orthodox Church at the historic Monastery of Panagia Soumela in the mountainous Trabzon region, known among Greeks as Trapezounta.
The Republic of Turkey’s recent decision to convert the Hagia Sophia museum back into a mosque marks a serious moment in contemporary history, and we should all be aware of this.
The decree signed by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on July 10 which changed the status of the former church of Hagia Sophia in Istanbul from a museum into a mosque, sparked considerable outrage internationally and in Greece where many saw it as part of a wider effort in Turkey to revive the Ottoman Empire.
A 74-year-old woman was asked to leave a religious service near Kozani, in northern Greece, for wearing a face mask for coronavirus protection, according to reports on Monday.
Prayer plays an important role in the lives of the majority of Greeks, 73% to be exact, putting the country in second place, after Turkey, in a group of 34 countries surveyed by the Pew Research Center.
Turkey and Greece exchanged harsh words on Saturday over the conversion of Istanbul’s Hagia Sophia into a mosque, a day after Islamic prayers were held at the ancient site for the first time in nine decades.
The Greek Foreign Ministry on Friday criticized Turkey’s recent decision to convert Istanbul’s Hagia Sophia into a mosque, saying that the move “cast a dark shadow over its reputation.”
Fulfilling a dream of his Islamic-oriented youth, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan joined hundreds of worshipers Friday for the first Muslim prayers in 86 years inside Hagia Sophia, the Istanbul landmark that served as one of Christendom’s most significant cathedrals, a mosque and a museum before its conversion back into a Muslim place of worship.
Thousands of Turks gathered near Hagia Sophia early on Friday for the first prayers there since President Tayyip Erdogan declared the monument, revered by Christians and Muslims for almost 1,500 years, a mosque once again.
Archbishop of Greece Ieronymos is to hold a service on Friday at the Athens Metropolitan Cathedral in downtown Plaka to coincide with the official inauguration of the former Greek Orthodox church of Hagia Sophia in Istanbul as a mosque with the reading of Muslim prayers.
Friday prayers will be held for the first time at Istanbul’s Hagia Sophia since President Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared the building once again a mosque after a top Turkish court ruled in favour of annulling its museum status.
Turkey on Thursday appointed appointed three imams for Hagia Sophia, one of them a professor of religious studies, as the nation prepares for the first Muslim prayers in the Istanbul landmark in 86 years following its conversion back into a mosque.
Mosaics depicting Christian figures in Istanbul’s ancient Hagia Sophia will be covered with curtains during Muslim prayers, Turkish presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said on Sunday, as work to prepare the building for use as a mosque continues.