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When
the Wall Opens Again; Past Tragedy - Future Glory
I believe
that it is impossible to understand the ethos of the Eastern Church without
some comprehension of the circumstances associated with the 1453 fall to the
Turks. One historian has described this event thus: “There has never been, and
there never will be, a more dreadful happening!” Most Eastern Christians would
agree, for they see this past tragedy as the focal point of much of Eastern
Christian history. At the same time, they have not forgotten their hope for
the future glory of Constantinople and the Holy Orthodox Catholic faith.
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The
Icon of the Pantocrator, Christ the Ruler of All, Judge of the World
“I am the
Alpha and the Omega, saith the Lord Who is, Who was, and Who is to come, the
Pantocrator.” (Rev. 1:8) - Since the Son is the image of the Eternal Father,
in reality the icon of the Pantocrator is an icon of the Almighty and
Transcendent God. This later 13th century mosaic from the south gallery of
Hagia Sophia is so powerfully expressive of this truth that many Orthodox
Christians would choose it as a unique representation of the entire
spirituality of the Eastern Church.
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 The
Byzantine Eagle
The
Byzantine Eagle: Symbol of the Church Unconquerable Forever - When
Constantinople fell to the Turks, the Eastern Church took as its own several
symbols of the Byzantine Empire which the Turks thought they had destroyed.
Among these was the imperial crest of the double-headed eagle. In this emblem
Eastern Christians saw a perfect representation of their “unconquerable
forever” Church. This drawing further accentuates this theme by the
inscription on the ribbon - Greek for “Christ the Conqueror.
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 The
Bombardment of Constantinople, April 1453 - The Infidels Attack the Imperial
City of Constantinople
In one sense, the
end of the world of Eastern Christendom came in the final days of May 1453,
when "the city of the world's desire" (to use the terminology of an ancient
historian) fell to Mehmed II and 100,000 Ottoman troops. The Imperials City's
walls were manned by only 8,000 soldiers. The end of a seven-week siege saw
the fall of glorious Byzantium and the plundering of Hagia Sophia.
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Hagia
Sophia by Night - The Radiance of the Divine Glory"
Hagia
Sophia by Night, Monday Evening, 29 May 1453: Radiance of the Divine Glory
- The night before the fall of the Imperial City was as black as the grimmest
nightmare, and yet in this representation we see the Great Church's interior
shining forth the radiance of Divine Glory. This brilliance pours out to the
exterior of the Great Church, the surrounding trees, and even on to the paving
of the courtyard. Is it drawing God's people to gather in its Light?
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The
West Facade of Hagia Sophia - "The Glory of the East and the Whole World"
These
were the words Josyf Cardinal Slipyj used in 1935 to describe Hagia Sophia. In
this representation we see the Great Church as a towering mountain of masonry.
Before us is a massive gallery, more than two hundred feet long, and seventy
feet to the cornice. At its highest point is a golden cross that gleams 170
feet above the pavement of the courtyard. The figures beneath the arch in the
foreground give a hint to the proportions of this magnificent structure.
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Ecumenical
Patriarch Gregory III Mammas - a Mirror of Suffering and Confusion
If one
individual, more than any other, personifies the tragic circumstances of the
fall of Imperial Constantinople, it was a person who was not even present
during those fearful events of May 1453. The experiences of the Ecumenical
Patriarch Gregory III are a microcosm of the suffering and confusion of the
years immediately prior to the Turkish capture of Constantinople. After having
spent his brief patriarchal ministry in a fruitless attempt to find allies for
the Eastern Church and its capital, he outlived its downfall by only six
years.
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Metropolitan
Isidore of Kyiv - A Lion Defender of the Walls of Constantinople
The
highest-ranking prelate in Constantinople during its final months was not its
patriarch (he was in Rome pleading for assistance from Western Christendom),
but a former Greek monk. He was the Metropolitan of Kyivan Rus’ (present-day
Ukraine and Russia) and a cardinal of the Roman Church. A man of intense
personal courage, in this representation we see him as “a lion defender of the
walls of Constantinople” (the description of one of his successors, Patriarch
Josyf Slipyj).
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Martyr-Confessor
Constantine IX – The Uncrowned Emperor
The last of the eighty emperors of
Constantinople died as a martyr defending the walls of his capital. A widower
and a devout Orthodox Christian, he died in union with the Holy See and the
Catholic Church. Here we see him holding a copy of the final letter he wrote
to Constantinople's attackers. It beautifully reveals what kind of man he was:
“I turn now and look to God alone. Should it be His will that the city be
yours, where is he who can oppose it? … I defend my people to the last drop of
my blood. Reign in happiness until the All-Just, the Supreme God, calls us
both before His Judgement Seat.”
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 Sultan
Mohammed II - Rightly titled "The Conqueror"
Constantinople’s
conqueror was a shrewd and ambitious young man; even as a boy he had dreamed
of conquering the capital city of the Byzantine Empire. He was only twenty-two
when he brought 100,000 men and the largest cannon ever cast against the
Imperial City. Twelve thousand Janissaries (his elite infantry and cavalry)
led the attack. The end of the seven-week siege saw the fall of glorious
Byzantium, the plundering of the Imperial City and Hagia Sophia, and in one
sense, the end of Eastern Christendom.
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 The
Last Divine Liturgy in Hagia Sophia, Tuesday Morning, 29 May 1453:Preparing to
Meet the Pantocrator
On the morning of the city’s fall,
“an immeasurable multitude,” perhaps a quarter of the 60,000 residents of
Constantinople, jammed into the immense basilica. Some of those “below, above,
and in the surrounding halls – everywhere” prayed for a miracle that would
deliver the city from its attackers. Others prepared to meet the Judge of the
World whose immense icon they beheld more than 170 feet above them on the
interior of the cathedral’s magnificent dome.
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 A
Section of the East Wall of Hagia Sophia Closed
This
is a section of the outer wall of Hagia Sophia, to the left of the altar and
half-way to the sacristy. The symbol of imperial Byzantium, the double-headed
eagle, crowns the pilasters on either side of a mosaic three-bar cross. “We
bow before Your Holy Cross and glorify Your third-day resurrection” is the
inscription engraved in the stonework. Nothing of this wall, as solid as a
mountain cliff, hints that it will shortly open at this point – or that one
day it will do so again.
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The
Last Two Priests of Hagia Sophia: I Will Take the Chalice of Salvation and
Call upon the Name of the Lord. (Ps. 116:13)
The
Last Divine Liturgy in Hagia Sophia was concelebrated by Catholic and Orthodox
priests. Here we see a Latin Rite priest holding the chalice of the precious
Blood of Christ in his left hand. Facing him, an Eastern priest holds the
consecrated Bread of the Sacred Body. The gesture of his hand and the angle of
his head suggest that he may hear something other than the sounds of terror
around him. Is he perhaps just beginning to make the Sign of the Cross - the
last time for many centuries within these sacred walls?
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