The Public Hearing dealt with the escalating violations of Agia Sophia, the Mother Church of Christianity and the Cathedral of the Orthodox Christian faith, which is located in Istanbul (Constantinople,) Turkey.
Also testifying at the Public Hearing were the Honorable Raymond Buckley, former Democratic Leader in the New Hampshire House of Representatives and the current Chairman of the New Hampshire Democratic Party. Chairman Buckley testified as the Vice President of the “Free Agia Sophia Council of America.”
Rhode Island State Senator Lou Raptakis also testified, as did attorney Steven Schneebaum, Legal Counsel to the “Free Agia Sophia Council of America.”
At the end of the Public Hearing, Chairman Lantos stated among other things:
“Of all the Human Rights violations around the world that the Congressional Human Rights Caucus has examined in the 25 years of its existence, the most important have been violations relating to Religious Freedom. The Caucus has paid particular attention and concern to human rights violations which deal with forced conversions of Holy Places and Holy Sites. The situation with Agia Sophia ranks amongst the most important issues to have come before our Caucus…The Public Hearing will remain open for now, so as all interested parties may submit additional written testimonies. We will continue our interest with Agia Sophia.”
The Free Agia Sophia Council of America, spearheaded by former New Hampshire Democratic Patry president and gubernatorial candidate Chris Spirou, launched a campaign last year with the aim to restore Agia Sophia, now a museum, as a functioning church of the Orthodox Christian faith and a house of prayer for all Christians in the world.
In 537 A.D. Byzantine Emperor Justinian consecrated the Great Church, Agia Sophia, and named it after God’s Holy Wisdom. Upon entering the Great Church on its consecration Justinian is said to have exclaimed: “Solomon, I Have Surpassed Thee!” comparing Agia Sophia to King Solomon’s Great Temple in Jerusalem.
In 1453 Agia Sophia was seized by the conquering Ottoman Turks and was forcibly transformed into a mosque, against the commands and the hadiths of the Prophet Mohammed, which prohibit the forced conversion of Christian churches into mosques and the disruption of Christian church services.
Fatih Mehmet, the conquering Ottoman Turk leader who captured Constantinople, named his mosque “Agia Sophia Mosque.”
Agia Sophia remained a symbol of Ottoman Turk behavior until 1934, when again General Kemal Ataturk, the first dictator-president of modern the first dictator-president of modern Turkey, forcibly converted it to a museum, the “Agia Sophia Muzesi”
Since the latest conversion Agia Sophia has suffered tremendous destruction and untold violations such as promoting the sale of floor tiles and bathroom fixtures, conducting fashion shows and musical events and to holding world-class pasarellas.
“The historic violations heaped upon the Mother Church of Christianity, Agia Sophia, for 554 years, non-stop, must come to an end,” said Spirou in his testimony. “Allowing states and governments to determine the use of holy places and to determine holy figures brings humanity back to the law of the jungle and to the law of the sword.”