There is an attempt to raise the spirit some believers over others. So the Chairman of the Committee on international policy of the Interparliamentary Assembly of Orthodoxy, the Deputy of the state Duma Konstantin Zatulin has commented on the authorization provided to the President of Turkey Recep Erdogan, the Supreme court, the change of the Museum status of Hagia Sophia in Istanbul.
Zatulin stressed that this architectural masterpiece has been used for centuries as proof of victory over its creators: “the power of today’s Turkey, the impression I want to get us back in the Middle ages”.
As the Deputy noted, despite the Museum status of Hagia Sophia is particularly dear to the Orthodox countries of the CIS, because “here was Baptized the Holy equal to the apostles Princess Olga, here the ambassadors of the Holy Prince Vladimir saw the “Heaven on Earth”, then persuading him to take it to Orthodoxy.”
In addition, Zatulin laid responsibility for the events at the Patriarchate of Constantinople, poosibly the split of the Orthodox Church in Ukraine and came into conflict with the Russian Orthodox Church — “now we are reaping the fruits of a new schism of Orthodoxy.”
“In this situation special responsibility lies on Russia as the largest country of the Orthodox world, spiritual and dynastic successor of the Orthodox Byzantine Empire. I want to believe that Russian-Turkish relations will not be harmed because of unwise attempts to assign the Christian heritage of the VI century in the XXI century”, — concluded Konstantin Zatulin.
