{"id":1288,"date":"2012-02-16T08:00:39","date_gmt":"2012-02-16T00:00:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/?p=1288"},"modified":"2022-04-07T20:41:34","modified_gmt":"2022-04-07T12:41:34","slug":"49-hagia-sophia-%e2%80%93-faith-and-esthetics-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/?p=1288","title":{"rendered":"50. Hagia Sophia \u2013 Faith and Aesthetics"},"content":{"rendered":"

Reflections on a Pauline Pilgrimage to Turkey [14]<\/p>\n

\u201c\u201d<\/sup>For in Him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or authorities – all things were created through Him and for Him<\/span>.\u201d<\/strong> [Colossians 1:16<\/span>]<\/p>\n

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Hagia Sophia is simply magnificent and a must-see<\/em>\u00a0for Christian pilgrims who land in Istanbul.<\/span><\/p>\n

Scriptures define faith as the \u201cassurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen\u201d [Hebrews 11:1]. Aesthetics, on the other hand, pertains to a sense of the beautiful in its critical reflection on art<\/a>, culture<\/a> and nature<\/a>. If Christian meditation is thought<\/em>, emotion<\/em>, and imagination<\/em> that leads to prayer<\/em> – to conversation with God – then one way to approach it is not a book, but a work of art. As Ben Okri realizes, \u201cthe highest things are beyond words. That is probably why all art aspires to the condition of wordlessness. … Art wants to move into silence, into the emotional and spiritual conditions of the world.\u201d With its marvelous architecture and beautiful frescoes, Hagia Sophia combines faith and aesthetics to offer every pilgrim an incredible celebration of beauty.<\/span><\/p>\n

Better known by its Greek name, Hagia Sophia<\/em> is The Church of the Holy Wisdom (Saint Sophia in English, Sancta Sophia<\/em> in Latin, and Ayasofya<\/em> in Turkish). It is a former Byzantine church to which four minarets were added outside and Islamic calligraphy painted inside after the Ottomans captured Constantinople in 1453. Now a museum, Hagia Sophia is universally acknowledged as one of the great buildings of the world.<\/span><\/p>\n

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[L] Hagia Sophia, Istanbul. [M]\u00a0[M] Hagia Sophia dome paintings. [R] The interior of Hagia Sophia.<\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Two names preceded Istanbul. First, Byzantium<\/em> was a settlement in the early days of Greek colonial expansion in the 7th<\/sup> century BC. Next, when the Roman emperor<\/a> Constantine I<\/a> founded the city of Constantinople<\/em> in 330 AD, he did so on the site of the existing city. Sitting on an excellent and spacious harbor, the city offered an ideal link by land route from Europe<\/a> to Asia<\/a> and by sea from the Black Sea<\/a> to the Mediterranean<\/a>. Constantine, who had united the empire through the battlefield, set his vision on major governmental reforms as well as sponsoring the consolidation of the Christian church<\/a>. He found Rome unsatisfactory as the empire\u2019s capital city. Filled as it was with disaffected politicians, it was also too far from the frontiers. Even though it was unthinkable to suggest that a capital for over a thousand years should be moved to a different location, Constantine nevertheless went ahead and identified the site of Byzantium as the right place. There, he visualized, the emperor would sit, defend himself readily, have easy access to the Danube<\/a> or the Euphrates<\/a> frontiers, his court supplied from the rich gardens and sophisticated workshops of Asia Minor, and his treasuries filled by the wealthiest and most hardworking provinces of the Empire.<\/span><\/p>\n

Of Constantinople, the Catholic Encyclopedia wrote: \u201cThe most beautiful statues<\/a> of antiquity were gathered from various parts of the empire to adorn its public places. In general the other cities of the Roman world were stripped to embellish the \u2018New Rome\u2019, destined henceforth to surpass them all in greatness and magnificence.\u201d When, therefore, Constantine built the original Hagia Sophia on this site in the fourth century, we can imagine his vision of grandeur for the church. Unfortunately, nothing remains of the original Hagia Sophia. Destroyed in riots, Hagia Sophia was rebuilt in her present form between 532 and 537 under the personal supervision of Emperor Justinian I<\/strong> who, after its completion, had made two euphoric statements: \u039d\u03b5\u03bd\u03af\u03ba\u03b7\u03ba\u03ac \u03c3\u03b5 \u03a3\u03bf\u03bb\u03bf\u03bc\u03ce\u03bd (“Solomon, I have outdone thee!”), and calling it the “Greatest Church in Christendom”. It is certainly one of the greatest surviving examples of Byzantine architecture, rich with mosaics and marble pillars and coverings.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/a>\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

[L]\u00a0Jesus Christ in the Deesis.\u00a0 [R]\u00a0 [M]\u00a0Virgin and Child flanked by Justinian I and Constantin.e.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

One of the most famous structures in Istanbul, Hagia Sophia\u2019s commanding dome beckons from a distance. The Dome of Santa Sophia, built in the 500s in an earthquake zone, is 107ft in diameter and rises to 184 feet (56 metres, about 15 stories) in height.\u00a0It is quite awesome to stand in the great big space underneath it and marvel at its age, its size, and its Byzantine architectural achievement. The highest and widest masonry dome ever constructed is Brunelleschi’s Dome on the Duomo in Florence<\/a>, built nearly 1000 years later, with a dome measuring 142 feet in diameter. The ancient Roman Pantheon is also 142 feet, but its spherical section is not nearly as high. St Peter’s Basilica in Rome is 132 feet, and St Paul’s Cathedral in London is 112 feet.<\/span><\/p>\n

Byzantine architecture was developed in Byzantium between 4th<\/sup> and 15th<\/sup> centuries. It is characterized by domes over square areas, round arches and elaborate arches. The interior of Byzantine churches would of course be decorated by beautiful icons, and those in Hagia Sophia are quite breathtaking in colours and design.<\/span><\/p>\n

We were particularly mesmerized by the mosaic of Jesus Christ on the first floor.<\/span><\/p>\n

This mosaic face of Christ in the Deesis trinity (Mary, Jesus and John the Baptist) is\u00a0probably one of the best known images in the Christian world. His eyes follow you wherever you go on that huge and spacious upper floor.<\/span><\/p>\n

A word on faith and art<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Hagia Sophia had suffered criminal damage to many of its icons during the period of the iconoclasm controversy in the 8th<\/sup> and 9th<\/sup> centuries. Iconoclasm is the deliberate destruction of religious<\/a> icons<\/a> and other symbols or monuments, usually for religious<\/a> or political motives. New icons were created in Hagia Sophia after the end of iconoclasm in 843, hence the oldest surviving icon in that church is from 860s, which is the Virgin and Child <\/em>in the apse.<\/span><\/p>\n

On our part, we believe the human person is so structured that we are endowed with multi-dimensional sensitivity. There is in each one of us an innate longing to touch, taste, see, feel and hear\u00a0divine essence<\/em> in our lives so that whenever we have visual and audio and other sensational and intuitive experiences of the presence of God, our being echoes in inner joy. We saw this first hand in Belgium. One day we brought a Protestant classmate of ours in theology to a Franciscan church in the city of Leuven. On entering the church and seeing the row of beautiful stained glasses, he spontaneously burst out, albeit very softly \u2013 which means giving voice to an echo of inner joy! \u2013 \u201cThis is so<\/em> beautiful!\u201d We just watched him and smiled.<\/span><\/p>\n

Throughout Christian history, the role of visual arts in worship has often been controversial, with debates being waged on both theological and cultural grounds.\u00a0 In this love-hate relationship with the arts, Christians have oscillated between using them for liturgical and educational purposes and dismissing them as merely decorative and even offensive and idolatrous.<\/span><\/p>\n

However, people who have experienced the beauty of art know the great value of art to faith life. Praising the virtues of art, these people attest to a long list of positive contributions art makes to faith. We shall leave for another occasion a discussion on the biblical arguments in favour of art. For now, we shall just mention a few of the positive elements people attest to and which readily come to mind:<\/span><\/p>\n