Poised on the threshold of the third Christian millennium, she stands in all her power and majesty, still clasping her alabaster jar. Who is the woman whom the Christian Gospels call "the Magdalene"? How can we have failed for so many centuries to recognize the Bride, the "Divine Complement" of Christ? As Jesus incarnates the "Logos," the masculine manifestation of the unseen and indescribably holy One, Mary Magdalene embodies his beloved sister-bride, the "Sophia," described in Gnostic texts as the "spouse" and "mirror of God's creative power" and in Hebrew Scripture as God's "delight."
Numerous medieval artists painted Mary Magdalene regal, dressed in gold brocade, wrapped in a crimson robe. They were fully aware that in the nuptial ode of the Messianic King, Psalm 45, the Bride is dressed in embroidered apparel of gold brocade, a passage that was part of her feast-day Mass liturgy for centuries, until 1969 when the Roman Catholic Church reorganized its calendar and dropped the allusion to the Bride. That earlier liturgy had also included a passage spoken by the Bride from the Song of Songs: "Set me as a seal on your heart, a seal on your arm" along with a reference the raising of her brother Lazarus. Church Fathers had thus acknowledged the passionate devotion of Mary Magdalene for Jesus, so obvious in the Gospels, and recognized her as the "Beloved" who had anointed Jesus at Bethany (John 11:2; 12:3).
Mary Magdalene is the only person mentioned by all four evangelists at the scene of both cross and tomb, and John's Gospel assigns to her alone the unique privilege of being the first witness to the Resurrection. She embodies the archetype of the "Sister Bride" who, in ancient liturgies honoring the "Sacred Marriage" of the Divine Complements, first anoints the Sacred King and later goes to the tomb to mourn the his death and is overjoyed to find him resurrected. How can we have failed to identify the archetypal Bride and Bridegroom of the Christian mythology, so clearly parallel to other divine couples celebrated in rites of Spring?—Easter is named for Oestare, one of the goddesses derived from Ishtar, the goddess of Babylon. The ancient rites celebrated the gifts of renewal and regeneration at the Spring Equinox—the eternal return of the Life Force and the balance manifested in the "Cosmic Dance" of all that is.
Modern scholars have been working hard to reclaim for Mary Magdalene the title "Apostle to the Apostles," based on her encounter with Jesus on Easter morning (John 20) when he sends her to tell his brothers that he is going to his father. Since apostolos means "messenger," that title is justified. She was the first witness to the Good News of the Risen Christ and joyfully carried that news to the community. The title "Apostle" makes Mary Magdalene about equal to Peter and others of the "chosen twelve." Acknowledging this role of Mary Magdalene may help women to reclaim positions of authority in the Church, to preach and to teach alongside the male clergy.
But reclaiming Mary Magdalene as an Apostle will not heal the wasteland of western culture nor cause the desert to bloom.
Only by reclaiming Mary Magdalene as "Bride" can we restore the balance that was once at the very heart of the Christian story, modeled by the Archetypal Bridegroom and his Beloved. The "Way" of Christ and Magdalene is the Sacred Union of the Mind and Heart, the Reunion of the Logos and the Sophia.
No longer shall she be called "Forsaken" and her lands "Desolate"— but she shall be called "Beloved," and her lands "Espoused." Isaiah 62:4
About The Author Margaret Starbird is the widely acclaimed author of several books that seek to restore Mary Magdalene to a position of honor denied her for 2000 years by the entrenched hierarchy of the patriarchal system. Her first two books, The Woman with the Alabaster Jar and The Goddess in the Gospels were cited as catalysts for The Da Vinci Code. Her other titles include Magdalene's Lost Legacy and Mary Magdalene, Bride in Exile. Starbird gives lectures and retreats focused on the Divine Feminine. Please visit her website.
All rights reserved. No portion of this text can be reproduced without the written permission of the author.
The MRO 2.4-meter (7.9 ft) telescope is a Nasmyth design on an azimuth-elevation (az-el) mount. The telescope is capable of slew rates of 10 degrees per second, enabling it to observe artificial objects in low Earth orbit. The telescope is also used for asteroid studies and observations of other solar system objects.[4]The MRO 2.4-meter achieved first light on October 31, 2006, and began regular operations on September 1, 2008, after a commissioning phase that included tracking near-Earth asteroid 2007 WD5 for NASA.[5]
The telescope's primary mirror has a complicated history. It was built by Itek as part of a competition for the contract for the Hubble mirror (although it has a different prescription than the one used to construct the Hubble). When Perkin-Elmer was chosen instead as the Hubble contractor, the mirror was passed to a classified Air Force project. When this project was in turn discontinued, the mirror was transferred to the Magdalena Ridge Observatory, along with a blank for the secondary.[6][7]
As of May 2008, the facility is under a multi-year contract with NASA to provide follow-up astrometry and characterization data on near-Earth asteroids and comets as part of Spaceguard, and also collaborates with the Air Force to track and characterize satellites in GEO and LEO orbits.[8] On October 9, 2009, New Mexico Tech scientists used instruments on the MRO 2.4-meter and at the Etscorn Campus Observatory to observe controlled impacts of two NASA Centaur rockets at the southern polar region of the moon as part of the LCROSS Project.[9][10]
On October 23, 2015, it was announced that the MRO telescope will receive funding from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in early 2016 to monitor the launch and re-entry of commercial space vehicles from Spaceport America.[11]
The Magdalena Ridge Optical Interferometer (MROI) is an optical and near infraredinterferometer under construction at MRO. When the MROI is completed, it will have ten 1.4 m (55 in) telescopes located on three 340 m (1,120 ft) arms. Each arm will have nine stations where the telescopes can be positioned, and one telescope can be positioned at the center. The telescopes and their enclosures will be moved with a customized crane. Light from the telescopes' primary mirrors will be directed along the arms to the Beam Combining Facility (BCF). These pipes will be evacuated of all air in order to reduce distortions. Inside the BCF, the light will first travel through extensions of the pipes in the Delay Line Area, which will bring the light beams into phase. Then light will exit the vacuum pipes in the Beam Combining Area (BCA), where the light will be directed into one of three permanent sensors, or to a temporary instrument on a fourth table. The light will strike a total of eleven mirrors before entering a sensor.
The basic design of MROI was completed in 2006. Construction of the facility began in August 2006 with the BCF building, which was completed in 2008. In July 2007, the contract for the design of the ten 1.4 m telescopes was awarded to Advanced Mechanical and Optical Systems S.A. (AMOS) of Belgium. In 2009 the design of the infrastructure of interferometer arms was completed, as was the design for the telescope enclosures. In 2010 construction of the arms began. Also in 2010 the first delay line was installed in the BCF.[13]
On October 19, 2015, New Mexico Tech signed a five-year, $25 million cooperative agreement with the Air Force Research Laboratory to support continued development of the interferometer at the observatory. Dr. Van Romero, Vice President of Research at Tech, said the new funding will allow the completion of three telescopes, mounts and enclosures on the mountaintop facility.[14]
New Mexico Exoplanet Spectroscopic Survey Instrument[edit]
The New Mexico Exoplanet Spectroscopic Survey Instrument (NESSI) is a ground-based instrument specifically designed to study the atmospheres of exoplanets.[15][16] The $3.5 million instrument is the first purpose-built device for the analysis of exoplanet atmospheres,[17] and is expected to have a powerful impact on the field of exoplanet characterization.[18]
The Principal Investigator is Michele Creech-Eakman at the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, working with seven co-investigators.[18] The NESSI instrument was mounted on the observatory's 2.4 meter telescope. The instrument's first exoplanet observations began in April 2014.
“The most effective way to destroy people is to deny and obliterate their own understanding of their history.”
---- George Orwell
My own reproduction of the Templar relics in the form of a female silver head containing a couple of skull bones of a small woman with the word Caput LVIII M.
Templar Foundations
A Templar ship Brass Plate Magdalene Vault
During my past life regression along with my spiritual portrait, my research on Mary Magdalene and my conversations with various mediums and historians there is one group of people who keep cropping up time and time again, The Knights Templar.
The Templars were founded around the year 1118 as an order of fighting monks whose job was to protect the pilgrims visiting the Holy land. It must be noted here however that no evidence has suggested the Templars actually carried out this particular task. Moreover, there have been suggestions their actual task was for something else like excavation work. It’s also important to note that the order began with only nine members for the first nine or so years which would have made it very difficult to cover all pilgrim routes to the Holy land.
By 1127 the Templars had established themselves in Western Europe with countries including Portugal, France, England and Scotland. The church had even officially recognized them as a religious order dedicated to the defence of Christendom. Further down the line in 1139, a papal bull was issued that the Templars would owe allegiance to the pope only, making them immune to political and religious authorities.
Sophia
Old antique Templar pendant Magdalene Vault
However during the latter part of the 12th century the Templars were facing serious problems. The Templars enormous wealth and influence which had built up over a number of years brought them into growing opposition to the Church and worldly monarchs. The Knights Templar were accused of many heinous crimes including denial of an immortal Christ, ritual murders and of worshipping a bearded head called Baphomet to name but a few.
It all came to a head in 1307 on Friday, October 13th, Jacques de Molay, Grand Master of the Templars and sixty of his Knights were imprisoned in Paris. In 1312 the pope officially dissolved the Knights Templar Order and then in 1314, after Jacques de Molay was burned alive, it seemed that the Knights Templar had ceased to exist, yet the Order continued in other countries under various names.
The Templars venerated Mary Magdalene and to them she represented Sophia, the female side of god. The word Sophia means “wisdom” and many people believe Sophia came to earth in the body of Mary Magdalene herself. During the Templars inquisition, one accusation amongst many was the worshipping of a goat head called “Baphomet”. It was not apparent why the Templars would worship such a thing until you apply something called the Atbash Cipher. This code was used as early as 500BC and was found to be used in some of the Dead Sea scrolls. When applied to the name Baphomet we get the name Sophia!
Relic and Cathars
Antique engravings from an old french book showing scenes from the Cathar crusade at Montseguer & the massacre at Beziers. Magdalene Vault
Whilst on the subjects of heads, the Templars also had in their possession an interesting relic in the form of a female silver head containing a couple of skull bones of a small woman. It also came with a label on which read the following; Caput LVIII M (Head 58M). At first glance the message is a just a random few numbers and a letter but when you add five with eight you get thirteen. The letter M is the thirteen letter of the alphabet and together with the other M we have a double hit. Could this female relic have been the bones of Mary Magdalene? It is also noteworthy that the bones themselves were wrapped in a red cloth, the colour most associated with Mary Magdalene.
With the worship of Sophia through the disguise of Baphomet along with the 58M female headed relic we can possibly assume that the Templars regarded the importance of Sophia and acknowledge her human existence in the form of Mary Magdalene. It would not be the first time that both Sophia and Mary Magdalene have had a connection. In one Gnostic Gospel called The Pisits Sophia, Mary Magdalene plays a central role. It contains 46 questions in the dialogues of which 31 are asked by Mary Magdalene herself.
The Templars also had a connection with the Cathars, a Christian dualist or Gnostic movement which arrived in France around the 12th century. Like the Templars, they held Mary Magdalene in very high esteem calling her the femine aspect of the divine and recognised her equal status with Jesus. It is also known that at least one of the nine founders of the Templars was a Cathar. The 4th grand master of the Templars, Bertrand de Blanchefort was from a Cathar family.
Cathar Templar connection
Old St Mary Magdalene Relic The Magdalene Museum
Another question which arises is why this particular area in the south of France is the focal point for both the Cathars and Templars. Could it be argued that the Magdalene arrival in France after the crucifixion set the motion of the events that followed? It is most likely that the Cathars had in their possession Gnostic Texts amongst their many other documents and may have had knowledge of the Magdalene voyage itself.
I strongly believe that the Templars were set up or influenced by the Cathars themselves with the objective to befriend the Church and gaining their trust, a kind of double agents type. One of the nine founding members, Hugues de Pagens, had ties with many Cathar people and possibly had been a Cathar himself. Indeed his genealogy points to Cathar heartland and another member, Godfrey de Saint-Omer appears to have been a relative of his. Their mission to protect the pilgrims from the holyland had simply been a “smoke screen” for their main intentions and activites.
Being just a normal Cathar would simply have got them nowhere, even before the Templar establishment they were already being hounded out including the burning at the stakes of Cathars in Orleans in 1022. They already had in their possession gospels and documents of Gnostic nature and more than likely had the Magdalene relics too. There was far more to be discovered in the Holyland which they could attain and keep. Also the Cathars knew the church at one point would come down hard on them, it was just a matter of time. What the Cathars needed was an army of knights to gain entry into the holyland and then to guard their sacred documents, relics and even their own beliefs and history.
Genocide
Templar Postcard, Temple London Magdalene Vault
In 1208 began a series of wars known as the Cathar crusade which was organised and directed by the Catholic Church on the orders of Pope Innocent lll. From the first seize in Beziers on July 22nd 1209 (St Mary Magdalene’s feast day), to the last Cathar foothold at the Chateau of Montsegur, the Cathars were hounded out, burned at the stake and slaughtered in what many people call the first genocide of Europe.
During the crusades against the Cathars, the Templars had no choice but to remain neutral. If they sided with the Catholic Church then they would be fighting against their own people, against similar beliefs and even possibly their own families. On the other hand if they sided with the Cathars then it would put the order at risk and everything they protected including their connections with the “heretics” along with sacred documents and treasures would be revealed. The only logical thing to do was to stay neutral although it has been reported that the Templars did provide a haven for Cathar refugees and the increase of Cathars which joined the Templar ranks at that period of time rose sharply.
At the last stronghold of Cathars at Montsegur in 1244, a few Cathars did manage to escape the oncoming slaughter and with them they carried some form of treasure. It could well be that these Cathars and their treasure, ended up with the Templars and thus their treasure were safe and protected……...for now.
Fall of the Templars
Postcard Port of La Rochelle, France
In the aftermath of the Cathar crusade the Templars remained protected and their influence and wealth was still growing. However by the turn of the 14th century the Templars had also attracted many powerful enemies, one of whom would lay the first stone to the demise of the Templar order, or at least, so he thought. Philippe lV of France had become envious and angry with the Templars, he owed them a great deal of money, thought they were arrogant and unruly ,no control was over the Templars as they only answered to the pope and all this on Philippe’s own territory. This all gave reason for Philippe to use heresy as an excuse to get rid of the order.
After the kidnapping and subsequent death of Pope Boniface Vlll along with the poison of another, namely Benedict Xl, Philippe conveniently secured the election of one Clement V, who was at the time archbishop of Bordeaux. This allowed Philippe to get what he wanted, the suppression of the Templars because after all, Clement V was indebted to him for making him pope.
From that moment on the Templars had become wanted men and many were tortured and interrogated on October 13th, 1307. Philippe may have quashed the Templars but their treasure had eluded him, nothing was found. It is more than probable that the Templars knew of this impending danger and took their treasure of wealth, sacred documents and relics and sent them to their naval base at La Rochelle were they transported all this onto around eighteen galleys ready to disembark. What happened to those ships remains a mystery, maybe some ended up in Portugal or more so to Scotland, the only monarchy in the 14 century Europe that did not recognize the authority of the Catholic Church.
Meanwhile the Templars were officially dissolved in 1312, despite the lack of evidence and information that Philippe had accused them of. In 1314 the grand master if the Templars, Jacque de Molay was roasted to death over a burning fire. Philippe had even gone to lengths after to persuade other monarchs to follow his lead to make sure no Templar survived but this mainly fell on deaf ears, particularly in Scotland. Philippe himself died of mystery causes at the end of 1314, the same year as he ordered the death of Molay. Indeed one month after the burning of the grand master, Pope clement was dead. It was reported that Molay had called his persecutors to join him before God’s court within a year while he was about to be burned!
806. Juan 16:21 La mujer cuando da a luz, tiene dolor, porque ha llegado su HORA; pero después que ha dado a luz un niño, ya no se acuerda de la angustia, por el gozo de que haya nacido un hombre en el mundo.
Alchemy refers to a range of philosophies and ancient practices which seek to prepare or develop the "elixir of Life" or "immortality" or "longevity" using the philosophers' stone, accomplish the transmutation of base substances into gold, and attain ultimate wisdom. Many alchemical sources treat the various substances, equipment and processes used in alchemical workshops in an allegorical sense, as metaphors for a spiritualdiscipline. Alchemy, in its physical procedures and investigations can be viewed as a protoscience, the precursor to modern chemistry, having provided many procedures, equipment and names of substances which are still in use.
I had discovered, early in my researches, that their doctrine was no mere chemical fantasy, but a philosophy they applied to the world, to the elements, and to man himself. ~ William Butler Yeats
In light of the above there seems little doubt that in general and in the present astronomical context in particular, Spira Solaris qualifies to be described numerically as "the One and the Many," the "One and the All," "the Alpha and the Omega," and also (from The Chaldean Oracles): "Fountain of Fountains, and of All Fountains, The Matrix of all Things." ..... Pythagoras said the sacred Tetractys is: ` the spring having the roots of ever-flowing nature.' .... The four parts of the Decad, this perfect number, are called number, monad, power and cube. And the interweavings and minglings of these in the origin of growth are what naturally completes nascent number; for when a power of a power; and a cube is multiplied on a cube, it is the power of a cube; and when a cube is multiplied on a cube, the cube of a cube; thus all numbers, from which arise the genesis of what arises, are seven: number, monad, power, cube, power of a power, power of a cube, and cube of a cube. ..... We have seen that the whole nature of things, all the essential properties of physis, were believed by the Pythagoreans to be contained in the tetractys of the decad; and it now appears that, just as we should expect, this ' fountain of ever-flowing nature' contains the periodic movement of life, evolving out of unity and reverting to unity again, in the recurrent revolution of a wheel of birth. It embodies the fundamental Dionysiac representation of palingenesia. But there is something more in it than this. Pythagoras inherited the music of Orpheus, as well as the reincarnation doctrine of Dionysus. From the Orphics he inherited also the doctrine of the fall of the soul from its first perfect state of union with the divine, its degradation into the darkness of this life and of the underworld, and its final restoration to peace and unity. Now, on the model of this doctrine of the fall of the soul, the Pythagorean philosophy must hold that all existence proceeds out of the One and returns to it again; and that the One alone is perfect, while the manifold world of visible body is a turbid medium of appearance, in which the one truth is half-revealed and half-concealed, as the divine soul is manifest in the flesh and yet obscured by it and degraded. There is thus, inherent in the representation handed down from Orphism to Pythagoras, not only the primitive wheel of birth, but another aspect of the movement of life, which is best described as a processional movement out of unity into plurality, out of light into darkness. This movement, also, must be revealed in the nature of numbers, and contained in the tetractys. Pythagoras found it in the procession of numerical series, the study of which he originated, thereby rounding the science of number. It is practically certain, also, that in music he discovered the ratios of the octave, the fifth, and the fourth, contained in the harmonic proportion 12: 8: 6. Now a progression like those contained in the tetractys of Plato's worldsoul --the series, 1: 2: 4: 8, 1: 3: 9: 27– is what the Pythagoreans called an harmonia; it is a continuous entity knit together by a principle of unity running through it, namely the logos or ratio (1/2 or 1/3) which links every term to its predecessor by the same bond. Both series, moreover, radiate from the One, which in Pythagorean arithmetic was not itself a number, but the source in which the whole nature of all numbers was gathered up and implicit. When we note, further, that every number is not only a many, but also one number, we can see how Pythagoras would find the whole movement of cosmic evolution contained in the procession of series, in which the One passes out of itself into a manifold, yet without losing all its unity, and a return from the many to the One is secured by that bond of proportion which runs, backwards and forwards, through the whole series and links it into a ' harmony.' It is thus that we must understand the doctrine that ' the whole Heaven is harmony and number.' The processional movement of physis is modelled upon that of soul, which falls from its first state of union with the divine, but yet remains linked to the One life by mysterious bonds, and can return to it again, purified by music. ...... As for the "geometric figure", that we may already have (whether applicable here or not) and although the concept of "organic motion" may strike some modern readers as strange, it is nevertheless an underlying feature in many ancient major works--the Timaeus of Plato especially. Here it may also be observed that by expressing the exponents of this short section of the Phi-series planetary framework in thirds, the sets [3, 6, 9 , [4, 8, 12] and [6, 12, 18] are also apparent--sets that may or may not be considered further with respect to other passages in Plato, etc. ...... It is in the same fashion that the Timaeus also tries to give a physical account of how the soul moves its body; the soul, it is there said, is in movement, and so owing to their mutual implication moves the body also. After compounding the soul-substance out of the elements and dividing it in accordance with the harmonic numbers, in order that it may possess a connate sensibility for 'harmony' and that the whole may move in movements well attuned, the Demiurge bent the straight line into a circle; this single circle he divided into two circles united at two common points; one of these he subdivided into seven circles. All this implies that the movements of the soul are identified with the local movements of the heavens. (Aristotle, On the Soul) ...... Mind is the monad, science or knowledge the dyad (because it goes undeviatingly from one point to another), opinion the number of the plane, sensation the number of the solid; the numbers are by him expressly identified with the Forms themselves or principles, and are formed out of the elements; now things are apprehended either by mind or science or opinion or sensation, and these same numbers are the Forms of things. Some thinkers, accepting both premises, viz. that the soul is both originative of movement and cognitive, have compounded it of both and declared the soul to be a self-moving number. (Aristotle, On the Soul) ...... Thus that in the soul which is called mind (by mind I mean that whereby the soul thinks and judges) is, before it thinks, not actually any real thing. For this reason it cannot reasonably be regarded as blended with the body: if so, it would acquire some quality, e.g. warmth or cold, or even have an organ like the sensitive faculty: as it is, it has none. It was a good idea to call the soul 'the place of forms', though (1) this description holds only of the intellective soul, and (2) even this is the forms only potentially, not actually. (Aristotle, On the Soul) ..... there will be a need for several sciences. The first and most important of them is likewise that which treats of pure numbers--not numbers concreted in bodies, but the whole generation of the series of odd and even, and the effects which it contributes to the nature of things. When all this has been mastered, next in order comes what is called by the very ludicrous name mensuration, but is really a manifest assimilation to one another of numbers which are naturally dissimilar, effected by reference to areas. Now to a man who can comprehend this, it will be plain that this is no mere feat of human skill, but a miracle of God's contrivance. Next, numbers raised to the third power and thus presenting an analogy with three-dimensional things. Here again he assimilates the dissimilar by a second science, which those who hit on the discovery have named stereometry [the gauging of solids], a device of God's contriving which breeds amazement in those who fix their gaze on it and consider how universal nature molds form and type by the constant revolution of potency and its converse about the double in the various progressions. The first example of this ratio of the double in the advancing number series is that of 1 to 2; double of this is the ratio of their second powers [ 4 ], and double of this again the advance to the solid and tangible, as we proceed from 1 to 8 [ 1, 2, 2^2, 2^3]; the advance to a mean of the double, that mean which is equidistant from lesser and greater term [the arithmetical], or the other mean [the harmonic] which exceeds the one term and is itself exceeded by the other by the same fraction of the respective terms--these ratios of 3 : 2 and 4 : 3 will be found as means between 6 and 2: why, in the potency of the mean between these terms [ 6 x 2 ], with its double sense, we have a gift from the blessed choir of the Muses to which mankind owes the boon of the play of consonance and measure, with all they contribute to rhythm and melody. So much, then, for our program as a whole. But to crown it all, we must go on to the generation of things divine, the fairest and most heavenly spectacle God has vouchsafed to the eye of man. And: believe me, no man will ever behold that spectacle without the studies we have described, and so be able to boast that he has won it by an easy route. Moreover, in all our sessions for study we are to relate the single fact to its species; there are questions to be asked and erroneous theses to be refuted. We may truly say that this is ever the prime test, and the best a man can have; as for tests that profess to be such but are not, there is no labor so fruitlessly thrown away as that spent on them. We must also grasp the accuracy of the periodic times and the precision with which they complete the various celestial motions, and this is where a believer in our doctrine that soul is both older and more divine than body will appreciate the beauty and justice of the saying that ' all things are full of gods ' and that we have never been left unheeded by the forgetfulness or carelessness of the higher powers. There is one observation to be made about all such matters. If a man grasps the several questions aright, the benefit accruing to him who thus learns his lesson in the proper way is great indeed; if he cannot, 'twill ever be the better course to call on God. Now the proper way is this--so much explanation is unavoidable. To the man who pursues his studies in the proper way, all geometric constructions, all systems of numbers, all duly constituted melodic progressions, the single ordered scheme of all celestial revolutions, should disclose themselves, and disclose themselves they will, if, as I say, a man pursues his studies aright with his mind's eye fixed on their single end. As such a man reflects, he will receive the revelation of a single bond of natural interconnection between all these problems. If such matters are handled in any other spirit, a man, as I am saying, will need to invoke his luck. We may rest assured that without these qualifications the happy will not make their appearance in any society; this is the method, this the pabulum, these the studies demanded; hard or easy, this is the road we must tread. (The Collected Dialogues of Plato) http://www.spirasolaris.ca/sbb4d.html
Hagia Sophia (Turkish: Ayasofya; Ancient Greek: Ἁγία Σοφία, romanized: Hagía Sophía; Latin: Sancta Sapientia; lit.'Holy Wisdom'), officially the Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque (Turkish: Ayasofya-i Kebir Cami-i Şerifi; Greek: Μεγάλο Τζαμί της Αγίας Σοφίας),[3] is a mosque and former church serving as a major cultural and historical site in Istanbul, Turkey. The last of three church buildings to be successively erected on the site by the Eastern Roman Empire, it was completed in AD 537. The site was an Eastern rite church from AD 360 to 1453, except for a brief time as a Latin Catholic church between the Fourth Crusade and 1261.[4] After the fall of Constantinople in 1453, it served as a mosque until 1935, when it became a museum. In 2020, the site once again became a mosque.
The current structure was built by the Byzantine emperorJustinian I as the Christian cathedral of Constantinople for the Byzantine Empire between 532 and 537, and was designed by the GreekgeometersIsidore of Miletus and Anthemius of Tralles.[5] It was formally called the Church of God's Holy Wisdom (Greek: Ναὸς τῆς Ἁγίας τοῦ Θεοῦ Σοφίας, romanized: Naòs tês Hagías toû Theoû Sophías)[6][7] and upon completion became the world's largest interior space and among the first to employ a fully pendentive dome. It is considered the epitome of Byzantine architecture[8] and is said to have "changed the history of architecture".[9] The present Justinianic building was the third church of the same name to occupy the site, as the prior one had been destroyed in the Nika riots. As the episcopal see of the ecumenical patriarch of Constantinople, it remained the world's largest cathedral for nearly a thousand years, until the Seville Cathedral was completed in 1520. Beginning with subsequent Byzantine architecture, Hagia Sophia became the paradigmatic Orthodox church form, and its architectural style was emulated by Ottoman mosques a thousand years later.[10] It has been described as "holding a unique position in the Christian world"[10] and as an architectural and cultural icon of Byzantine and Eastern Orthodox civilization.[10][11][12]
The complex remained a mosque until 1931, when it was closed to the public for four years. It was re-opened in 1935 as a museum under the secular Republic of Turkey, and the building was Turkey's most visited tourist attraction as of 2019.[20]
In July 2020, the Council of State annulled the 1934 decision to establish the museum, and the Hagia Sophia was reclassified as a mosque. The 1934 decree was ruled to be unlawful under both Ottoman and Turkish law as Hagia Sophia's waqf, endowed by Sultan Mehmed, had designated the site a mosque; proponents of the decision argued the Hagia Sophia was the personal property of the sultan. The decision to designate Hagia Sophia as a mosque was highly controversial. It resulted in divided opinions and drew condemnation from the Turkish opposition, UNESCO, the World Council of Churches and the International Association of Byzantine Studies, as well as numerous international leaders, while several Muslim leaders in Turkey and other countries welcomed its conversion into a mosque.
The first church on the site was known as the Magna Ecclesia (Μεγάλη Ἐκκλησία, Megálē Ekklēsíā, 'Great Church')[21][22] because of its size compared to the sizes of the contemporary churches in the city.[13] According to the Chronicon Paschale, the church was consecrated on 15 February 360, during the reign of the emperor Constantius II (r. 337–361) by the Arian bishop Eudoxius of Antioch.[23][24] It was built next to the area where the Great Palace was being developed. According to the 5th-century ecclesiastical historian Socrates of Constantinople, the emperor Constantius had c. 346 "constructed the Great Church alongside that called Irene which because it was too small, the emperor's father [Constantine] had enlarged and beautified".[25][23] A tradition which is not older than the 7th or 8th century reports that the edifice was built by Constantius' father, Constantine the Great (r. 306–337).[23]Hesychius of Miletus wrote that Constantine built Hagia Sophia with a wooden roof and removed 427 (mostly pagan) statues from the site.[26] The 12th-century chronicler Joannes Zonaras reconciles the two opinions, writing that Constantius had repaired the edifice consecrated by Eusebius of Nicomedia, after it had collapsed.[23] Since Eusebius was the bishop of Constantinople from 339 to 341, and Constantine died in 337, it seems that the first church was erected by Constantius.[23]
Tema anterior
Primer 
