Norwich bulletin., 1915-03-09
THE WAR PRIMER By National Geographic Society

Sancta Sophia The wonderful
 beauties and the rice history of sancta
 Sophia, which is to the Greek church
 what the site of the Temple at Jer-
 usalem is to the Jew, and except for what St. Peters is to the Catholic,
 is described in a statement prepared
 by the National Geographic Society. It is of peculiar interest at this time
 because the repossession of Sancta
 Sophia represents the goal of Rus
 sia's ambitions during several centu- ries. Whether the present war will
 result in the restoration of this great
 edifice to the religion which built it is one of the questions that the church
 world everywhere is asking.
 Christianity has been productive of
 many wonderful places of worship, of
 temples richer in treasure and more
 beautiful ill workmanship than those
 which have grown out of any other
 lecture received their highest eX-
 pression in sacred building, so much
 so in the case of Gothic that the lay
 mind confuseS that architectural type
 with pictures of the wonderful cathe-
 drals of France and Germany. Chris tian temples are among the most won
 derful architectural accomplishments
 of all times, and by far and away
 their most resplendent example is that
 of Sancta Sophia, the oldest, the most
 LAo'3AAIACSlLlB LIO COSL1y, luS
 most interesting of all Christian
 churches.
 "Sancta Sophia is become an in
 spiration to all Greek Orthodox belief
 who are fighting in the present bat
 m2ther-church for all the. Catholic
 world, so Sanca Sophia is the mother
 church of all of Greek faith. One is the metropolitan of the East, the other of the West, and both are the T,dn 1D1n of ifnf I1,oI splendor within their faiths. Both are churches that cost almost fabu- lous sums in the building, and Sancta Sophia cost almost twice as much as St. Peters, or more than any temple since history began for the Christian world.
 Tt Is estimated that Sancta Sophia, including the value of ground, ma terial, labor, ornaments and church utensils, cost about $64,000,000, while
 Peters the chief present splendor of the Eternal City, is placed at $48, ,000, 000. No other temple has ever ap- preached Sancta Sophia in the var iety and preciousness of its marbles and in its prodigal employment of sil- yer, gold, and precious stones.
 ''The first church constructed upon the site of Sancta Sophia was built at the direction of the first Christian Emperor, Constantine. in 326. Work Oil IlI0 SICdl pll0 Ol tl0 pICSCAAL erable cathedral was begun by Jus tinian in 533. Ten thousand workmen were employed until it's completion, and the wealth of the whole empire was put to the severest test to fur nish the steady golden stream which flowed and flowed for the carrying out of the idea Schools were stopped, it is said, that the salaries of the teach CTS might be diverted to Sancta SO- phia's benefit and the lead pipes of c a nj nrN1a T7oa1fnd
 order to make sheeting for it's roofs. Europe, Asia and Africa contribut- ed Of their resources and Of their his
 toric marble columns and panels that
 the great cathedral might be, unsur- passed among the glories of earth.
 Some say that the great work was fin- ished in the marvelousely short time of ten years, others are positive, even.
 that 1t was ready in six years. How ever this may be, 1t required 120 years to build St. Peters at Rome; 35 years
 to build St. Paurs in London: 300 years to build the Milan Cathedral, and 615 years to build the Cathedral of Cologne. There are millions of Greek Orthodox who are looking confidently
 forward to the day when Sancta So-
 phfa will again be the principal cathe- | dral of their worship.
 "A bewildering wealth of legends cluster around the old cathedral, now defaced and mutilated as Turkish
 mosque, and these legends throw a veil of the supernatural around it. One legend, which the Greeks like to remember, is that of the hishop who was celebrating mass as the wild Turkish hordes under Mohamnet II, conqueror of Constantinople, broke in to, the church, and who escaped their fanatic wrath by walking into a niche
 made by the opening wall which again closed behind him. This priest is waiting in the wall for the day when
 Sancta Sophia once more comes under
 Christian power; when he will leave celebration of the end of Turkish
 rule, the service in which he was in terrupted 800 years before