was located next to the Mosque, to determine any damage and to
Repair it. The tomb was opened, and at a depth of 3
An iron hatch was found from which a stone staircase led to the
underground hall of the Byzantine church. There,
the workers who were working were surprised to find a marble tomb containing
the embalmed body of Mehmed, complete with the portrait that the
Italian painter Bellini had painted 5 months before the death of the conqueror.
The fact that Mehmed was buried in the ruins of the Byzantine
church there is, for many, the greatest proof
that Mehmed wanted to be buried as a Christian and Byzantine king among
the other Byzantine emperors. It is known that Mehmed always said
that he was the successor of the Byzantine emperors.
Sultan Abdülhamid the second, who, for political reasons at that time,
had abandoned Pektasism, an Islamic sect that he
had always followed, and had embraced Sunnism, that is, orthodox Islam,
was consumed by panic and ordered that Mehmed's tomb be immediately sealed. The
The above happened before 1908, and since then, the tomb of Mu'adh has not been reopened. That is why
Even today it is difficult to prove Beyatli's testimony.
However, on December 19, 1996, the weekly newspaper with a large
circulation in Turkey, according to the well-known newspaper
Sabah was published with the following impressive title. The conqueror was
a Christian, and underneath, he had the victim. Historians have not been able
to solve this mystery until today, many centuries after the death of the great
Fatih, who Muammar the Conqueror, as is historically known, had a
Christian mother, most likely a Greek.
The fact that in today's Turkey, in which the Islamic element is dynamically reviving,
reports on such a subject are published, was a great proof of the
doubt about the real religious identity of Mehmed. Even
for the official Turkish establishment itself, and this takes on greater
value if we understand the following. Fatih, Muammar, the conqueror, was and
is one of the greatest taboos of Turkish history, Turkism, and
modern Turkish nationalism. That is why a leader like Fatih had to
personify, in addition to the national sentiment of the people, the religious one.
And yet there in the tomb of the conqueror lies the greatest secret of the
Ottoman Empire, as there were testimonies that said that next to the tomb
There was a cross and an icon of the Virgin Mary.
Muhammad the conqueror, in all probability, something that is
carefully hidden from official Turkish historiography,
had embraced Christianity at the end of his life. A religion that followed him throughout his
life, since his childhood, he had his first contacts with
it through his Christian mother. It is
known that one of the greatest historical enigmas is how a few
thousand Seljuks, Turks, and Ottomans who had come to Asia Minor
in the 11th, 9th, and 10th centuries managed, within a few centuries, to change the entire
ethno-religious character of a region inhabited by millions, many
say 20 million Greek-speaking Orthodox Christians. There are
many reasons. In fact, others mainly mention two reasons. One was the reason
for forced conversion to Islam, and the second reason was
conversion to Islam for reasons of interest. However, because this entire process of
religious conversion of Asia Minor was incomplete from its initial
beginning, it was often only superficial in many cases.
An important peculiarity that characterized Turkish Islam remained
as a heretical presence within the Islamic space.
Today, this issue is also being raised by many Turkish journalists and
researchers under the characteristic title, The Religious Problem of Modern
Turkey. On November 10, 2002, the Turkish newspaper
Milt celebrated the
memory of Saint Nektarios in a Muslim mosque. In the central Muslim mosque of the
The city of Silivria in eastern Thrace, which, before the Greek residents left,
It was a Christian church and is now the Fatih Mosque; the memory of Saint Nektarios was celebrated.
Nektarios, as that place was where Saint Nektarios
spent most of his life. However, the
priests who celebrated the memorial divine service were greatly impressed by the massive presence
of Turkish Muslims who, after their daily prayer, preferred to
Stay and attend the Christian service in honor of the
Great Saint of Orthodoxy. Greeks from Constantinople had also come for this divine service, as well as priests from Greece. And
as the Turkish publications and MliEt themselves report, although
It lasted about three hours; the Turks remained standing until the end, and
With great reverence, the Greek priests at the service.
The celebrant of the service was the representative of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, Father
Meletios, who, for the last two years, has been coming and holding a memorial service in
honor of Saint Nektarios in Silivria, an otherwise purely Greek city.
Father Meletios was also assisted by two priests who had come especially from Greece.
After the end of the service, Father Meletios thanked the faithful and
the Muslims who honored Saint Nektarios
with the same devotion and reverence as the Orthodox.
We will now go to another equally amazing publication. Here I have a
photo to show you. January 7, 2003.
This was a publication in most Turkish newspapers. A Turkish woman demonstrated
how to hold the cross at the blessing of the waters in Constantinople. Here is
the photo that clearly shows the headscarf-wearing Muslim woman who
jumped into the water with the Christians to catch the cross.
And the publication says that it has been 50 years since the waters were blessed
in the Kerat Bay in the Halic region. Those who know Halic are
in the Kerat area, as the Turkish press reports. And this time, a great miracle happened. A young Turkish woman, Suna Yavuz,
a resident of Yeşilköy, also felt the need to jump
into the water. When the priests threw the cross to catch it and receive
the blessing of the saint on this holy day.
The event was highlighted by a large part of the Turkish press, as for the first
time in many years, the church of St. Stephen of Yesil Koi and St.
George of Tsenggel Koi was celebrating the blessing of the waters at the same time that the
Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew was also throwing the Holy Cross in the
area of the Phanar in the presence of Mr. Karamalis and the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs
of Greece, Mr. Yiannis Magkotis. And while the Greek priests
say, and the Turkish publications write, they threw the cross into the sea of Halic
and some courageous heroes of the city were performing in the icy waters, the young
A Turkish woman also threw herself with her clothes into the sea to catch
At least touch the holy cross and receive the blessing.
Explaining her action later to Turkish journalists,
The Turkala, whose name is Sunavous, told her, astonished,
listeners that she did it to honor this Roman holiday and, as
She emphasized that if she were given the opportunity again, she would do it again and would again dive into the
waters to catch the cross and receive its blessing.
This event was considered by many scholars as another proof that
There are strong Christian remnants among the Muslim inhabitants
of today's Turkey. And it is another episode of recent years that
shows that this hidden Orthodox religiosity has
now begun to manifest itself in many ways. 2p March 2, 2003
Turkish newspaper Sabah article title
The Church of the Virgin Mary in Constantinople is the last hope for
The Turks write the Turkish newspaper
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