In referring to the 1955 pogrom, the Ecumenical Patriarch, His All Holiness Bartholomew I, on Sunday bemoaned the recent conversion of the Hagia Sophia and the Monastery of Chora into mosques, as well as the continuing prohibition against the operation of the Halki School, during an address at the seminary’s ceremony hall, and on the occasion of the ordination of an new Orthodox deacon.
His All Holiness stated that “…This very day, before 1971, when our school shut down, we had the pogrom. Today is the 65th anniversary of that tragic night of September 6-7… when barbarism destroyed homes, shops, and the Churches of law-abiding and innocent people. Even their cemeteries were desecrated and the mob disrespected our dead. No trace of culture, no trace of sensitivity.”
