Hagia Sophia and the little known last Divine Liturgy

"Some weeks before, Anna Notaras had wished that the candle of worship within Hagia Sophia might flame up one last time. Although she was herself absent that evening, the sound of voices raised in song came to her ear through the window of her room in the Rose Palace. She lay on her front, listening, silently weeping in joy and despair, while Zenobia gently rubbed balm into her wounded back. For the first time since its Latin desecration, the people had converged on the great church. Greek and Latin, Venetian and Genoese, side by side; united in a last solemn ceremony, a final plea to God. Stood among beggars and lords in the dark, lamp-lit basilica, John Grant watched with a quiet calm as no ritual was spared, no relic left unparaded. All had come. All, in their finest robes, to the mother church one final time. Ranks of soldiers, merchants and millers, fishermen and sailors, all joining their voices to rise and fall in the harmony of rhythmic chanting. The sound re-echoed from the walls and rose with the incense vapour, up, up, into the curving embrace of the dome. The gaunt emperor led a solemn procession beneath a banner of the two-headed eagle, joined by the Latin cardinal Isidore and all the local churchmen, absent Gennadius. It seemed at last that here the two halves of the faith were united; the great schism forgotten. The relic of the true cross was paraded, and soldiers kissed its silver casing, that it might instil divine strength to them for the hours ahead. Then, having taken the sacraments, the emperor fell to the floor and begged God to forgive all their transgressions. He bowed in all directions and took his leave, followed by Grant and the rest of the army, leaving behind a vigil that would continue through to dawn."  Chapter 32 of Porphyry & Ash begins with the service conducted on the night of the 28th May 1453 as the depleted Byzantine & Latin defenders prepare to face the final assault. That dawn vigil will of course be ended by Janissary bursting into the great church and within a matter of days it would be converted into a mosque.

As Erdogan seeks to turn Hagia Sophia from a museum back into a mosque, it would be understandable to think that the liturgy John Grant witnessed on the night of the 28th was the last one performed in Hagia Sophia, but this is not so. There is a little known historical footnote to the buildings history as a church. The last Byzantine Rite performed there took place just over a century ago, on the 19th January 1919. This is the story of a bold priest & a bubble in the Turkish control of Constantinople.

The Armistice of Mudros, signed on the deck of HMS Agamemnon, concluded the Ottoman empire’s involvement in WWI on 30 October 1918. Two weeks later French & British troops began the occupation of Constantinople. They would remain for 5 years until 4 October 1923 when Kemalist forces retook the city following the Treaty of Lausanne.

Meanwhile the Russian Civil war was underway. As part of the Allied intervention against the Bolsheviks, an international expeditionary force sailed to the Ukraine in early 1919 including two divisions of the Greek army.

On route, the fleet docked at Constantinople & the military chaplain of the Greek 2nd Division along with 4 officers determined to go ashore & perform the Divine Liturgy in Hagia Sophia – at the time still a functioning mosque.

The chaplain was Eleftherios Noufrakis (Father Lefteris) from Rethymno in Crete. He and the 4 officers hired a local Greek boatman to row them ashore and lead them quietly to the doors of Hagia Sophia. 

At the door, a guard asked in Turkish what they were trying to do, but with the city under occupation, he had little authority against allied officers.

Father Eleftherios moved quickly, identifying the location of the Sanctuary and the Holy Altar. Finding a small table, he put it into place, then opened his bag and took out everything needed for the Divine Liturgy. Then he put on his stole and began the first Byzantine rite in Hagia Sophia for 466 years.

As this went on, an incredulous crowd of local Muslims worshippers began to watch in silence. Lefteris placed the antimension on the table, to do the Proskomidi. He then took a small Holy Chalice out of his bag, as well as a paten, a knife & small prosphoron, even a bottle of wine. 

News of what was happening had spread around outside the building. The crowd was growing, both Turks & Greeks. The atmosphere was changing. Nonetheless the Divine Liturgy was completed without interruption.

As the five soldiers made to leave, the crowd began to shout. Outside they there attacked by one man with a stick but made it back to the boatman & were rowed to their ship. The incident caused a brief diplomatic ruckus. Greek Prime Minister Eleftherios Venizelos appologised publicly but privately congratulated Lefteris.

Father Lefteris died in 1941 during the Nazi occupation of Crete. His monument can be seen in the village of Alones.