Pray for the Liberation of Constantinople

Pray for the Liberation of Constantinople

On this Holy Post (Fast) for the upcoming Holy Pascha (the Christian Passover), let us, dear brothers and sisters of Christ and the Orthodox Church, and our fellow travelers, let us remember in prayer our holy city of Tsargrad, of Constantinople and the enslaved faith of our ancestors, still clinging to life, if only barely, under the yoke of the Islamic Turkish barbarians, who descended from western China and raped and pillaged their way to blue eyes and fair hair.

One of the greatest, if not the greatest center of Orthodox Faith and Theology, the resting place of innumerable Fathers, the Holy city of Constantinople fell 29 May 1453, 657 years of Islamic Jihadist rule and slavery, of unspeakable tyranny.


From an eyewitness account from George Sphrantzes, a close friend of the Emperor Constantine:

"As soon as the Turks were inside the City, they began to seize and enslave every person who came their way, all those who tried to offer resistance were put to the sword. In many places the ground could not be seen, as it was covered by heaps of corpses. There were unprecedented events: all sorts of lamentations, countless rows of slaves consisting of noble ladies, virgins, and nuns, who were being dragged by the Turks by their headgear, hair, and braids out of the shelter of Churches, to the acompaniment of mourning. There was the crying of children, the looting of our sacred and holy buildings. What horror can such sounds cause! The Turks did not hesitate to trample over the body and blood of Christ poured all over the ground and were passing his precious vessels from hand to hand;

"Christ our Lord, how inscrutable and incomprehensible your wise judgements! Our greatest and holiest Church of Saint Sophia, the earthly heaven, the throne of God's glory, the vehicle of the cherubim and second firmament, God's creation, such edifice and monument, the joy of all earth, the beautiful and more beautiful than the beautiful, became a place of feasting; its inner sanctum was turned into a dining room; its holy altars supported food and wine, and were also employed in the enactment of their perversions with our women, virgins, and children. Who could have been so insensitive as not to wail Holy Church?

God's judgement was passed upon the man, a heretic Greek converted to Islam, who led the Sultan's troops in the capture and murderer of Constantinople: Zaganos Pasha. Zaganos met his end at the hands of another Orthodox prince, 9 years later, while Jihading in Wallahia, where Zaganos and his cursed dogs met the good graces of Vlad the Impaler.

Let us remember the prayer of Patriarch Sergius, of Constantinople, who, during the Avar invasions of 626AD, led the city's defenders in this prayer: "To you, the Champion leader, Do I, Your City, Ascribe thank offerings of Victory, For you O
Mother of God, have delivered me from terrors; But as you have invincible power, Do you free me From Every Kind of Danger, So that to You I May Cry: Hail, O Bride Unwedded", from the Akathist Hymn that is sung during Great Lent.

So at this time of fasting, let us remember in prayer and ask for the help of God Almighty in the freeing of our Holy City of Constantinople, in the purging of the Islamic curse, in the conversion of the pagans to Christ, in the restoration of our holy relics and icons into the restored holy places of the Orthodox. Of a unity of all the Orthodox peoples against the Islamic pagans and the Western heretics.

Let us pray that this comes about peacefully but if that is not an option, then let us pray for the wisdom, courage and strength to take up sword and shield and lead the way to the freedom and return of Constantinople.