In honor of the remaining Orthodox in Turkey . . .

The Orthodox Church in Turkey struggles as this poem about an ever smaller school of theology reflects. One hopes (no matter how unrealistically!) that the journey of Papa Ben to this land will lead to a resurrection of the Orthodox Church and Christianity in Turkey.

You were the invisible ladder between heaven and earth.
You set our souls on a voyage
to seek the pure and the grand.
Hiding our dreams in your warm embrace,
you gave us wings to travel all over the world...
Oh! How your pleasant figure withered so suddenly.
How the waves drowned your thunderous voice.
And now you stand dead alive, our ill-fortuned mother,
Expecting a bell to signal your resurrection.

- Anonymous poem by Orthodox theologians, "To Our Mother, the Theological School of Halki"