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| An 1803 map from Cedid Atlas refers to Istanbul as Islambol (though the Bosphorus is called the Istanbul Strait on the map) |
By John Sanidopoulos
Last month President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey made remarks and answered questions on current issues in a joint interview with Kanal 7, TVNET and Ülke TV in Istanbul. Among the things he commented on was the name of the city of Istanbul, and whether or not it would be called Constantinople again. He said: "Istanbul will never be Constantinople." He further said: "This is Islambol. We do not have any Constantinople on our minds or in our dreams. We will not allow something like this to happen."
Islambol is a Turkish folk-etymological adaptation of Istanbul created after the Ottoman conquest of 1453 to express the city's new role as the capital of the Islamic Ottoman Empire. It is first attested shortly after the conquest, and its invention was ascribed by some contemporary writers to Sultan Mehmed II himself. Some Ottoman sources of the 17th century, most notably Evliya Çelebi, describe it as the common Turkish name of the time. Between the late 17th and late 18th centuries, it was also in official use. The first use of the word "Islambol" on coinage took place in 1703 during the reign of Sultan Ahmed III. The term Kostantiniyye (Costantinopolis) still appeared, however, into the 20th century.
These comments of the President of Turkey are in reaction to the shooter’s manifesto who was responsible for the deadly New Zealand mosque shootings. “We are coming for Constantinople and we will destroy every mosque and minaret in the city. The Hagia Sophia will be free of minarets and Constantinople will be rightfully christian [sic] owned once more,” the text reads.
The Turkish President reacted to this statement, calling the murderer a “scumbag, who dared to call the city by its former name.” Hagia Sophia will not be turned into a church again “as long as there is a Turkish people and soul,” Erdogan continued.
It is also a reaction to a statement made by the son of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, Yair Netanyahu, who commented on Twitter regarding a spat between his father and the President of Turkey.
“I will remind him that Istanbul is actually a city called Constantinople! The capital of the Byzantine empire and center of orthodox Christianity for more then [sic] a thousand years before Turkish occupation!” the younger Netanyahu tweeted on March 13, 2019.
“I’ll also remind him the genocide Turkey had done against Greeks, Assyrians, and Armenians! They ethically [sic] cleansed all Christians from Asia Minor!” he wrote in a subsequent post.
His Twitter tirade against the Turkish leader came after Erdogan blasted his father as a “tyrant” who “massacred” Palestinian children.
Erdogan was responding to comments from Benjamin Netanyahu slamming the Turkish leader as a “dictator” and “a joke,” after a day of tit-for-tat exchanges between officials in both countries.
After the tweets of Yair Netanyahu, President Erdogan urged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to “twist the ear” of his son Yair as punishment for calling Istanbul Constantinople. Erdogan said he had “other ways to educate Israel” if Netanyahu or his son continued with their name calling.
In light of these recent comments of President Erdogan, we must recall the predictions of some modern Orthodox saints and elders, who predicted that very soon Istanbul will be given over back to the Greeks and be called Constantinople again. Some have interpreted these predictions as divine prophecies.
Most noteworthy of these predictions is one attributed to the late Elder Sophrony of Essex, of whom it is said many in his circle have reported him saying: "Keep at the Prayer, many shocking events are coming. There will be an administration of the City [Constantinople] by three commissioners, one European, one Russian and one Greek, but after this a king will be nominated. In 2020 the capital of Greece will be Constantinople."
In less than two years we will find out if this is a legitimate prophecy or not.
