At Istanbul church, spring offers hope to Christians and Muslims

The queue outside Istanbul's Our Lady of Vefa church stretched more than 200 metres, made up of Christians and Muslims chatting animatedly as they waited to make a wish inside this Greek Orthodox sanctuary.

It was a scene which plays out on the first day of every month at this ancient house of worship hidden behind a high wall topped with a metal fence and known in Turkish as "the first-of-the-month church".

Recommended For You

UAE: New Etihad Rail passenger train station in Fujairah revealed

Israel-Hezbollah crisis: 4 ways UAE residents can donate to help Lebanon

UAE approves largest federal budget in history

3 in 10 employees in UAE, GCC are ‘bad hires’; how companies can avoid them

Dubai’s Global Village to open October 16: What’s new at the festival park this season

 

"We came before with friends and every one of our wishes came true!" said Emine Sanli, a Muslim woman who believes she was cured of a problem with her hands after drinking water from a spring under the church that is blessed by a priest.

"But it's the first time I've seen such a large crowd. Perhaps it's because the economy is so bad," grinned Sanli, 58.

At the entrance, the visitors, mostly women, bought small keys and offerings, each symbolising a different wish: health, inner peace, money, success, marriage, fertility and even "never-ending love".

A Georgian tourist who also came last year walked alongside the queue handing out sweets to those in line -- a Muslim tradition.

"When wishes are coming true... you have to come and give sweets to the people," said 35-year-old Tamar Khurtsidze with a smile.

For Aysun Zirhli, 49, there is nothing strange in a Muslim making a wish at a church.

"We can all have different religions, but we're all children of God," she said while chosing a sweet.

Inside the church, each person stuck to their own religious practices, whether by crossing themselves like Christians or praying with their hands open like Muslims.

Descending steps into an underground chapel, a man bent to fill a bottle with holy water from a row of taps set in marble.

There, a sign encourages visitors to wash their hands and face, but not their feet — a common Muslim practice.

Father Hieronymos Sotirelis of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople said the church's appeal had "transcended religious boundaries".

"The presence of pilgrims from different backgrounds serves to show that we can truly coexist despite, or even because of our cultural, linguistic, religious, and ideological differences," he said.