(It should be noted that Radi Dikici has published the books "Bizans İmparatorluğu Tarihi" (History of the Byzantine Empire), "Şu Bizim Bizans" (This Our Byzantium) and a novel titled Empress Theodora)
Historical accounts record how Empress Helen (Saint Elena), upon discovering the Cross outside the walls of Jerusalem, left a portion of it in Jerusalem and brought the rest back to Constantinople together with the nails.
Eventually it was placed in Agia Sophia for veneration.
According to Dikici, there is testimony that when the Crusaders sacked Constantinople in 1204, certain Byzantine dignitaries and priests took the Holy Cross and hid it in a secret place within Agia Sophia.
While Constantinople was under the Latin yoke, eventually those who hid the Cross died and its location has remained hidden ever since. Radi Dikici believes that the True Cross remains hidden somewhere within Agia Sophia.
Whether or not the Cross of Christ is indeed hidden within Agia Sophia today remains a mystery, but it is also interesting that such a story is not only being explored by a Turkish Byzantinist, but that it was circulated in one of Turkey's most popular daily newspapers.
Is it proof of Turkey's growing interest in Orthodox Christianity, it remains to be seen.
Reference
john sanidopoulos
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