Heybeliada

The United States' Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom Sam Brownback has expressed Washington's support for the reopening of the Halki Theological School, the Athens-Macedonian News Agency said on Friday.

In the wake of the visit by Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras to Turkey, contacts between Athens and Ankara will continue next week in the context of Wednesday's NATO summit of defense ministers, where Evangelos Apostolakis and his Turkish counterpart Hulusi Akar will discuss confidence-building measures.

Ecumenical Patriarch Vartholomaios and Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras on Wednesday expressed their shared hope that the Halki Orthodox seminary, which was shut down by Turkish authorities in 1971, will soon reopen.

Alexis Tsipras on Feb. 6 became the first Greek prime minister to pay a visit to the Orthodox Halki seminary located on Heybeliada Island, the second-largest of the Princes’ Islands in the Sea of Marmara. Click through for the story in photos...

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras (4-L), his partner Betty Peristera Baziana (2-L), Greek Orthodox Patriarch Vartholomaios (3-L) and Ibrahin Kalin (L), a special adviser to the President of Turkey, visit the Theological School of Halki, Wednesday. Tsipras and Vartholomaios both voiced hope that the seminary, closed since 1971, will soon reopen. [EPA]

Ecumenical Patriarch Vartholomaios on Wednesday hailed a "highly symbolic" visit by Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras to the Halki Orthodox Seminary on an island off the Istanbul coast.

Vartholomaios expressed the hope that the school, which was shut down by Turkish authorities in 1971, will reopen soon.

Ecumenical Patriarch Vartholomaios on Wednesday hailed a "highly symbolic" visit by Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras to the Halki Orthodox Seminary on an island off the Istanbul coast.

Vartholomaios expressed the hope that the school, which was shut down by Turkish authorities in 1971, will reopen soon.

Alexis Tsipras on Wednesday visited an Istanbul seminary shut down in 1971, becoming the first serving Greek prime minister to do so.

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras will on Wednesday visit an Istanbul seminary shut down in 1971, reigniting hopes it will be reopened by Turkey and once again train priests for the Greek Orthodox community.

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras will on Wednesday visit the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul.

The visit, which takes place on the second day of Tsipras's trip to Turkey, is scheduled to take place at 9.15 a.m.

Built in the 6th century under order of the Byzantine Emperor Justinian, Hagia Sophia - a UNESCO world heritage site - was once Christendom's greatest cathedral.