Hagia Sophia #3

In 867, the Great Theotokos mosaic in the “apse” was finished or Patriarch Photius had the plaster removed! Maybe it was plastered over during the “Iconoclasm” period! “Theotokos” is the phrase used by Orthodox and Eastern Catholics for Mary, mother of Jesus, and is formed by the combination of the Greek words “theos” meaning “God” and “tikto” meaning “to give birth”, “bearing God”, “mother of God”. means...