The Church of the Divine Wisdom

The Money Changer of Ayasofya

The Hagia Sophia
Istanbul, Turkey
Spring, 1977
Six Years after King Solomon's Gate

He looked small, thin and scruffy. Rather a pathetic figure I thought as I approached him in the courtyard of the mosque to exchange my money for Turkish Lire. He was one of several Money Changers standing there doing their trade. I had been told this was the best rate in town.

I asked him how much and he glared at me, tossed his head back and quoted an outrageous exchange rate. A little startled, I smiled dismissively and said something sarcastic to him. He wheeled on his heel and closed the few feet between us menacingly. As he approached he held his hand high and I reacted to the threat by holding my right hand up to catch the blow which I anticipated. My fingers spread (in retrospect) like a baseball mitt. Instead, I felt his fingers probe my hand, as he transfixed me with a ferocious eyeball to eyeball stare,... and then grabbing my ring finger alone in his fist he swung his hand down. As our hands passed in front of my crotch I heard and felt the crack crack crack of my knuckle as it shattered. I pulled back with a yelp and extracted my finger from his grasp. As I held my hand in front of me the outer fingers dangled uselessly, my hand had been broken in half. Beyond the site of my broken hand, as I withdrew, he was steadily approaching me. A car came into view on the right as I backed into the street. I ran in front of the car and put the traffic between him and me and made my escape back to the pension.

In the spring of 1977 the building was the Ayasofya museum, before that it was a mosque, but when it was built by the Roman Emperor Justinian in 537 A.D. (creator of the Justinian Code of Justice) it was the Hagia Sofia church. On its opening day, Justinian is said to have exclaimed "Solomon I have outdone thee!". It was the greatest church in Christendom until St Peter's Basilica was built in Rome a thousand years later.

I had been dealing with a Money Changer
in the courtyard of the church of
Justinian.

Right Hand
April 30 2004
Imagine trying to defend yourself using just the top half :(

In the Temple courts he found men selling cattle,
sheep and doves and others sitting at tables exchanging money. So
he made a whip out of cords and drove all from the Temple, both
sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers
and overturned their tables.' (John 2:13-16)

Pending Resolution

As if getting your hand broken dealing with a Money Changer in the courtyard of Justinian's church isn't enough of a link to the first proof of a passage, like all these events it appears that there may be more. As in all Gate related events,... the deeper you look the stranger it gets. Altho it has been almost 30 years, it is hard to forget the face of a man staring eyeball to eyeball, inches from your face as he breaks your hand in half. It is also hard to be absolutely sure of an ID so many years later. However, the man who broke my hand in half was a ringer for Mehmet Ali Agca. Two years later Agca shot Pope John Paul in St Peters Square. Interestingly, Agca was at the time of my attack then active with the "Grey Wolves" group in istanbul. My attack was one of a set of organized attacks on tourists in Istanbul at the time. The attacks were primarily in response to the international hippie cafe the "Pudding Shop" a common stop for travelers en route to India from Europe at the time. The man who directed me to the Mosque was standing in front of the the pudding shop diagonally across the street from the Ayasofya. Unfortunately, requests to both the Vatican (Dr. Mario Farneti) and Turkish authorities to authenticate or disprove the connection by querying Agca have not been responded to and are ongoing. The event comes full circle (as many of them do) with my subsequent serendipitous appearance at the election of John Paul's successor Benedict 16th at the Vatican, standing where Agca shot John Paul. (See: Habemus Papam, the video is a real shocker !)

Documentary Sources: My Right Hand (See above), Allegheny College Alumni Bulletin November 1977 Pudding Shop Article

*The courtyard in front of the entrance with the three white archways together. To the first one who decides to go for the gold on this story... a suggestion... Tell Agca that there is a religious aspect, tell him the truth in general terms, that will motivate him. Ask him if he ever attacked tourists and where, and how then show him a "six pack" (eyeball to eyeball-Eleven Regrets for photo sources-Long Hair ) and give him time but insist on an environment where you can verify the absence of web access. My suggestion.