Halki or Heybeliada is the second largest of the Princes' Islands in the Sea of Marmara, near Istanbul. It is officially a neighborhood in the Adalar district of Istanbul, Turkey and it is approximately one hour by boat from the shore of Constantinople.

The large Naval Cadet School overlooks the jetty to the left as you get off the ferry. There are two interesting pieces of architecture on the grounds of the school. One is Kamariotissa, the only remaining Byzantine church on the island, and more importantly the last church to be built before the conquest of Constantinople. The other is the grave of the second English Ambassador to be sent to Constantinople by Elizabeth I of England, Edward Barton, who chose to live on Heybeli to escape the bustle of the city.

To the right of the jetty lies the town with its bars and cafes, a hotel that stays open all year round, and many lovely wooden houses.

At the top of the central mountain is an 11th century Greek Orthodox monastery, it housed the Halki Theological School, the main Greek Orthodox seminary in Turkey and Theological Seminary of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople. The monastery attracts tourists from all over Greece and Turkey.

To prevent the island from becoming polluted, the only motorized vehicles permitted on the island are service vehicles (ambulance, fire, police, and the like), the only forms of transport are by foot, horse and buggy and service transport. There is no airport; the only way of getting there is by boat.

The winter population of the island is around 3,000, but in the summer, the owners of the summer houses return and the population swells to approximately 10,000 people. The main attractions during the summer are small-scale open-air concerts laid on the local council, a swimming and fitness club next to the sea, and an annual Independence Day march which is commemorated by a resident naval band touring the island.

The Theological School of Halki is located at the top of a hill called the Hill of Hope , on the island of Halki. On the grounds of the School is the monastery of the Holy Trinity which was founded during the Byzantine period, though the exact date of its establishment is unknown.

The reestablishment and reconstitution of the monastery are associated with the Ecumenical Patriarchs Photius I the Great, Metrophanes III, and Germanos IV. Germanos IV (1872-1845) visited the monastery in 1842 and saw the School's reconstruction and reconstitution which was approved by the Turkish authorities. On the 1 st of October 1844, with a special ceremony to mark the occasion, the operation of both the monastery and the Theological School were resumed.

The theological facilities include the Chapel of the Holy Trinity , sports and recreational institutions, dormitories, an infirmary, a hospice, offices, and the school's library with its historic collection of books, journals, and manuscripts. The students at Halki included not only a large number of native born Greeks, but Orthodox Christians from around the world, which gave the school an international character.

Numerous Orthodox scholars, theologians, priests, bishops, and patriarchs graduated from Halki, including the current Patriarch Bartholomew I and his immediate predecessors, Patriarchs Demetrius, Athenagoras, and Maximus V . Many patriarchs, bishops, and former teachers of the school are buried on the grounds.

According to the School's internal regulations the School maintains an interorthodox regime with a clear Ecumenical character. Because it functions as a monastic brotherhood it only accepts male laymen, clerics or monks. However, during its last phase, and for only a brief, it accepted married males as auditors. Student dress within the School is the mandatory short black cassock.
Students are allowed limited outings on designated days but special permission for emergency or special occasions is granted according to circumstance. In cases where the students, upon completion of their studies, choose not to be ordained they are required to compensate the school for expenses incurred.

Generally the students, upon qualifying, join the ranks of the clergy either during their studies or upon graduation. The proportion of ordained is quite high, approaching 80 percent. At the center of student life is orthodox worship and participation in a multitude of church functions.
Great weight is given to the teaching of Byzantine music and graduates of the school are distinguished for their knowledge in this area.

The purpose and significance of the Theological School of Halki may briefly be summarized as follows: the School operates as a monastic brotherhood in a place of peace and quietude, in a Patriarchical Monastery that is far from the hustle and bustle of the city.

The prevailing temper of the School is one of intense academic and ecclesiastical and theological Schools of Alexandria, Antioch, and Constantinople. The School prepares and educates its students for theological studies and the ecclesiastical order. It serves the clerical needs of the Ecumenical Patriarchate as well as other Autonomous Orthodox Churches.

The present Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomaios, the entirety of the clergy of the Synod, many noted clerics in Greece and abroad, and a number of university professors are graduates or students of the School of Halki.

The Halki Theological School was closed by an action of the Turkish government in 1971, and since that time, has been subject to actions by government agencies that seek to curb its activities.

Its closure constitutes a breach of Article 40 of the Lausanne Treaty and Article 24 of the Turkish Constitution which both guarantee religious freedom and education. Their provisions are also embodied in Article 9 of the European Convention of Human Rights and therefore the closure of the Halki Seminary can only be viewed as an illegal abuse of human rights and a violation of democracy and international law.

It is really sad to visit those empty class rooms which stand there expecting the students to arrive and bring life and joy to them. They have been constructed to offer knowledge and cultivate the future generations. They had succeeded at the past but the chain was broken and now they remain silent expecting to see what would happen next.

Halki has received international attention in recent years. In October 1998, both houses of the United States Congress passed resolutions that supported the reopening of Halki. The American President Bill Clinton visited Halki during his visit to Turkey in 1999 and urged Turkish President Suleyman Demirel to allow reopening of the school. The European Union has also raised the issue as part of its negotiations over Turkish accession to the EU.

The Patriarchate had hoped that promises from the Turkish government to allow the seminary to reopen would be enacted, this has not come to pass as of yet.

During the guided tour at the gardens of the monastery I passed in front of the statue of Ataturk (Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, founder of the modern Turkey) and I asked to learn what the sign which was engraved under the statue means. The priest made the translation of the sign for me. It was a phrase of Ataturk about the knowledge. I impressed by it and I wrote it in my notebook in order to remember it for the future.

"Science enhances life"

So... let's leave knowledge to be distributed freely everywhere. Let's try with science to make the next generations better than us. Let's leave Theological School of Halki to fulfil its function for humanity, the science of Theology.

One morning, 9 years ago, in Canada (I was in Ottawa that period) checking my morning emails, my eyes were stuck at the header of one of them. "Re-open Theological School of Halki" and it was the announcement of a new project from Hellenic Electronic Center, a non profit, non governmental organization of Greeks in USA. This email was the occasion which pushed me to start searching to learn about the issue of Theological School of Halki.

I am not a religious person and I rarely attend in liturgies or religious meetings but I support whatever I believe that comply with equity. More than 50.000 persons all around the world supported the HEC's project about Halki and left their signature at the web site which was designed for this reason. I work for this project and I am proud for the achievement because for me it was a matter of justice.
Maybe we did not succeeded in our task and the Theological School of Halki remains closed until now but it was a peaceful way to ask what we believe that is right and maybe some time at the near future we will see it open again and its empty class rooms be filled with the future Theologists and clerics of the orthodox Christian church.

I have to thanks Ms. Eleni, one of the friends I made from those web pages, who sent me by email the three photos which mark moments of the history of the Theological School of Halki. In these photographs we have the opportunity to see students and professors of the seminary and among them the Ecumenical Patriarch Dimitrios I(he died on 1991), Alexandros Kantonis, Bishop of Kavalas and Filippon and Meliton Chatzis, bishop of Halkidonas.

I traveled in Turkey because I wanted to visit the Theological School of Halki. It was my dream the last 7 years to be there and visit the area and the monastery.

I hope you enjoyed the tour and the information about the "Theological School of Halki". I hope that some time in the future to be able to write a blog about the " Re-opening of the Theological School of Halki ".