Halki Seminary hosts film screening

ISTANBUL - Anadolu Agency

A film screening was held at the Halki Seminary School for the first time.

Halki Seminary on Istanbul’s island of Heybeliada has opened its doors for a film screening for the first time. Within the scope of the Easter celebrations, Palestinian director Robert Savo’s new film “The Savior” made its special screening in Turkey in the seminary.

“The Savior,” which is based on the Gospel of Luke, tells the story of Jesus Christ from his miraculous birth, to his grueling death. The film is a message of peace for the whole world.

At a press statement before the film screening, Bursa Metropolitan Bishop and Hagia Triada Monastery High Priest Elpidophoros Lambriniadis said Halki Seminary has slowly begun to open. He said they did not have authority to open the venue as a school, but had the authority to open it for other events.

“Halki Seminary is already active as a monastery. Its library is open; it is open to congresses, music or other cultural events. This film is a very good one. The people acting in the film are all Palestinian Muslims. They made the life of Jesus Christ a film and they wanted to present it to us here. Of course we opened our doors and it has made us very pleased,” he said.

Leader of Bektashis

Lambriniadis also said the world leader of the Albanian Bektashi order also attended the screening and it was very significant to them.

“Our patriarchate has dialogue with the Islamic world. We have very good relations with the head of the Bektashis. The patriarch will go to Albania’s Tiran next month to attend the opening of a large church. One of the goals of Halki Seminary is to promote Islam to the world in a different way, because the world does not know Islam well enough like the west. But we have been living here together for centuries and know how to promote Islam to the world particularly through the perspective of Christians. This is why this film screening here has such an important meaning,” he said.

John Dorr, the American producer of the film, said that unlike shooting in the U.S., the film reflected cultures in Palestine, and that they had also shot footage in Bulgaria and Jordan.