The specificity of Orthodoxy, which is not centralized around a single authority, but around different patriarchates or autocephalous Churches (Constantinople, Moscow, Bucharest, etc.), also explains the multiplication of places of worship: each patriarchate or Church autocephalous wishes to be able to welcome his faithful in a place that is his own.
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Furthermore, adds Serge Model, “Unlike Protestants or Muslims who rely less on liturgical objects and can more easily hold their celebrations in a room, the Orthodox are keen to meet in a consecrated place, the shape of which more or less recalls their places of worship. “origins”. This is the case for Catholic churches which they will furnish with an iconostasis (partition decorated with icons which separates the nave from the sanctuary), for example. You just have to open the doors of the Cathedral of the Holy Archangels – avenue de Stalingrad in Brussels city – or the Serbian Orthodox Church of Saint-Sava – rue des Étangs Noirs in Molenbeek – to discover traces of the Catholicism on which grafted the Orthodox cult. It is therefore not complicated to move from one worship to another – some churches are even shared [c’est le cas de l’église du Divin Sauveur à Schaerbeek]. Others could therefore follow this “conversion” in the future, predicts Serge Model.
Islamic worship is not closed to taking over churches
For the moment, it is not the Church’s intentions to entrust a Catholic place of worship to the Muslim faithful. The reasons given are heritage: if the building is classified with its furniture, what should we do, for example, with stained glass windows or statues which could not find their place in a mosque? They are also symbolic: seeing a church transformed into a mosque would undoubtedly be very difficult for some Christians.
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“We have no problem with the fact that the Catholic Church prefers to entrust its churches to other Christian denominationsreacts Michaël Privot, administrator of the Muslim Council of Belgium, the current representative body of Islamic worship to the State. However, the Islamic cult has already said it is open to being able to recover churches in Brussels. The Turkish community, for example, had expressed its interest in the Sainte-Marie church in Schaerbeek. Theologically, such a reassignment would not pose a major problem for Muslims. Today, the chapel of Saint-Louis University, originally Christian, has become a place of interfaith prayer and, throughout history, we have seen places pass from one cult to another . Orientation, for example, has never been an absolute. The great mosque of Fez is not quite oriented towards Mecca.”
”From a heritage point of view, I think we could also find solutions. If the church is not listed, the furniture could be moved, as is the case in deconsecrated places. If the building is listed, we could certainly imagine placing hangings in front of the stained glass windows during times of prayer, for example. The only point that could slow down Islamic communities from taking over a church would be the cost of maintaining the building.”
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