  It's a bit early for a commemoration of the Fall of Constantinople (Tuesday 29 May 1453) even by the Gregorian Calendar, but I found something on urlLink Pensate Omnia that was thought provoking: During the early occupation of Constantinople, dishonourable Turkish soldiers killed, raped and sold thousands of Orthodox Christians to the slave markets of the east.
Other soldiers searched through the houses of the wealthy finding extraordinary opulence and immense quantities of gold buried in their gardens. This hidden gold could have sustained the whole of Europe for many years. The wealthy people of the city, paying homage to Sultan Mohammed II, instructed their children to present offerings of gold bars on trays.
Mohammed II became very angry at this display of wealth asking, 'if you had so much gold, why did you not offer it to your Emperor when he asked for support to defend the Empire? ' It was the rich who told the Emperor to "sell the Holy Chalices and other liturgical instruments, and use the gold of the Church to defend the Empire". Are these words repeated today in our churches? [from an urlLink article on repentance ] I think we all know the answer to that question. 
