Orthodox Istanbul
Mighty Constantinople, the capital of the emperors, is the greatest city in the world. Orthodox Istanbul is what has been preserved about it over the centuries of Turkish rule. He is mute and will be discussed in this article.
Hagia Sophia, built in just the period from 532 to 537, became a symbol of Orthodoxy. Ambassadors came here from St. equal to Prince Vladimir, who conveyed to him the enthusiastic words: “We don’t know whether we were on Earth or in Heaven.” Byzantine emperors were crowned here, and St. Equal-to-the-Apostles Princess Olga. Orthodox Istanbul is the stronghold of Christianity in Turkey, and Hagia Sophia is its heart.
Almost on the shore of the Golden Horn Bay is the Greek Patriarchate. In the adjacent Cathedral of St. Vmch. George, pilgrims can venerate part of the column to which the Savior was chained during the scourging, the relics of St. John Chrysostom and Gregory the Theologian. Here you can pray at the mosaic icon of the Blessed Virgin Mary, taken by the holy Queen Helena from Jerusalem.
The courtyard of the St. Panteleimon Monastery in the ancient Karakoy district of Istanbul is especially close to the Russian heart. From the huge building, which completely belonged to the courtyard, all that now remains is the temple and the refectory at the very top of the multi-story building. Thousands of people forced to leave Russia in 1917-1922 found shelter and all possible help here. The Orthodox community, although small, remains here in our time. Priests who arrived from Saint Athos hold regular services. Those who wish can submit notes to the St. Panteleimon Monastery on Mount Athos.
On the temple on the northern outskirts of the old city rested the miraculous icon of the Most Holy Theotokos - Blachernae. It was here that the miracle of the Intercession took place, when in 626 the Patriarch and the inhabitants of Constantinople prayed in tears before the image of the Most Holy Theotokos for deliverance from the invasion. After the prayer, the great shrine - the Robe of the Most Pure - was dipped into the waters of the Golden Horn. The weather was sunny, but suddenly a barely noticeable and rapidly approaching cloud appeared on the horizon. Soon a furious storm began, scattering all enemy ships. Now a new temple has been built here, but an ancient source has been preserved where you can get holy water.
Another holy source of Istanbul is located in the temple, which is called the Life-Giving Spring. It has been known since the 5th century. According to legend, a Byzantine warrior named Leo wandered in despair through the forests growing in this area. He was oppressed by lack of money and the uncertainty of his own fate. Here he met a blind old man who asked Leo for water. Moving a little to the side, the warrior, burdened with heavy thoughts, discovered a source with surprisingly clean and tasty water. After giving the old man a drink, Leo received a revelation that he should not complain about his fate, for he would soon become an emperor. And so it happened - from a simple soldier, Leo, with God’s help, became the ruler of the Byzantine Empire. Many pilgrims sought to visit this temple, hoping for the help of the Savior. You can follow their example now - the source exists, and the water in it does not dry out.
Near the Cemberlitas light metro stop there is one of the most ancient monuments of Istanbul - the column of Emperor St. Constantine the Great. It was built around 330 and is thus the same age as Constantinople. Initially, a golden statue of the emperor stood on it, but in 1106, as a result of a strong hurricane, the statue collapsed. Then a golden cross was raised to the top of the column, but it too suffered a sad fate. In 1204, during the sack of Constantinople by the Crusaders, the precious cross disappeared. According to legend, the great shrines of the Orthodox world were hidden under the column: the ax with which Noah made the Ark, as well as several baskets of bread - left over after the miraculous multiplication of the bread by the Savior.
Ecumenical Phanar
Temple in the Patriarchate. Double-headed eagle on the Royal Doors - coat of arms of Byzantium
The Patriarchate is located in one of the most colorful areas of the city - Phanar or, in the Turkish way, Fener. "Phanar" means "lighthouse" in Greek, and there was once one in this place. The Greek intelligentsia, the Phanariots, traditionally settled here for several centuries. It was from the Phanariots that Greek-speaking officials were recruited to serve at the court of the Sultan.
The Orthodox clergy here, by the way, do not wear cassocks (except for the patriarch), but this is not a matter of fear of nationalists. This custom was introduced by Kemal Atatürk, Turkey's first president, who sought to make the country more secular and religiously tolerant. The Fez Ban law prohibited representatives of any faith from wearing religious clothing outside the temple.
Now in Istanbul it is difficult to recognize not only the priest, but also the Christian church by appearance: there are either no crosses at all, or they are not visible from the street. However, taxi drivers perfectly understand the word “Patriarchy” - the only thing they know from Christian realities - and they bring him straight to him. Or you can walk along the wonderful Golden Horn Bay, which divides Istanbul into two parts: Galata and the Old City.
In the right and left parts of the temple, along the southern and northern walls there are reliquaries with the relics of saints: on the right are the remains of holy wives, and on the left are husbands
The Patriarchate is several buildings of the 18th-19th centuries behind a high fence and without a sign. It is always open here during daylight hours. Quiet inside! White marble purity, sun and not a soul... To the right is the residence of the Ecumenical Patriarch, and if you need communication with anyone, then this is there. There is both a duty officer and a secretary. And if to church, then from the gates of the Patriarchate - forward. The Church of the Great Martyr George was built at the beginning of the 18th century. The inside is very beautiful: dark wood stasidia with griffin heads on the armrests, a gilded carved iconostasis. On the curtain of the Royal Doors is the coat of arms of Constantinople and the Ecumenical Patriarch: a double-headed eagle. And also not a soul... Only occasionally you can find one or two tourists or pilgrims here. The latter come here mainly from Greece, but there are also Russians. They know: precious Christian shrines are kept here. For example, to the right of the iconostasis there is a column; according to legend, the Lord was chained to it during the torture before the cross. The remainder of the ring to which the Savior was chained still sticks out from the column. It is believed that this shrine was brought from Jerusalem in 326 by St. Queen Elena. In the right and left parts of the temple, along the southern and northern walls there are reliquaries with the relics of saints: on the right are the remains of holy wives, and on the left are the remains of husbands. On the right you can venerate the relics of St. Euphemia of All Praise, Solomonia and Feofania.
Icon of the Holy Martyr Euphemia
At the beginning of the 3rd century, the proconsul of the city of Chalcedon - this is across the Bosporus Strait, now in this place the Kadikoy district of Istanbul - tried to force the Christians of the local community to make sacrifices to the pagan god. He especially wanted to persuade Euphemia, the young beauty, to do this. But Saint Euphemia said that “he would sooner be able to turn over the mountains on earth and move the stars in the sky than to tear her heart away from the true God.” Then the proconsul replaced persuasion with torture, but the faith of St. Euphemia couldn't. She sang prayers, calling on the Savior for help, and no matter how much torture she was subjected to, the Lord showed a miracle - St. Euphemia remained unharmed. Seeing all this, many believed in Christ. St. died Euphemia only after she herself asked the Lord about it. Then, as the life tells, the bear, the only one of all the animals with which they tried to poison the saint, inflicted a small wound on her - and immediately she gave up her spirit to the Lord. In Chalcedon, a church was built in honor of the saint, where in 451 the famous IV Ecumenical Council of Chalcedon was held, at which the heresy of Monophysitism was condemned.
The Old Testament saint Solomonia was the mother of the seven Maccabean brothers who came out in 166 BC against the wicked Greek king Antiochus Epiphanes, who desecrated the Temple of Jerusalem and forced the Jews to make pagan sacrifices. Before the eyes of St. Solomonia tortured and killed her children one after another. She bravely watched their deaths, and then died herself.
Holy Queen Theophania lived in the 9th century (+893) and was the first wife of Emperor Leo VI the Wise (886-911). Due to slander, she and her husband, then still heir to the throne, were imprisoned for three years. Having received freedom, she spent her life in prayer and fasting.
Our Lady of Mongolia: a church that never closed
This amazing church appeared in Constantinople during the formidable era of the Mongol conquests. The wild nomadic people, about whom Europe of those years had no idea, crushed half the world in a matter of years. The Mongols captured China, Persia, Rus', half of Europe. Detachments of nomads wintered near Paris! The Byzantine emperors, unsurpassed masters in managing territories, immediately realized that there was no point in fighting the Mongols. They were too strong, and Byzantium at that time was very weakened. The decision was made immediately. Dynastic marriage! And already in the middle of the 13th century, a gigantic embassy departed from Constantinople to Sarai-Batu (the capital of the Horde, the state formation of the nomads). Several thousand horsemen, foot porters, courtiers... All of them accompanied the illegitimate, but recognized by her father, daughter of Emperor Michael the Eighth Palaiologos. The girl's name was Maria, and she was destined to become the wife of the Mongol Khan Hulagu... But he, having conquered Baghdad, fell ill and died of a fever. Undeterred, the Mongolian nobility gave the girl in marriage to the khan’s son, Abagh. Several interesting descriptions of Mary’s stay in the camp of nomads have been preserved. The girl, accustomed to the sea and the city, was at first very homesick, but then found herself in faith. Queen Maria - the second wife of the khan (they practiced polygamy) - protected Christians at court and built several Orthodox churches in Sarai. True, like all buildings of that time among the Mongols, they were made of wood and have not survived to this day. After Mary's husband died, she was sent home with honors to Constantinople. Here Mary decided to devote her life to religion without reserve and took monastic vows. Under the new name of nun Melania, the Mongol queen lived in the city on the Bosphorus for several more years and died, having managed to found a church in the year of her death (1282). This is the temple of Mary of Mongol. The temple, perfectly preserved to this day, was opened after the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople. They say that the decree that it is forbidden to open a mosque here was signed by Sultan Mehmet the Conqueror himself. And the paper with his signature was kept in the temple in the most honorable place. Therefore, the Istanbul Church of St. Mary of Mongol is the only Orthodox church in the city that has not been closed for a single day. By the way, the temple has another name - Bloody. And it is named so not because of the blood, as many people think, but because of the red color of the bricks that were selected for construction. Among the highlights of the church are its unique mosaics, which depict gospel scenes. The largest and most beautiful is a mosaic portrait of the Virgin Mary.
The blind gates are closed. There is complete silence on the street. But knock harder and a guard will come out accompanied by a mongrel: “Come in, come in.” That's all she can say in English. And she will express the categorical and incomprehensible ban on photography in eloquent gestures: they say, you can’t go inside, go to the yard! There is reverent darkness in the temple (the windows are shuttered) and silence. I don't want to leave.
Blachernae source: where the miracle of the Intercession happened
All that remains of the famous Blachernae Temple. Once upon a time, the robe, cover and part of the belt of the Blessed Virgin Mary were kept here
Under Constantinople, apparently, there are giant aquifers. Throughout the city you can see active or abandoned springs - sometimes unnamed, sometimes with inscriptions in Turkish or Greek, like the source of St. Kharlampy on the embankment near Phanar. Many of these sources were revered by the inhabitants of Constantinople as miraculous. One of the most famous is in the Blachernae Temple (so named after belonging to the area - Blachernae), more precisely, in the surviving small part of it. The temple was built over a spring in the 5th century and is famous for the fact that the robe, head cover and part of the belt of the Blessed Virgin Mary were once kept here.
The temple was built by Emperor Leo the Great specifically to store these shrines. In 860, the robe of the Mother of God saved Constantinople from the attack of Slavic ships that appeared in the Bosporus under the leadership of Prince Askold. In honor of this event, the holiday of the Placing of the Robe was established - July 2.
Here, in the Blachernae Church, in 910 the miracle of the Intercession of the Virgin Mary took place. Then Constantinople was besieged by Muslim Saracens. On October 1, during the all-night vigil, the holy fool Andrew and his disciple Epiphanius saw the Most Holy Theotokos walking through the air with angels and a host of saints. The Most Holy Virgin prayed for Christians, and then spread Her Veil over all those praying in the temple. Soon the Saracen troops retreated.
Life-Giving Spring
Bubbles with water from the Life-Giving Spring in the temple are always in large quantities
Not far from Constantinople, a healing spring has been revered since ancient times. The Byzantine historian of the 14th century Nikephoros Callistus retells the legend about the warrior Leo, the future emperor Leo Marcellus (5th century), to whom the Mother of God herself pointed to the miraculous source and ordered to build a temple on this place. The temple was built and was highly revered due to the numerous miracles that took place in it. The corresponding iconography is also associated with the Life-Giving Source: the Virgin Mary with the Child in her arms in a font from which streams of water pour out. Every year on Bright Friday a religious procession was held to the Church of the Life-Giving Spring. In Russia, according to researchers, the feast of the icon of the Mother of God “Life-Giving Source” came approximately in the 16th century.
The Temple of the Life-Giving Spring is located in the Balykli Monastery, which means “red fish” in Turkish. There is a folk legend that the fish that were once found in the font of the Life-Giving Spring were unusually red. The monastery is quite far from the Patriarchate, outside the ancient city walls built by Emperor Theodosius II in the 5th century. The monastery buildings that now stand above the source were built late - in the 18th-20th centuries, and people are rarely allowed into the source itself: on Holy Week and on other special days. But there are plenty of bottles of water from the Life-Giving Spring in the vestibule of the temple. From here, from the vestibule of the temple, you can get into a small courtyard, which in the last two centuries has become the resting place of the Patriarchs of Constantinople.
Among the places memorable to Christians in Istanbul there is also the Studite Monastery, the abbot of which was St. Theodore the Studite, and the Church of John the Baptist in Trulla, where the Fifth-Sixth or Trullo Council took place in 691-92, and the Church of St. mts. Irina, where three hundred years earlier the First Ecumenical Council took place.
Compound of the St. Panteleimon Monastery on Mount Athos.
In the church there is a copy of the miraculous icon of the Vladimir Mother of God. The temple is located on the sixth floor of an ancient monumental building, built in 1873 specifically for the courtyard of the Athos Panteleimon Monastery. The metochion was created with the aim of helping Russian pilgrims traveling through Istanbul to holy places - Jerusalem and Holy Mount Athos.
The rite of consecration of the church on February 2, 1879 was performed by Greek Patriarch Joachim III. The interior decoration of the church amazes with the brightness of its colors. The fact is that several years ago the temple underwent restoration, and all the frescoes on the walls and ceiling were painted anew with a donation from one of the parishioners.
There is a terrace around the house. Here after the service parishioners hold tea parties.
The temple contains unique icons - the miraculous image of the holy martyr Panteleimon, painted in 1898 in the Panteleimon Monastery on Mount Athos specifically for this temple, and the miraculous icon of the Mother of God of Vladimir. The latter appeared here shortly after the construction of the church. According to legend, it was given to the temple by a nun from Russia, a nun of the Ascension Convent, Mitrofaniya. In 1879, going to venerate the Holy Sepulcher, she stopped at the Panteleimon Metochion. The icon, which she never parted with - such was her parental blessing - she allowed to be temporarily placed in the local church. Since there were still few images in the newly founded temple, the monks persuaded Mitrophania to leave his icon at least for the duration of the trip. Nine years later, the nun returned and took her icon. However, soon after returning home, she became seriously ill: her face began to literally “rot alive.” Doctors could not find a way to cure her and promised her a quick death. On the feast of the Dormition of the Mother of God, Mitrofania covered her face and went to the Assumption Cathedral, where she cried bitterly and asked for help from the Mother of God. Suddenly an unfamiliar woman approached her and asked: “Did you take the icon from Constantinople?” and ordered the image to be returned to the temple of the Panteleimon Metochion. The woman immediately walked away and disappeared. No matter how much the nun looked for her, she could not find her. But I remembered the words of the stranger: “Put the icon back in its place, and you will get better.” As soon as Mitrophania prepared the icon for sending to Constantinople, her illness stopped. Having lived a long life, Mother Mitrofania never got sick again. And the icon is still kept in Istanbul...
Church of Desire.
There is one ancient Greek church in Istanbul. Locals call it the church of one day (since it is open only on the first day of each new month) or the church of wish fulfillment. It is located in the Unkapani area and is called Ay Bir Kilisesi or Meryem Ana Ayazmasi or Vefa Kilisesi. Not only Christians come here to pray - Orthodox, Catholics, Protestants... In the inner church there is a huge number of ancient, incredibly “strong” icons dating back to the 9th-11th centuries. At the entrance, everyone purchases special keys. When “closing” the icon frames, you need to make a wish. They say that there are no such desires that would not be fulfilled. Among the places memorable for Christians in Istanbul there is also the Studite Monastery, the abbot of which was the Venerable Monastery. Theodore the Studite, and the Church of John the Baptist in Trulla, where the Fifth-Sixth or Trullo Council took place in 691-92, and the Church of St. Irina, where three hundred years earlier the First Ecumenical Council took place. You can get acquainted with all these and other temples in more detail on a tour of the Holy Places of Istanbul. excursions
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