Archdiocese of Constantinople

[Fr. Boutros Elzein]

The church of Panagia Mouchliotissa

The church of Panagia Mouchliotissa is located at the Phanar quarter, between the Megale Schole and the Joachimian Girls School, not far from the Metochion of the Holy Sepulchre. In older days the origin of the church's name had given rise to a minor philological argumentation. S. Kugeas maintained that the name derived from Mouchlion, at Mystra, the inhabitants of which had settled in this area of the Phanar quarter in 1242. H. Gregoire, M. Lascaris and Gennadios Metropolitan of Heliopolis, believed that it is the Greek rendering of the Slavonic word mogyla. Indeed, the church was known by the names «St. Mary of the Mongols or Mougouls» and more commonly «Panagia of Mouchlion or Mouchliotissa» (Paspatis).
The history of the church provides the answer. Maria Palaeologina, daughter of Michael VIII Palaeologus (1261-1282), was given in marriage to the Khan of the Mongols, Hulagu or Abagu (Pachymeres). After the death of her husband she returned to Constantinople and founded the convent and church, probably in 1285. The founding of the convent is mentioned in the Paris Codex Gr. 2625.
According to written sources, the convent of Mouchlion was built on the site of an earlier monastery dedicated to the Theotokos Panagiotissa, which had been ruined, apparently by the Latins (Pasadaios). Maria Palaeologina bought the grounds with the vineyards and whatever structures existed, repaired some of them, erected new ones, and organized the women's convent. She endowed the monastery with relics, valuable vessels, manuscripts, lands in Constantinople and Rhaedestus, spending all her fortune. This information is obtained from a synodical †††††††† of 1351 (Miklosich and Müller, vol. I, 312-15), according to which the Ecumenical Patriarchate decreed the restitution to the monastery of the entire fortune seized by the usurper brother-in-law of Maria Palaeologina, Isaac Palaeologus-Asen. Asen, whom Maria had appointed by a chrysobul trustee of the monastery's properties after her death, used the revenues to his own advantage and the convent was facing dire poverty.
After the Conquest, Mehmet II made a present of the church to the Greek architect Christodoulos, as a reward for the construction of the Mosque of the Conqueror (Fatih Camii) at the site of the demolished church of the Holy Apostles. The firman issued by Mehmet the Conqueror saved the church from being converted into a mosque under Selim I, and the Panagia Mouchliotissa has remained an Orthodox church to this day.
The church, of irregular plan, stands within an enclosure with a small courtyard. Its most remarkable architectural feature is the elegant dome supported by four piers, though its size is rather disproportionate to the dimensions of the building. The apse to the east has survived, while traces of a second apse to the north reveal the old triconchial plan of the sanctuary. The entire south side was enlarged in later times to create a rectangular chamber with a cross-vaulted roof. Some traces from a representation of the Last Judgment are the only remnants of the old painting decoration of the church. An annotation on the manuscript of Suidas's Lexicon (Paris Codex Gr. 2625) informs us that the church was painted by Modestus in the late 13th century.
In addition to the mosaic icon of Panagia Mouchliotissa, dated by Soteriou to the late 13th-early 14th century, another four post-Byzantine icons are notable: St. Paraskeve (1.35x0.40 m.) St. Euphemia (1.35x0.40 m.), the Three Hierarchs (1.25x0.60 m.) and the Sts. Theodoroi (1.27x0.54 m.). The belfry in the courtyard is of later date.

Athanasios Paliouras

[Fr. Boutros Elzein]

Holy Shrine of the Virgin Vefa

The Church of the Mother of God and the Aghiasma known as Vefa stand opposite the Comnenian monastery of the Pantocrator. In Byzantine times the quarter was called “Ta Sophrakiou”, but later it became Vefa Meidan, taking the name of a distinguished Turkish poet, Seyh eb ul Vefa.
According to legend, Constantine Palaeologus, the last emperor of Byzantium, is buried in Vefa Square in an "invisible and insignificant" grave, besides which is the grave of the Arab who killed him. Tradition relates that as he fell Constantine cried out "μ' έφαγες!" ("You've done for me!"), the name 'Mepha' and thence 'Vefa' deriving from his last words.
The church was demolished after the Fall in 1455 and a garden was laid out on the site. In 1750 the garden was bought by an Epirote one of many thousands who left the craggy mountains of continental Greece to seek their fortune in the City. His daughter had a dream that there was an Aghiasma on the property and followed her father to Constantinople to persuade him to search fork. Excavations in 1755 revealed the passage-way and reservoir as well as a marble icon dated 1080. On the death of the Epirote and his daughter the Aghiasma passed to his heirs. Over the years it was purchased from them by the Macedonian Educational Brotherhood of Constantinople, which carried out extensive repairs and alterations. Twelve steps lead down from the church to the Aghiasma. It is said that in addition to a number of ex-votos preserved there, the marble icon, now broken, is kept there in a bronze casket.
Here too, as at Blachernæ, on the first day of every month Turks, both men and women, wait patiently in line with Christians to collect some holy water which they sprinkle about their homes and shops. On New Year's Eve the queue stretches to even a kilometre in length.

Ismini Kapandai

Churches in Constantinople


Nikos Ghinis – Constantinos Stratos

[Fr. Boutros Elzein]

Church of Saint Nicholas Tzivaliou

The earliest known references to the church complex, consisting of the Church of Saint Nicholas, the Chapel of Saint Charalampos and the Aghiasma, occur in Turkish documents of 1724 and 1837. Writing about these sultanic enactments, Gedeon states they are proof that a church stood on the site at a time prior to the Fall of the City.
A typical example of the manner in which the Christian communities of Constantinople are organised -the church standing in an enclosure protected by tall courtyard walls and surrounded by school buildings, meeting-rooms and philanthropic and cultural associations- the Saint Nicholas complex, renovated in 1998 by the Nikolaos Vardinoyannis Foundation, is in a fine state of preservation.
The approach from the north is down a stairway, for the level of the coast road has been raised. The church covers the greater part of the north-eastern area of the enclosed space, while the Aghiasma is situated in the south-eastern.
The Chapel of Saint Charalampos stands in the southern sector. The walling and the architecture, which incorporates Phanariot stonework, stem directly from Byzantine styles. The exterior on the Keratios (Golden Horn) side is of unusual interest since it is one of the few examples of a building that links late Byzantine with post-Byzantine architecture.

Ismini Kapandai

Churches in Constantinople

Nikos Ghinis – Constantinos Stratos

[Fr. Boutros Elzein]

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Church of the Virgin Paramythia - 'Vlach Saray'

The «most beautiful ruins» in the City, if one takes the liberty in speaking of ruins to call them beautiful.
The entire district that includes the church, close by the Metochi of the Holy Sepulchre in the Phanar, was once owned by the rulers of Wallachia. Their palaces, the "Saraya of Vlachia ", stood in the same quarter and so the church became widely known as Vlach Saray. The Constantinopolitan Ghikas, Soutsos and Cantacouzinos families used to attend this church, among them omnipotent individuals like Michail Cantacouzinos 'Seitanoglou' (Son of the Devil). The latter was a close friend of the Grand Vizier Sokoli (1560-1575) and holder of the salt monopoly. Cantacouzinos was destined one day, when his fortunes were in decline, to be hanged on the order of Mural IΙΙ from the great gate of the palace he owned at Anchialo.
The church has a long and tragic history, undergoing frequent destruction and restoration. It was burnt down in 1640 and again in 1729. Rebuilt in 1730 it was saved, as if by a miracle, from another conflagration at the end of the 18th century. It was again rebuilt in the mid 19th century only to be wholly destroyed by fire in 1970.
The visitor who manages to penetrate the ruined area, now that the level approach from the rear is no longer feasible because the neighbourhood grocer has turned it into a storage space for his wooden crates, will feel his heart miss a beat as he reflects that for a decade at the end of the 16th century the Patriarchate was established here and the local Synod of 1595 met in this place.
Leaving the site for the Golden Horn, the thought crosses the mind that it would be a blessing indeed if this venerable ruin were restored from its very foundations.

Ismini Kapandai

Churches in Constantinople

Nikos Ghinis – Constantinos Stratos

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[Fr. Boutros Elzein]

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Church of the Dormition of the Mother of God Valinou

Following the sea-walls along the shore of the Golden Horn, before reaching the Church of Saint Demetrios Xyloportas one arrives at the Church of the Mother of God Valinou.
Built and rebuilt like many others after the great fires which devastated the district, it is in an abject condition today. Externally the building is in urgent need of conservation, while the interior is slowly but steadily being destroyed by damp.
The attribute Balinou takes one back lo Magister Pavlinos who held office under Theodosios fl. nicknamed 'the Small' (409-450).
The church, whose finances were in a pitiful state, was on the point of being sold when Meletios Pigas, Patriarch of Alexandria, rescued it by settling its debts in 1597. Later it came under the protection of the rulers of Wallachia. Nonetheless, its economic well-being, though at one time it did take a turn for the better, can never have been on a sound footing, for Gedeon notes that "the church treasury gave meagre sums to works of public benefit".
There is no mention το be found of a school, he continues, and attributes this to the likelihood of the children of the parish attending classes at the adjacent school of Saint Demetrios at Xyloporta.
Ismini Kapandai
Churches in Constantinople
Nikos Ghinis – Constantinos Stratos

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[Fr. Boutros Elzein]

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Church of Saint Demetrios Xyloportas

The Church of Saint Demetrios Xyloportas, "known as 'tou Kanavi'," writes A.G. Paspatis, "was an ancient church with a dome, its interior decorated with mosaics. This church was destroyed and the present timber-roofed building was erected in the early years of the 18th century".
Notwithstanding, no other source mentions a Byzantine church -"it is never mentioned in Byzantine writings"- and the only connection which can be made is through the attribute 'Kanavis', linking it with the patrician Nikolaos Kanavos who was living at the time of the first conquest (1204).
Renovated successively in 1730, 1835, 1933 and I960, as evidenced by inscribed tablets on the walls, it was restored most recently in 1995, at the expense of G. Vassilopoulos.
The church is of considerable historical importance as it accommodated the Patriarchate for three years. For a period of about one hundred and forty years after the Fall of the City in 1453 the Patriarchate had no fixed abode. Once Aghia Sophia had been converted into a Muslim shrine the scat of the Great Church of Christ was for a while at the Church of the Holy Apostles, but it was later required to abandon that noble Byzantine church and to be received at the Church of the Virgin Pammakaristos. About a century afterwards it moved from there to the district of the Golden Horn. It left the Church of Saint Demetrios Xyloportas for the Virgin Paramythia to end up eventually, in 1601 or 1602, at the Monastery of Saint George (in the Phanar district) where it has remained ever since.

Ismini Kapandai

Churches in Constantinople

Nikos Ghinis – Constantinos Stratos

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[Fr. Boutros Elzein]

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Church of the Virgin of Souda Egri Kapou

The Church of the Virgin of Souda Egrikapou, a timber-roofed basilica built on the same site where once the 13th-century Byzantine Church of Saint Nikitas had stood, close to the Palaces of Blachernæ and the Egri Kapou Gate, was renovated in 1999 by Ioannis Andropoulos. However, the wooden building and the entrance to the complex on one side of the church had already been totally destroyed by fire.

We know that the church was set fire to in 1640 and again in 1728. An official Ottoman †††††††† refers to the latter event and permits repairs to be made on the grounds that "since the conquest this church has remained in the possession of the Orthodox Greeks ".
There used to be a Greek school and a medical centre and asylum within the enclosure of the Church of the Virgin of Souda.
Beneath the altar of the church is an Aghiasma, approached down fourteen stone steps. It is a space with a vaulted roof and marble floor and contains a marble reservoir. According to Gedeon it is a remnant of a Byzantine ablutionary.
The asylum in the church complex, described in an inscription as
serving indeed as a free hospital
a new Siloam for all who attend it,
was resorted to by the unfortunate insane, but ceased its mission in February 1839.
Ismini Kapandai
Churches in Constantinople
Nikos Ghinis – Constantinos Stratos

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