Archdiocese of Constantinople

[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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[Fr. Boutros Elzein]

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Church of Saint George Antiphonitis in the Phanar

Of impressive size, this three-aisled, stone-built and timber-roofed basilica is a handsome building of 1830. It has a very fine narthex and an iron bell tower. The Church of Saint George Potiras, recently restored by two brothers, Christos and Ninos Elmacioglou (1998), once belonged to the family of "the Logothetis (Chief Secretary) of the Great Church, Georgios Potiras".
The church stands at the far end of a delightful garden with shady trees. The courtyard is protected by an enclosure wall of particularly line workmanship.
Gedeon confirms there is no earlier mention of the church than one dating to 1648. Nevertheless, it is possible it served briefly as a patriarchal dwelling when the Patriarchate was evicted from the Pammakaristos.
The attribute 'Antiphonitis', which should be 'Christ Antiphonitis', arises from a delightful legend. In bygone times, it is said, there was a usurer who insisted that another Christian owed him money. The poor man attempted in vain to prove it was not so. In the end, despairing, he made a proposal: "Let's go to the icon of Christ. If your conscience allows you to, repeat those lies there ". The usurer went along with him, and when the icon heard him it contradicted him ('antiphonise') and the poor man was vindicated.
There are some fine marble reliefs and some inscriptions. An enormous earthenware jar is embedded in the right-hand wall of the narthex to receive offerings of olive oil. Next to it is an inscription with an exhortation:
Christian, whenever you bring an offering lo the altar
Your pious hand should pour the olive oil herein
In Photira 1.12.1883

Ismini Kapandai

Churches in Constantinople


Nikos Ghinis – Constantinos Stratos

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[Fr. Boutros Elzein]

Church of the Virgin of the Heavens Salmatovroukiou

The level of the kalderimia, the stone-paved streets of Constantinople rises whenever they are repaired, for the new layer of flag-stones is laid over the old. That is why the doorway into the courtyard of the Church of the Virgin of the Heavens, whose feast day is 15 August, is now half-buried.
Regrettably, both the church itself and the school and other buildings within the enclosure, like the 'Romaic' or Greek school opposite, are now in bad repair.
The attribute «Kyria ton Ouranon», Queen of the Heavens, may be explained as a Greek rendering of the Armenian word 'Takavor' or 'Takouaran'. These are names by which Armenians refer to the Virgin, and as the old church had once belonged to a noble Armenian family its dedication was changed first to 'Ta Koronia' and later to 'Kyria ton Ouranon'.
The church complex is cared for by Vassilis Trapzanoglou and his wife Marianthi. Born in Trabizond, Trapzanoglou has been a church-warden for forty years on end and remembers the times when the parish consisted of forty families, of which only one remains today: his own.
The church is timber-roofed and the nave or central aisle is tunnel-vaulted. It possesses a fine templo and, in the north aisle, an Aghiasma. The sacred fountain-head is of marble and has two spouts, it is incised with a cross and the inscription "Aghiasma of Saint Kyriaki", below which are the words "Dedicated by L. Toptsoglou 1959".

Ismini Kapandai

Churches in Constantinople
Nikos Ghinis – Constantinos Stratos