Archdiocese of Constantinople

[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

[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]

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Church of the Virgin Hadzergiotissa Tekfoursaray

On the Sixth Hill, the highest in the City, at the centre of one of the most destitute quarters and only a stone's throw from breath-taking Chora Monastery is the church complex of the Virgin Hadzergiotissa. Gedeon states that "it suffered the well known fate of neighbouring churches, being destroyed by fire and rebuilt at the same time as they were. The present-day building, begun in 1836, was completed in January 1837".
Having passed through the entrance one descends a few steps to reach the level of the paved courtyard in which the church stands. Inserted in the west facade is a marble relief with an icon of the Virgin and the date 1837.
Immediately behind the sanctuary is the Aghiasma of Saint Paraskevi in a vaulted underground chamber.
The property is now in a distressing state of disrepair. If it were not for the constant efforts of the verger and parish priest, whom the Patriarch honoured with the dignity of Syngelos on 10 June 1999, and the few remaining parishioners, matters would be far worse.
Damp, a sly adversary, is rotting the timbers; that the plaster is cracking and peeling is all too evident on the wall next to the stairway up to the gynæcium, the women's gallery.
The unheated, locked-up buildings are doomed so long as they lack the constant presence and warmth of human beings. Nonetheless, here, as with almost all the churches in Constantinople, irrespective of whether the congregation is large or small, everything is spotless and cared for, and the oil lamps are kept burning.
Ismini Kapandai
Churches in Constantinople
Nikos Ghinis – Constantinos Stratos

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[Fr. Boutros Elzein]

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Church of Saint George Edirnekapou

The Church of Saint George Edirnekapou lies close to the Adrianoupolis Gate (Edirnekapou) and only a short distance from the shrine of Mihrimah, daughter of Sultan Suleiman I the Magnificent.
In one sense the church is the successor of an earlier Byzantine monastery destroyed by the Ottomans in 1555 in order to make way for the shrine of Mihrimah. The church was erected by special permission of the Sultan. "Permission having been granted", wrote Skarlatos Byzantios, "twelve years later [...] they built the still extant timber-roofed Church of Saint George which they named a Monastery in memory of the one that first stood there [...J".
Inscriptions inform us that the church was repaired in 1726 and completely rebuilt in 1836.
As Gedeon tells us, at one time the church was remarkably prosperous because only a short distance beyond the Adrianoupolis Gate there used to be windmills owned by Greeks and Bulgars. The guilds of all those who had anything to do with flour, such as millers and corn merchants, bakers, bread-roll sellers and Rusk-makers, in one way or another took the church under their protection.

Ismini Kapandai

Churches in Constantinople

Nikos Ghinis – Constantinos Stratos

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