#church of Constantinople

[teenageascetic]

“Everything will be very simple and easy if you decide to do it unto God, for God’s sake, and to the glory of God. Everything in life and in the soul will immediately come together.”

-Father Ioann Krestiankin.

[religious-extremist]

Westerners often accuse the Orthodox Church of losing the essence of Christianity, because the Orthodox lands were subjugated by Islamic powers: the Eastern Roman Empire fell to the Ottomans, the conquest of Constantinople, Jerusalem, Antioch, Alexandria.

The funny thing with Islam is that, when it conquers a foreign land, their leaders demand a tax, the jizya, from those who do not convert to Islam. The more Christians converted to Islam, the less jizya they were able to collect; so they didn’t want too many of the Christians to convert to Islam, because then they would have less money.

But then Westerners say, God must have despised the disobedience of the Eastern Romans, of the Christians who called themselves Orthodox! They say that’s why God punished the Greeks; He used the Turks to destroy the Greek people and oppress their religion and scatter them and their congregation.

St. Kosmas the Aetolian spoke well when he said that God indeed showed His mercy upon the Greek people when, instead of letting them fall into the hands of the Venetians, the Papists, God preserved the Greeks by allowing the Muslims to take Constantinople instead. The Fall of Constantinople, this great tragedy which was indeed caused by the apostasy of the Greek people’s hearts, was also a great blessing.

Had the Venetians taken over, subjugated the Orthodox under the Papist yoke, we would have lost the Orthodox faith, forced to conversion. The Muslims at least had some incentive to preserve Orthodox Christianity amongst the Eastern Romans: that is, to collect taxes from them.

So those who had no faith in Christ our God had apostatized and became Muslims, and the ones who remained became saints, of faithfulness stronger than diamonds and brilliance more resplendent than the sun. The purest of gold can only be tried by fire, after all. Even the Old Testament spoke of “the righteous remnant.” And so, until today, the Orthodox faith remains unadulterated, preserved by these souls, the bulwark of Orthodoxy.

[elestirenadam]

Geleneksel İstanbul Turu 2024 Sezonu 2. Tur.

📍Edirnekapı Mihrimah Sultan Cami

Mimar Sinan'ın eseri. Üsküdar'dakinin yanı sıra Fatih'te de bir Mihrîmâh Sultan için yapılan camiî var. İskender Pala gibiler Sinan-Mihrîmah âşkını anlatır ama tamamen safsatadır.

📍Kariye Cami

Diğer adıyla Azize Kurtarıcı Hora Kilisesi... İkonakırıcılar, Latin istilası, deprem vs. rağmen mozaikleri ve freskleri en iyi korunmuş yerlerden biri. Metokhiles'in yeniden inşasında Bizans Rönesansının en çarpıcı eserlerindendir.

📍Tekfur sarayı

Diğer adlarıyla Blakernai veya Porfiroğenitus Sarayı. Ben biraz geç gittiğim için içeri giremedim. Theodosius surunun yanındaki bu yer, zamanında heybetli bir yapıymış. Günümüze tek bölümü ulaşsa da görülmeye değer.

Ayrıca not düşeyim. Bence Karagümrük'ten Balat'a inen sokaklar yapısı, sakinliği ile Balat'tan çok daha güzel. İnançlı kişiler buradaki sahabe mezarlarını da ziyaret edebilir.

Ayrıca Pisa Kulesi'nin eğikliğini hepiniz beğenirsiniz ama Eğik Kapımız yeterince değer görmüyor... Tamam evet bir Pisa değil ama bizim de eğikliklerimiz var...

Şu kapıdaki işlemeler çok hoşuma gitti. Not düşeyim.

📍Balat

Son olarak Balat arkadaşlara gezdiriliyor ve Cennet Mahallesi'ndeki atıl kalmış evler gösteriliyor, finalinden memnun kaldınız mı sorusu sorulup gezi ufaktan bitiriliyor...

[mydeaddad]

"asoiaf is based off the middle ages, they should be wearing this! [posts 16th century fashion]"

?

[gospocki]

Aya Sofia 🕌

[blueiscoool]

A Roman Statue Unearthed on the Site of St Polyeuctus’ Church in Constantinople

At Saraçhane Archaeology Park, where the Church of St. Polyeuctus is situated, excavation work by Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (IBB) teams found a statue that is thought to date back to the Roman era.

There are modest ruins of a structure that was once the largest church in Constantinople and was constructed to resemble the Solomon Temple in Jerusalem in a small park right in the middle of Istanbul’s Fatih neighborhood, close to the location of the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality.

Before the erection of the new Hagia Sophia by Emperor Justinian in 537, the Church of Saint Polyeuctus was the largest temple in .

Although only ruins remain from the church, it is very important in terms of shedding light on an important period in Byzantine history. The church was built by Anicia Juliana, daughter of Olybrius, a former Western Roman emperor. The church, which was the most magnificent structure of Constantinople in the years it was built, was dedicated to a Christian martyr named Saint Polyeuctus.

The Church of St. Polyeuctus, built in A.D. 524 was destroyed after being used for various purposes. However, after some historical artifacts belonging to the church were discovered during the construction of an underpass in the 1960s, excavation works were carried out in the church.

Following a six-year hiatus, excavation work was resumed by IBB Heritage teams affiliated with the Cultural Affairs Directorate. A statue was discovered approximately 1 meter (3 feet) deep in the fill on the north side of the main structure where excavation work was being done. The marble statue’s head, legs, and right arm were found to be broken at shoulder height. The figure, dressed in a himation that exposes the upper right side of its body, is thought to date from the Roman period. The exact age and period of the statue will be determined after further examination.

At the excavation site, Mahir Polat, the deputy secretary general of the IBB, said: “The Polyeuktos Church’s ruins will be exactly 1,500 years old soon. Yet, there were also buildings in the Roman period before the Polyeuktos Church was built on this site. After it was destroyed, there were also different buildings in the Ottoman period. This is a truly unique point for Istanbul’s urban archaeology.”

“We are in a collection of buildings that are almost a summary of Istanbul, which was the capital of three empires. Since June 2022, we have started intensive excavation work and re-planning of the site. This building complex represents a unique momentum in Byzantine history and subsequent periods of the world’s architectural history. It was built just before the Hagia Sophia as the most magnificent example of the ‘domed basilica’ architectural style. We think that Hagia Sophia was built to be pit against the church,” he said.

Adding that the artifact may have been dedicated to Asclepieion, the god of medicine in ancient Greece, he said: “Along with a Byzantine archaeological excavation in the field, there is actually data from pre-Byzantine Roman archaeology. Part of it had been excavated for many years, but we, as the IBB, included the northern part that was not excavated at the time,” he said.

About the statue, Polat emphasized: “With our studies, we think that this finding, a Roman-period statue, dates back to the A.D. second century. With these studies, we hope to find the lost head or other parts of the body.”

Polat also stated that the artifacts found during the excavation would be exhibited soon.

By Leman Altuntaş.

[andijaart]

+++🙏🏻God Bless🕊️+++

Venerable Marcian of Constantinople, Presbyter

MEMORIAL DAY JANUARY 23

The Monk Marcian, presbyter and economist of the Great Church (in Constantinople), was born in Rome and received his primary education in Constantinople in his youth. After the death of his parents, the Monk Marcian used his rich inheritance to build, renovate and decorate churches. So, he built a church in the name of the holy martyr Anastasia, richly decorated it, and transferred the holy relics of the martyr to it. He also built the church of the Holy Martyr Irina. His moral purity and strict ascetic life drew the attention of the patriarch to him, who ordained the Monk Marcian to the priesthood and appointed him the steward of the Great (patriarchal) Church in Constantinople.

The Monk Marcian distributed generous alms from his estate, but he was distinguished by his lack of possessiveness, denying himself everything. According to the Savior's commandment, he did not have two clothes, so there was nothing to replace his weather-soaked clothes.

Having received the gift of miracle-working, the Monk Marcian healed the sick and cast out demons. Saint Marcian died in 472-474 and was buried in the monastery of St. John the Baptist in Constantinople.

💫 International Orthodox Art Corporation Andcross

May the blessing of the Lord be upon you!

[a-modernmajorgeneral]

Another chalice in San Marco, also likely looted from Constantinople by the crusaders, incorporates a vivid green glass bowl of Islamic origin. Decorated with a stylized running hare motif, the bowl was cut with a rotating wheel, a lapidary technique commonly used for sculpting stones. As such, it was likely produced in Islamic lands: either in ninth- or tenth-century Iran, or perhaps tenth- or eleventh-century Egypt, where this technique was used. Eastern Roman artisans probably transformed the green glass bowl into a chalice in the eleventh century with the addition of a silver gilt setting, gems and pearls, and an enamel inscription. Now partially lost, the inscription once read, “Drink of this all of you, this is my blood of the new covenant, which is shed for you and for many for the remission of sins.” These words, spoken by Christ at the Last Supper and repeated by the clergy during the celebration of the Eucharist in the Eastern Roman Empire, enable art historians to identify this vessel as a Eucharistic chalice with confidence.

But how did this Islamic bowl end up in the Eastern Roman Empire and why did the Eastern Romans transform it into a chalice for the Eucharist?

It is possible that the green glass bowl came to Constantinople the same way that it eventually traveled from Constantinople to Venice: as booty from war (though not a crusade). The Eastern Romans made military gains against their Islamic neighbors to the east during this period and may have taken this glass bowl as plunder from Islamic lands. On the other hand, war was not the only way that objects traveled between cultures in the medieval Mediterranean, and there is no evidence that this bowl was brought to Constantinople as war booty. Historical documents record that glass vessels like this one were sometimes among luxury objects exchanged as diplomatic gifts by Eastern Roman rulers and their Islamic neighbors, so it is possible the green glass bowl came to Constantinople as a diplomatic gift from the Abbasids, Fatimids, or some other people. It is also possible that the green glass bowl simply came to Constantinople through trade. The tenth-century Book of the Eparch (a book of Eastern Roman commercial law) testifies that there was a market for Islamic goods in Constantinople at this time. But since we lack explicit textual evidence to corroborate any of these theories, we cannot say for certain how the green glass bowl came to Constantinople.

Materiality and ornament

As with the Romanos chalices, the materiality of the green glass bowl was surely an important factor in this object’s reuse. The stunning green hue of the glass bowl is unusual among surviving Islamic glass work. Both its color and its fashioning with a wheel were likely intended to produce the appearance of a precious stone, such as an emerald. And as with other Eastern Roman glass chalices, the transparency of the green bowl would have enabled worshippers to glimpse the Eucharistic wine while the inscription around its rim affirmed that it was the very blood of Christ.

The bowl’s running hare motif, however, is unique among surviving Eastern Roman chalices. Many Eastern Roman viewers would likely have recognized the angular hare motif as not Eastern Roman and perhaps even as Islamic in origin. This raises questions about why such a vessel might be converted into a chalice for the Eucharist, and how Eastern Roman users would have understood it.

Art, court, and diplomacy

To answer these questions, it is important to understand this vessel as a product of both the church and court of Constantinople. Although this chalice bears no donor inscription like those attributed to emperor Romanos, its costly materials and high quality of craftsmanship indicate that it too was likely commissioned by an emperor or some other elite patron in the court in Constantinople. As such, we can understand this vessel as one of many examples of Eastern Roman appropriation and imitation of Islamic culture in the tenth and mid-eleventh centuries. Such Islamic or Islamicizing elements appear on Eastern Roman clothing, jewelry, and lead seals of this period. Eastern Roman emperors and members of the court likely adopted such Islamicizing objects to project wealth, power, and a cosmopolitan identity.

In addition to their primary ritual functions, there is also evidence that sacred objects like chalices sometimes played a role in Eastern Roman diplomacy. The eleventh-century Eastern Roman historian John Skylitzes describes how the emperor Leo VI led Arab diplomats into the church of Hagia Sophia and showed them sacred vessels and other church objects—an episode illustrated here in a twelfth-century copy of Skylitzes’s history. In this scene, two Arab figures enter the church from the left, while the emperor—crowned and clad in gold—points to a golden chalice and other church objects held for display by church officials.

So, we can conclude that the patron of the chalice with hares likely intended Eastern Roman viewers (and perhaps even foreign visitors) to recognize the Islamic origin of the green glass bowl with hares. To display such a beautiful object of Islamic origin in tenth- and eleventh-century Constantinople was to project wealth, power, and a cosmopolitan identity. If there were any concerns about using an Islamic object for Christian religious purposes, the chalice’s Eastern Roman setting with its Christian inscription must have rendered the glass bowl suitable for use in the celebration of the Eucharist. An inventory of objects in the church of San Marco from 1325 mentions a “green chalice decorated with silver,” perhaps referring to the chalice with hares and suggesting that this object may have continued to function as a Eucharistic vessel even after it was transferred from Constantinople to Venice. Together with the Romanos chalices, the chalice with hares shows the important roles that materiality, ornament, and craftsmanship could play in an object’s cross-cultural mobility, reuse, and preservation through the centuries.

Byzantine chalice which originated as a green glass cup or bowl which originated from either Egypt or Iran in the 9th-11th century. When it made it's way to the Byzantine Empire it was decorated and turned into a chalice

[whats-in-a-sentence]

Ignoring the armies outside Constantinople's walls, the Byzantine emperor Heraclius had "borrowed" gold and silver from the church and sailed off to the Caucasus, where he used the loot to hire his own nomadic cavalry from the Turkic* tribes on the steppes.

*Historians use "Turkic" to describe steppe nomads ancestral to the modern Turks, who migrated to what we now call Turkey only in the eleventh century.

"Why the West Rules – For Now: The patterns of history and what they reveal about the future" - Ian Morris

[midwestaesthetics]

Hagia Sophia, former Byzantine Church and Ottoman Mosque in Istanbul, Turkey. Original church was built in 360 AD and updated several times. The current structure stems from the reign of Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Emperor Justinian I, completed in 537 AD. It became a mosque with the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople in 1453 AD...

[lessthanthreelalli]

i hope someone up there appreciates how hard i try to not call Istanbul constantinople like thats one thing that was really hammered in crowing up that stuck with me more than most orthodox parables

[theaustinstollhaus]

Byzantine history be like:

In 874 Emperor Kostalogous IV ascended to the throne after blinding sixteen nephews, and married his wife, Theodora.

However, he soon ran afoul of the Patriarch of Constantinople, Theopelagionikus, and his wife Theodora.

In 895 he was deposed by his general, Justiniapelomaxorianous II, and his wife Theodora.

This created nine new church schisms.

[caesarsaladinn]

you think you’ve appeased the populace by choosing a holy man of pure and sincere faith, but then he starts filling their heads with ideas like “divorce is illegal” “usurpation is bad” “rich men cannot enter heaven,” etc

one lesson from the medieval world is that if you’re appointing someone to lead your church, you shouldn’t pick someone very religious

[cajon-desastre]

Between East and West

And the day has arrived, this time a couple of months late due to scheduling problems.

My annual trip starts tomorrow and this time we are heading to Istanbul, the former Constantinople.

Suitcase packed, documentation ready and eager to explore bazaars, markets and crowded streets. Mosques, palaces, churches and everything related to Ottoman culture will be our destination.

As always, the editorial line changes starting tomorrow and I will be happy to share the sites I will be visiting.

See you on my return.

[city-of-ladies]

After the fall of Constantinople, Anna Notaras (d. 1507) gathered a community around her, preserving Greek culture and spreading it in ways that profoundly influenced the Italian Renaissance.

Exile from Constantinople

Anna was born into a wealthy and prestigious family. Her father, Loukas Notaras, was an influential statesman who served as mesazon (prime minister) to the last two Byzantine emperors and held the title of megas doux (Grand Duke and commander of the navy). Her mother was from the imperial Palaiologos family, which allowed Anna to use the family name Palaiologina.

It’s possible Anna was once considered as a prospective bride for the last Byzantine emperor, Constantine XI. However, she was never officially betrothed to him and certainly never became his wife, contrary to later erroneous claims.

Sometime before 1453, Anna and her sisters, Theodora and Euphrosyne, were sent away from Constantinople, which spared them from witnessing the city’s fall during the Ottoman siege. Sultan Mehmed II executed her father and brothers, sparing only her brother Jacob.

Now in exile, Anna settled in Italy with the ample fortune from father’s bank accounts.

A Vision for a Greek Colony

By 1472, Anna had a plan: she sought to establish a Greek colony on Italian soil. She sent a delegation to Siena and received a warm welcome. A draft agreement was drawn up, deciding that the castle of Montauto in the Maremma should be handed to Anna. She was to become the rallying point of a community of 100 Greek families.

However, the project never materialized. Likely, Anna realized the land and the ruined castle were unsuitable for such a plan. By 1475, she had relocated to Venice.

A Patron of Culture

An independent woman, Anna never married, nor did she become a nun since there was no Orthodox convent she could join. Respected, wealthy, and influential, she became a prominent spokeswoman for Venice’s rapidly growing Greek community. She convinced the authorities to allow her to build an oratory in her home so the Orthodox liturgy could be celebrated in Greek.

Anna also emerged as a key cultural patron. She owned a library and supported the first dedicated Greek printing press. In 1499, her name appeared in the first book it produced: the Etymologicum Magnum. The dissemination of Greek philosophy, scholarship and litterature would influence the Italian renaissance.

Anna passed away on July 8, 1507, after a long and eventful life.

Anna’s dream of an Orthodox church in Venice was realized 30 years after her death. Among her possessions were magnificent icons brought from Constantinople; three of them are now preserved in the church of San Giorgio dei Greci.

Enjoyed this post? You can support me on Ko-fi!

Further reading 

Nicol Donald M., The Byzantine Lady: Ten Portraits, 1250–1500

Nottara Paltin, Anna Notaras, la dernière Byzantine

Philippides Marios, Constantine XI Dragaš Palaeologus (1404-1453): The Last Emperor of Byzantium

[jh-newman-opn]

The Moscow Fiasco

At the prodding of @quonunc, here is a quick overview of the incident I fondly referred to as "the Moscow fiasco" in a previous ask about the difference between Catholicism and Orthodoxy. It's a subject dear and horrifying to my heart after I wrote my undergrad dissertation on it.

In short: this is to do with how the Moscow Patriarchate (Russian Orthodox Church, hereafter ROC) is entirely in bed with the Russian government, and how Patriarch Kirill (of Moscow and All Russia) has been responding to the ongoing situation in Ukraine (and former Soviet lands more generally). Picture will make sense lower down the post.

The slightly longer short answer is that Patriarch Kirill is entirely in favour of the Ukraine war, and the ROC clergy are under significant pressure to support that as an official church stance-- my dissertation topic started to germinate when, completely by accident, I came across a 10-minute video of a ROC priest explaining very slowly and carefully that when he met the Pope, he did not talk about Ukraine. Will link this video if I can find it again, but at present it's proving elusive. (EDIT: found it!!! It was the Metropolitan Hilarion of Budapest and Hungary. This video looks like a hostage video honestly £10 says there's someone behind the camera holding a gun to this man's head for legal reasons this is a joke).

The foundation for this belief is obviously completely political (and the history of how the ROC and Russian state are completely entwined is long and complicated to say the least!), but officially the ROC stance is that it's about reclaiming the historic Slavic spiritual unity founded on the Baptism of Rus' in the year 988 by Vladimir the Grand Prince of Kievan Rus' when Slavdom become Orthodox. Proponents of this "Russian World" theory (Russkiy Mir') basically argue that it's the influence of the West that has fractured the unified Slavic people into different, opposing nations, and that by "liberating" Ukraine of this alien ideology of nationhood, the Slavic Orthodox world will regain its historic unity under the common banner of Orthodoxy. All I will say on this is that these people have a very rosy view of Kievan Rus', but that's a post for another day.

This has obviously caused friction within the Orthodox world. Ukraine now has two Orthodox churches-- the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, which is in communion with the Ecumenical Patriarch in Constantinople, and the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which is in communion with the Russian Patriarchate. They are not in communion with each other, and Constantinople's decision to grant autocephalous status to the OCoU caused Moscow to schism with Constantinople. Constantinople is also accusing Moscow of heresy (specifically, ethno-phyletism). Moscow obviously denies this. Obvious question for the Catholics among us-- does this mean Russian Orthodox christians are no longer Orthodox? No, because schisms between Orthodox churches are not particularly unusual, and they remain within the general cloud of Orthodox communion links.

The whole mess is then immortalised in the absolute monstrosity that is the Main Cathedral to the Russian Armed Forces, which is what I wrote my diss on. The YouTube video linked there is promotional material from Russian military-themed TV channel Звезда, and is one of the better sources of info on it-- a lot of English-language sources contain a lot of incorrect information on it-- either because they don't understand the cultural background, or just straight up lies from the Russian govt propaganda arm--, so take anything they say with a grain of salt. Kirill then gives televised sermons from this cathedral in which he talks about the glorious Russian martyrs of the Ukraine invasion, does his best to harmonise Stalinism and Orthodoxy, and oversees military parades for national holidays. This cathedral has a huge amount of weird symbolism and imagery, and I am super happy to talk more about the mosaics and propaganda going on there, because it's a lot (to say the quiet part out loud: pLEASE ask me more about this cathedral because the more I think about it the more scream-worthy facts about it I remember).

You may have seen memes with this picture of the Virgin Mary (below). Yeah that's from this cathedral. And it's a really really fucked up image. Like, more fucked up than you may think. Could have written my entire diss on this image alone and how shockingly awful it is. western orthobro converts who keep reblogging it as if it's somehow cool and macho are just showing how little they know and it's embarrassing.

The militarism of the ROC since this whole thing has also gone bonkers and there's a huuuuuge amount of corruption and weird stuff going on. The tension between the clergy and the laity has been extremely high for decades, and has spilled over most notably in Pussy Riot's Punk Prayer stunt, an exhibition called Осторожно, религия! (beware, religion!), and some shenanigans in church-building more generally. On this particular incident I would point to the blessing of nuclear weapons and the canonisation of a patron saint of long-range nuclear missiles as key moments. The cathedral also has matching mosaics of Putin and Stalin, a fact that the Russian government very much wants you to think never happened (officially the mosaics were removed, but they absolutely were not-- muggins here found them and has the pictures to prove it).

The main takeaway from this topic is that situation is obviously complicated and the repercussions for everyone involved-- particularly Russian and Ukrainian laypeople-- are unpleasant to say the least. It gives something of a window into the Putin regime and its propaganda arm (Epiphany swim, topless horseriding pictures, Soviet-style policies, I could go on) more than anything else, because the situation inside the ROC is still quite obscure. From talking to people who know Kirill personally, it's not clear quite what he thinks is going on or why he's involved the way he is. Either way. Fiasco.