Byzantine Churches in Constantinople: Their History and ArchitectureVan Millingen, Alexander
Philosophy
Byzantine Churches in Constantinople: Their History and Architecture
Van Millingen, Alexander
Architecture, Byzantine; Church architecture -- Turkey -- Istanbul; Church buildings -- Turkey -- Istanbul
The identity of the church is a matter of pure conjecture, for we have
no tradition or documentary evidence on that point. Paspates[296]
suggests that it may have been the sanctuary connected either with the
'monastery of Valens and Daudatus,' or with the 'monastery near the
aqueduct,' establishments in existence before the age of Justinian the
Great.[297] It cannot be the former, because the monastery of Valens and
Daudatus, which was dedicated to S. John the Baptist, stood near the
church of the Holy Apostles close to the western end of the aqueduct of
Valens. It might, so far as the indication 'near the aqueduct' gives any
clue, be the sanctuary of the latter House, in which case the church was
dedicated to S. Anastasius.[298] But the architectural features of
Kalender Haneh Jamissi do not belong to the period before Justinian.
Mordtmann[299] identifies the building with the church of the Theotokos
in the district of the Deaconess ([Greek: naos tês theotokou ta
Diakonissês]), and in favour of this view there is the fact that the
site of the mosque corresponds, speaking broadly, to the position which
that church is known to have occupied somewhere between the forum of
Taurus (now represented by the Turkish War Office) and the Philadelphium
(the area about the mosque of Shahzadé), and not far off the street
leading to the Holy Apostles. Furthermore, the rich and beautiful
decoration of the church implies its importance, so that it may very
well be the church of the Theotokos Diaconissa, at which imperial
processions from the Great Palace to the Holy Apostles stopped to allow
the emperor to place a lighted taper upon the altar of the shrine.[300]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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