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
That the old Byzantine church now converted into the mosque styled Hoja
Mustapha Pasha Mesjedi, in the quarter of Juma Bazaar, at a short
distance to the east of the Gate of Selivria was the church of S. Andrew
in Krisei ([Greek: Monê tou Hagiou Andreou en Krisei])[144] can be
established, by the indications which Byzantine writers have given of
the site of that famous church, and by the legend which is still
associated with the mosque. According to Stephen of Novgorod[145] (c.
1350) the church dedicated to S. Andrew of Crete, who was buried, as
other authorities[146] inform us, in the district named Krisis, stood at
a short distance to the north of the monastery of the Peribleptos. It
lay, therefore, to the north of the Armenian church of S. George (Soulou
Monastir) in the quarter of Psamathia, which represents the church of S.
Mary Peribleptos. The mosque Hoja Mustapha Pasha Mesjedi lies in the
same direction. Again, according to Pachymeres,[147] the church of S.
Andrew in Krisei was near the monastery of Aristina. That monastery,
another authority states,[148] was opposite the church of S. Mamas.
The church of S. Mamas was on the road between the Studion and the
church of S. Andrew.[149] Hence the church of S. Andrew stood to the
north of the Studion, the situation occupied by Hoja Mustapha Pasha
Mesjedi. Once more, the site of the mosque corresponds to the position
assigned to the church of S. Andrew on the map of Bondelmontius (1420),
to the east of the Gate of Selivria. Finally, the old church is more
definitely identified by the legend of the judicial procedure which
clings to the building. In the picturesque courtyard of the mosque,
where the colour of the East is still rich and vivid, there stands an
old cypress tree around whose bare and withered branches a slender iron
chain is entwined like the skeleton of some extinct serpent. As
tradition would have it, the chain was once endowed with the gift of
judgment, and in cases of dispute could indicate which of the parties
concerned told the truth. One day a Jew who had borrowed money from a
Turk, on being summoned to pay his debt, replied that he had done so
already. To that statement the Turk gave the lie direct, and
accordingly, debtor and creditor were brought to the chain for the
settlement of the question at issue. Before submitting to the ordeal,
however, the Jew placed a cane into the hands of the Turk, and then
stood under the cypress confident that his honour for truthfulness and
honesty would be vindicated. His expectation proved correct, for the
chain touched his head to intimate that he had returned the money he
owed. Whereupon taking back his cane he left the scene in triumph.
Literally, the verdict accorded with fact; for the cane which the Jew
had handed to his creditor was hollow and contained the sum due to the
latter. But the verdict displayed such a lack of insight, and involved
so gross a miscarriage of justice, that from that day forth the chain
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