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 old Byzantine church, now Pheneré Isa Mesjedi, in the valley of the
Lycus, to the south of the mosque of Sultan Mehemed, should be
identified as the church of the Theotokos of Lips, although the
Patriarch Constantius,[179] Scarlatus Byzantius and Paspates[180]
identify that church with Demirjilar Mesjedi, a building which lay to
the east of the mosque of Sultan Mehemed, but fell in the earthquake of
1904. According to the writers just cited, Pheneré Isa Mesjedi is the
church of the Theotokos Panachrantos which appears in connection with
certain incidents in the history of the Patriarch Veccus. In this view
there is a curious mingling of truth and error. For, as a matter of
fact, Constantinople did possess a church dedicated to the Panachrantos
which had no connection with the monastery of Lips. But that church was
not the building in the valley of the Lycus; it stood in the immediate
vicinity of S. Sophia. Furthermore, while it is certain that there was
in the city a church of the Panachrantos which had nothing whatever to
do with the monastery of Lips, it is equally true that the sanctuary
attached to that monastery was also dedicated to the Theotokos under the
same style. In other words, Pheneré Isa Mesjedi was the sanctuary
attached to the monastery of Lips and was dedicated to the Theotokos
Panachrantos, but was not the church of that name with which it has been
identified by the authorities above mentioned.[181]
[Illustration: PLATE XXXI.
(1) S. MARY PANACHRANTOS. VAULT OF THE AMBULATORY PASSAGE ON THE WEST OF
THE DOME IN THE SOUTH CHURCH, LOOKING NORTH.
(2) S. MARY PANACHRANTOS. THE INTERIOR OF THE NORTH CHURCH, LOOKING
NORTH.
_To face page 122._]
The correctness of these positions can be readily established. First,
that a monastery of the Panachrantos and the monastery of Lips were
different Houses is evident from the express statements of the pilgrim
Zosimus to that effect. For, according to that visitor to the shrines of
the city, a monastery, 'de Panakhran,'[182] stood near S. Sophia, 'non
loin de Sainte Sophie.' Stephen of Novgorod refers to the monastery of
the 'Panacrante'[183] also in the same connection. And the proximity of
the House to the great cathedral may be inferred likewise from the
statements of the pilgrim Alexander[184] and of the anonymous
pilgrim.[185] On the other hand, Zosimus speaks of the monastery of
Lips, 'couvent de femmes Lipesi,'[186] as situated in another part of
the city. It was closely connected with the monastery of Kyra
Martha,[187] from which to S. Sophia was a far cry. The distinction of
the two monasteries is, moreover, confirmed by the historians
Pachymeres[188] and Nicephorus Gregoras,[189] who employ the terms
Panachrantos and Lips to designate two distinct monastic establishments
situated in different quarters of the capital.
[Illustration: FIG. 41. S. MARY PARACHRANTOS.
DETAILS OF THE SHAFTS IN THE EAST WINDOWS OF THE SOUTH CHURCH.]
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