Byzantium - Constantinople - Istanbul
Istanbul holds an unsurpassed concentration of places of religious
interest and importance. From sites
touched by mythology, to the world's masterpieces of St. Sophia and
the Mosque of Suleiman the Magnificent,
to such a simple demonstration as the sign in Ortakoy that celebrates
the community of Jews, Christians and
Muslims living in harmony together, Istanbul has always been an intermediary.
Greater Istanbul bridges the continents of Europa and Asia. It includes
the old city within 5th century walls
and then in increasingly wider perimeters Karakoy, Beyoglu, both shores
of the Bosphorus, Uskudar,
Kadikoy ( Chalcedon ), and beyond taking in the European and Asian
shores of the Sea of Marmara and the
Princes' Islands. The first written records about the Bosphorus speak
of a leader named Byzas and his
followers who had come in 667 BC from Megara to occupy the thumb of
land, now called Seraglio Point. Descentans of these Byzantines and
later colonists from Rome honored their emperor by changing the city's
name to Constantinople in AD 330. From that time on for 1100 years
( except for the brief Latin Occupation
from 1204 to 1261 ), it was the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire
and an exemplar of civilization to the
Western world. Conquered by the Muslim Turkish Sultan Mehmet II in
1453, the city became the capital of the
Ottoman Empire, a position it held until the Turkish Republic was
proclaimed in 1923 and the capital was
moved to Ankara. While its political situation is changed, Istanbul
continues to influence the whole country.
Christian Sites In Istanbul : At the end of the First Ecumenical
Council in Nicaea ( 325 ), Constantine ordered
a delegation of bishops to accompany him to the town of Byzantium.
This was the place that he had picked
for his new capital, after having considered and rejected Alexandria
Troas among other locations. St. Irene
( Divine Peace ) is important in Christian history as the setting
of the meetings of the Second Ecumenical
Council in 381.
Unlike the other Byzantine churches in Istanbul, St. Irene was never
converted into a mosque. For years under
the Ottoman Empire it was first an arsenal and then a military museum.
Now some of the classical music
concerts of the yearly Istanbul International Festival are held here.
For both Christians and Muslims, St. Sophia
is holy ground. The name, St. Sophia, means Holy Wisdom. When Sultan
Mehmet II took the city in 1453 this symbol of profound knowledge
and sovereignty became the prime mosque of his capital. Recognizing
its
historic and universal importance, the Turkish goverment made it a
public museum in 1935. St. Sophia was
built
in Constantinople by the Emporer Justinian between 532 and 537. Over
a hundred churches, Catholic,
Orthodox, Protestant, serving many different language communities,
have active congregations in Istanbul.
Chalcedon - Kadikoy (Istanbul)
Kadikoy, on the Asiatic shore and across the Bosphorus from what was
once Byzantium and is now European
Istanbul, claims in legend to be older than Byzantium. The Church
of St. Euphemia ( probably located
somewhere near the crossroads of Alti Yol ) was the location on the
Fourth Ecumenical Council ( The Council
of Chalcedon ) in 451. This Council brought the decision against the
Monophysites which divided the Armenian
and Syrian Orthodox churches from the Latin ( Roman ) Catholic and
Eastern ( Greek ) Orthodox. Present day
Kadikoy is a bustling metropolis with an almost carnival atmosphere
among its residents.
Nicea - Iznik
Nicea was the venue for the first and the last Ecumenical Councils,
meetings of representatives of all Christian
churches. Lysimachus named the town he had just taken in 316 BC for
his wife Nikaia. Walls thst were stormed
by Arabs, Crusaders, Byzantines and Ottomans, By Tamerlane, and lastly
by the Greeks in the 20th century still
enclose most of the present town. At the main crossroads of Iznik
is the Museum of St Sophia. This is the
building in which the Seventh - and last - Ecumenical Council was
held in 789. The first Ecumenical Council
was held in Nicaea in 325. That First Ecumenical Council took place
in Constantine's palace on the shore of
the lake. Stones from this palace can be seen submerged in the water
on the southwest corner of the city, but
it is hard hard to make out any shape to the building. In the 16th
century ceramists in Iznik created the most
beautiful tiles ever made in Turkey. In addition to the clarity of
their colors and the artistic composition of the
designs, the tiles are distinguished by a particular tomato red. Only
the tiles produced in Iznik between 1560
and 1620 have this red. These tiles decorate the walls of the Topkapi
Palace, a number of Istanbul mosques
and the Selimiye Mosque in Edirne.
The Nicean Creed (" I believe in God, the Father Almighty..." ) which
is recited by many Christiand as their belief, was first formulated
by the bishops in Nicaes in AD 325.