Irene. Besides the five doors already mentioned, leading into the
interior from the narthex, there is a door at the eastern end of each
aisle, and close to each of these doors is found both in the southern
and northern walls of the building an additional door surmounted by a
window. The latter doors and their windows have been walled up.
The exterior is in two stories, corresponding to the ground floor and
the galleries. It has two ranges of eight large semicircular-headed
windows in the northern and southern walls, some of them modified,
others built up, since the building became a mosque. The five windows in
the gable of the western wall are, like the wall itself, Turkish.
Pilasters are placed at the angles and at the apse.
On the south side of the church is a cistern, the roof of which rests on
twenty-three columns crowned by beautiful Corinthian capitals.
NOTE
The full text of the description given of the church of S. John,
mentioned by Ruy Gonzalez de Clavijo, reads as follows:--
E la primera parte (puerta?) de la Iglesia es muy alta e de obra rica,
e delante desta puerta esta un grand corral y luego al cuerpo de la
Iglesia, e el qual cuerpo es una quadra redonda sin esquinas muy
alta, e es cerrada al derredor de tres grandes naves, que son cubiertas
da un cielo ellas y la quadra. E ha en ella siete altares, e el cielo
desta quadra e naves e las paredes es de obra de musayca muy ricamente
labrada, e en ello muchas historias, e la quadra esta armada
sobre veinte e quatro marmoles de jaspe verde, e las dichas naves son
sobradadas, e los sobrados dellas salen al cuerpo de la Iglesia, e alli
avia otros veinte e quatro marmoles de jaspe verde, e il cielo de la
quadra e las paredes e de obra musayca, e los andamios de las naves
salen sobre el cuerpo de la Iglesia, e alli do avia de aver verjas avia
marmoles pequenos de jaspe.[79]
With the kind help of Professor Cossio of Madrid, the Spanish
text may be roughly translated as follows:--
And the first part (door?) of the church is very lofty and richly
worked. And before this door is a large court beside the body of
the church; and the said body is a round hall without corners (or
angles), very lofty, and enclosed round about by three large naves,
which are covered, they and the hall, by one roof. And it (the
church) has in it seven altars; and the roof of the hall and naves and
the walls are of mosaic work very richly wrought, in which are
(depicted) many histories. And the (roof of the) hall is placed on
twenty-four marble columns of green jasper (verd antique). And
the said naves have galleries, and the galleries open on the body of
the church, and these have other twenty-four marble columns of
green jasper; and the roof of the hall and the walls are of mosaic
work. And the elevated walks of the naves open over the body
of the church,[80] and where a balustrade should be found there are
small marble columns of jasper.
Outside the church, adds the ambassador, was a beautiful chapel
dedicated to S. Mary, remarkable for its mosaics.
[Illustration: PLATE X.
S. JOHN OF THE STUDION. CISTERN.
_To face page 51._]
[Illustration: FIG. 12.]
[Illustration: FIG. 13.]
[Illustration: FIGS. 14. AND 15.]
[Illustration: FIGS. 16 AND 17.]
[Illustration: FIG. 18.]
[Illustration: FIG. 19.]
[35] The Latin thesis of Eugenius Marin, _De Studio coenobio
Constantinopolitano_, Paris, 1897, is a most useful work.
[36] Gyllius, _De top._ C.P. p. 313.
[37] _Itineraires russes en Orient_, p. 306, _traduits pour la Societe
de l'Orient Latin par Mdme. B. de Khitrovo_.
[38] _Ibid._ p. 231. For all questions concerning the walls of the
city I refer, once for all, to my work, _Byzantine Constantinople: the
Walls and adjoining Historical Sites_, published in 1889 by John
Murray, London.
[39] _Paschal Chronicle_, p. 726.
[40] Constantine Porphyrogenitus, _De ceremoniis_, pp. 462-3.
[41] P. 175. But according to Epigram 4 in the _Anthologia Graeca
epigrammatum_ (Stadt-Mueller, 1894) Studius became consul after the
erection of the church and as a reward for its erection. Under the
heading [Greek: eis ton naon tou Prodromou en tois Stoudiou] it says
[Greek: touton Ioanne, Christou megalo theraponti, Stoudios aglaon
oikon edeimato. karpalimos de ton kamon heureto misthon helon
hypateida rhabdon.] In Suidas is a similar epigram in honour of the
erection by Studius of another church; [Greek: tou archistrategou
Nakoleias] in Phrygia.
[42] _Theodori Studitae vita_, Migne, _Patrologia Graeca_, tome 99.
[43] _Pasch. Chron._ p. 591.
[44] Banduri, i. p. 54. In the recent excavations carried on in the
Studion by the Russian Archaeological Institute of Constantinople, the
foundations of an earlier building were discovered below the floor of
the church. The line of the foundations ran through the church from
north-east to south-west, parallel to the wall of the cistern to the
south-west of the church. Perhaps it is too soon to determine the
character of the earlier building.
[45] S.V.: [Greek: he ton Stouditon mone proteron kai katholikes
ekklesias en, hysteron de metelthen eis monen.] The reading is
doubtful. A proposed emendation is, [Greek: ton katholikon ekklesia
en.]
[46] Codinus, _De aed._ p. 102.
[47] Theophanes, pp. 187, 218; Evagrius, cc. 18, 19, 21. In the list
of the abbots who subscribed one of the documents connected with the
Synod held at Constantinople in 536, the two establishments are
clearly distinguished. They are distinguished also by Antony of
Novgorod in 1200, _Itin. russes_, pp. 97, 100.
[48] Seylitzes, p. 650.
[49] Nicephorus Bryennius, p. 181.
[50] Cedrenus, ii. p. 650.
[51] Nicephorus Gregoras, i. p. 190; Stephen of Novgorod, who saw the
church in 1350, refers to its 'very lofty roof,' _Itin. russes_, p.
123.
[52] Theoph. p. 747; _Life of S. Theodore_, Migne, P.G. tome 99.
[53] The modern Touzla at the northern head of the gulf of Nicomedia.
See the articles by Mr. Siderides and Mr. Meliopoulos in the
_Proceedings of the Greek Syllogos of Constantinople_, vol. xxxi.,
1907-8.
[54] The English reader should consult the _Life of Theodore of
Studium_, by Miss Alice Gardner, for an excellent presentation of the
man and his work.
[55] According to Stephen of Novgorod (_Itin. russes_, p. 121) the
refectory was an unusually fine hall, situated near the sea.
[56] At a short distance beyond the north-eastern end of the church
are some ruined vaults which the Turks have named Kietab Hane, the
library. See Plate III.
[57] For the Constitution and _Epitamia_ of the Studion, see Migne,
_P.G._ tome 99.
[58] _Itin. russes_, p. 136.
[59] _Ibid._ p. 122 'on envoyait beaucoup de livres de ce couvent en
Russie, des reglements, des triodions et autres livres.' Many members
of the Studion were Russians.
[60] Marin, _De Studio_, p. 11. See Marin, _Les Moines de
Constantinople_, for the monastic institutions of the city in general.
[61] Cedren. ii. p. 147.
[62] _Ibid._ p. 212.
[63] _Ibid._ p. 479.
[64] _Acta et diplomata patriarchatus Constantinop._ t. ii. p. 12
[Greek: en tais hierais te kai synodikais syneleusesi; proton men gar
panton ton archimandriten ton Stoudiou kai ho chronos katestese kai to
dikaion auto.]
[65] Theoph. Cont. p. 362.
[66] _Ibid._ p. 384.
[67] Glycas, p. 592; Cedrenus, ii. p. 539; Psellus, pp. 87-93;
_Byzantine Texts_, edited by Prof. Bury; cf. Schlumberger, _Epopee
byzantine a la fin du dixieme siecle_, p. 372.
[68] See Cedrenus, ii. p. 555; Will, _Commemoratio brevis_, p. 150;
Schlumberger, _op. cit._ chapitre viii.
[69] Attaliotes, pp. 304, 306; Glycas, p. 617; Scylitzes, pp. 738-39.
[70] Scylitzes, pp. 649-51; Bryennius, p. 20.
[71] Acropolita, p. 197.
[72] Ducas, p. 99 [Greek: plesion tou naou entos tes pyles].
[73] _Pasch. Chron._ pp. 726-27.
[74] Mr. Pantchenko of the Russian Institute at Constantinople has
found evidence that cloisters stood along the east and south sides of
the great cistern to the south-west of the church.
[75] Constant. Porphyr. _De cer._ ii. pp. 562-3.
[76] Gyllius says six.
[77] See passage from his _Tagebuch_ quoted on page 50.
[78] _Altchristliche Baudenkmaeler von Konstantinopel_, Blatt iv.
[79] _Vida del Gran Tamorlan y itinerario_, pp. 55-56 (Madrid, 1782).
[80] _I.e._ From the elevated floors of the galleries one could look
over the church.
CHAPTER III
THE CHURCH OF SS. SERGIUS AND BACCHUS,
KUTCHUK AYA SOFIA
On the level tract beside the Sea of Marmora, to the south of the
Hippodrome, and a few paces to the north-west of Tchatlady Kapou, stands
the ancient church of SS. Sergius and Bacchus. It is commonly known as
the mosque Kutchuk Aya Sofia, Little S. Sophia, to denote at once its
likeness and its unlikeness to the great church of that name. It can be
reached by either of the two streets descending from the Hippodrome to
the sea, or by taking train to Koum Kapou, and then walking eastwards
for a short distance along the railroad.
There can be no doubt in regard to its identity. For the inscription on
the entablature of the lower colonnade in the church proclaims the
building to be a sanctuary erected by the Emperor Justinian and his
Empress Theodora to the honour of the martyr Sergius. The building
stands, moreover, as SS. Sergius and Bacchus stood, close to the site of
the palace and the harbour of Hormisdas.[81] When Gyllius visited the
city the Greek community still spoke of the building as the church of
SS. Sergius and Bacchus--'Templum Sergii et Bacchi adhuc superest, cujus
nomen duntaxat Graeci etiam nunc retinent.'[82]
[Illustration: PLATE XI.
SS. SERGIUS AND BACCHUS. INTERIOR, LOOKING NORTH-WEST.
_To face page 62._]
The foundations of the church were laid in 527, the year of Justinian's
accession,[83] and its erection must have been completed before 536,
since it is mentioned in the proceedings of the Synod held at
Constantinople in that year.[84] According to the Anonymus, indeed, the
church and the neighbouring church of SS. Peter and Paul were founded
after the massacre in the Hippodrome which suppressed the Nika Riot. But
the Anonymus is not a reliable historian.[85]
The church did not stand alone. Beside it and united with it, Justinian
built also a church dedicated to the Apostles Peter and Paul,[86] so
that the two buildings formed a double sanctuary, having a common court
and a continuous narthex. They were equal in size and in the richness of
the materials employed in their construction, and together formed one of
the chief ornaments of the palace and the city. There was, however, one
striking difference between them; SS. Sergius and Bacchus was a domical
church, while SS. Peter and Paul was a basilica. Styles of
ecclesiastical architecture destined soon to blend together in the
grandeur and beauty of S. Sophia were here seen converging towards the
point of their union, like two streams about to mingle their waters in a
common tide. A similar combination of these styles occurs at Kalat-Seman
in the church of S. Symeon Stylites, erected towards the end of the
fifth century, where four basilicas forming the arms of a cross are
built on four sides of an octagonal court.[87]
The saints to whom the church was dedicated were brother officers in the
Roman army, who suffered death in the reign of Maximianus,[88] and
Justinian's particular veneration for them was due, it is said, to their
interposition in his behalf at a critical moment in his career. Having
been implicated, along with his uncle, afterwards Justin I., in a plot
against the Emperor Anastasius, he lay under sentence of death for high
treason; but on the eve of his execution, a formidable figure, as some
authorities maintain,[89] or as others affirm, the saints Sergius and
Bacchus, appeared to the sovereign in a vision and commanded him to
spare the conspirators. Thus Justinian lived to reach the throne, and
when the full significance of his preservation from death became clear
in the lustre of the imperial diadem, he made his deliverers the object
of his devout regard. Indeed, in his devotion to them he erected other
sanctuaries to their honour also in other places of the Empire.[90]
Still this church, founded early in his reign, situated beside his
residence while heir-apparent, and at the gates of the Great Palace, and
withal a gem of art, must be considered as Justinian's special
thankoffering for his crown.
With the church of SS. Sergius and Bacchus was associated a large
monastery known, after the locality in which it stood, as the monastery
of Hormisdas, [Greek: en tois Hormisdou]. It was richly endowed
by Justinian.[91]
NOTE
There is some obscurity in regard to the church of SS. Peter and Paul.
According to Theophanes,[92] the first church in Constantinople built
in honour of those apostles was built at the suggestion of a Roman
senator Festus, who on visiting the eastern capital, in 499, was
astonished to find no sanctuary there dedicated to saints so eminent
in Christian history, and so highly venerated by the Church of the
West. As appears from a letter addressed in 519 to Pope Hormisdas by
the papal representative at the court of Constantinople, a church of
that dedication had been recently erected by Justinian while holding
the office of Comes Domesticorum under his uncle Justin I. 'Your son,'
says the writer, 'the magnificent Justinian, acting as becomes his
faith, has erected a basilica of the Holy Apostles, in which he wishes
relics of the martyr S. Laurentius should be placed.' 'Filius vester
magnificus vir Justinianus, res convenientes fidei suae faciens,
basilicam sanctorum Apostolorum in qua desiderat Sancti Laurentii
martyris reliquias esse, constituit.'[93] We have also a letter to the
Pope from Justinian himself, in which the writer, in order to glorify
the basilica which he had built in honour of the apostles in his
palace, begs for some links of the chains which had bound the apostles
Peter and Paul, and for a portion of the gridiron upon which
S. Laurentius was burnt to death.[94] The request was readily granted
in the same year.
The description of the basilica, as situated in the palace then
occupied by Justinian, leaves no room for doubt that the sanctuary to
which the letters just quoted refer was the church of SS. Peter and
Paul which Procopius describes as near ([Greek: para]) the palace of
Hormisdas. In that case the church of SS. Peter and Paul was built
before the church of SS. Sergius and Bacchus, for the inscription on
the entablature in the latter church, not to mention Cedrenus,
distinctly assigns the building to the time when Justinian and
Theodora occupied the throne. This agrees with the fact that
Procopius[95] records the foundation of SS. Peter and Paul before
that of SS. Sergius and Bacchus, and if this were all he did the
matter would be clear. But, unfortunately, this is not all Procopius
has done. For after recording the erection of SS. Sergius and
Bacchus, he proceeds to say that Justinian subsequently
([Greek: epeita]) joined another ([Greek: allo]) church,[96] a
basilica, to the sanctuary dedicated to those martyrs, thus leaving
upon the reader's mind the impression that the basilica was a later
construction. To whom that basilica was consecrated Procopius does
not say. Was that basilica the church of SS. Peter and Paul which
Procopius mentioned before recording the erection of SS. Sergius and
Bacchus? Is he speaking of two or of three churches? The reply to this
question must take into account two facts as beyond dispute: first,
that the church of SS. Peter and Paul, as the letters cited above make
clear, was earlier than the church of SS. Sergius and Bacchus;
secondly, that the basilica united to the latter sanctuary was
dedicated to the two great apostles; for scenes which, according to one
authority,[97] occurred in S. Peter's took place, according to another
authority,[98] in the church of SS. Sergius and Bacchus. In the face of
these facts, Procopius is either mistaken in regard to the relative age
of the two sanctuaries, or he has not expressed his meaning as clearly
as he might have done. To suppose that two sanctuaries dedicated to the
great apostles were built by Justinian within a short time of each
other in the same district, one within the palace, the other outside
the palace, is a very improbable hypothesis. The question on which side
of SS. Sergius and Bacchus the basilica of SS. Peter and Paul stood,
seems decided by the fact that there is more room for a second building
on the north than on the south of Kutchuk Agia Sofia. Furthermore,
there are traces of openings in the north wall of the church which
could serve as means of communication between the two adjoining
buildings. Ebersolt, however, places SS. Peter and Paul on the south
side of SS. Sergius and Bacchus.[99]
A remarkable scene was witnessed in the church in the course of the
controversy which raged around the writings known in ecclesiastical
history as 'The Three Chapters,' the work of three theologians tainted,
it was alleged, with the heretical opinions of Nestorius. Justinian
associated himself with the party which condemned those writings, and
prevailed upon the majority of the bishops in the East to subscribe the
imperial decree to that effect. But Vigilius, the Pope of the day, and
the bishops in the West, dissented from that judgment, because the
authors of the writings in question had been acquitted from the charge
of heresy by the Council of Chalcedon. To condemn them after that
acquittal was to censure the Council and reflect upon its authority.
Under these circumstances Justinian summoned Vigilius to Constantinople
in the hope of winning him over by the blandishments or the terrors of
the court of New Rome. Vigilius reached the city on the 25th of January
547, and was detained in the East for seven years in connection with the
settlement of the dispute. He found to his cost that to decide an
intricate theological question, and above all to assert 'the authority
of S. Peter vested in him' against an imperious sovereign and the
jealousy of Eastern Christendom, was no slight undertaking. Pope and
Emperor soon came into violent collision, and fearing the consequences
Vigilius sought sanctuary in the church of S. Peter[100] as he styles
it, but which Byzantine writers[101] who record the scene name S.
Sergius.
[Illustration: PLATE XII.
(1) SS. SERGIUS AND BACCHUS. CAPITAL.
(2) S. JOHN OF THE STUDION. CAPITAL IN THE NARTHEX.
_To face page 66._]
Justinian was not the man to stand the affront. He ordered the praetor
of the city to arrest the Pope and conduct him to prison. But when that
officer appeared, Vigilius grasped the pillars of the altar and refused
to surrender. Thereupon the praetor ordered his men to drag the Pope out
by main force. Seizing Vigilius by his feet, holding him by his beard
and the hair of his head, the men pulled with all their might, but they
had to deal with a powerful man, and he clung fast to the altar with an
iron grip. In this tug-of-war the altar at length came crashing to the
ground, the Pope's strong hands still holding it tight. At this point,
however, the indignation and sympathy of the spectators could not be
restrained; the assailants of the prostrate prelate were put to flight,
and he was left master of the situation. Next day a deputation,
including Belisarius and Justin, the heir-apparent, waited upon
Vigilius, and in the emperor's name assured him that resistance to the
imperial will was useless, while compliance with it would save him from
further ill-treatment. Yielding to the counsels of prudence, the Pope
returned to the palace of Placidia,[102] the residence assigned to him
during his stay in the capital.
Probably at this time arose the custom of placing the churches of SS.
Peter and Paul, and SS. Sergius and Bacchus at the service of the Latin
clergy in Constantinople, especially when a representative of the Pope,
or the Pope himself, visited the city. The fact that the church was
dedicated to apostles closely associated with Rome and held in highest
honour there, would make it a sanctuary peculiarly acceptable to clergy
from Western Europe. This, however, did not confer upon Roman priests an
exclusive right to the use of the building, and the custom of allowing
them to officiate there was often more conspicuous in the breach than in
the observance. Still the Roman See always claimed the use of the
church, for in the letter addressed in 880 by Pope Julius VIII. to Basil
I., that emperor is thanked for permitting Roman clergy to officiate
again in SS. Sergius and Bacchus according to ancient custom:
'monasterium Sancti Sergii intra vestram regiam urbem constitutum, quod
sancta Romana Ecclesia jure proprio quondam retinuit, divina
inspiratione repleti pro honore Principis Apostolorum nostro praesulatui
reddidistis.'[103]
The most distinguished hegoumenos of the monastery was John Hylilas,
better known, on account of his learning, as the Grammarian, and
nicknamed Lecanomantis, the Basin-Diviner, because versed in the art of
divination by means of a basin of polished brass. He belonged to a noble
family of Armenian extraction, and became prominent during the reigns of
Leo V., Michael II., and Theophilus as a determined iconoclast. His
enemies styled him Jannes, after one of the magicians who withstood
Moses, to denote his character as a sorcerer and an opponent of the
truth. Having occasion, when conducting service in the imperial chapel
to read the lesson in which the prophet Isaiah taunts idolaters with the
question, 'To whom then will ye liken God, or to what likeness will ye
compare him?' John, it is said, turned to Leo V., and whispered the
significant comment, 'Hearest thou, my lord, the words of the prophet?
They give thee counsel.' He was a member of the Commission charged by
that emperor to collect passages from the Holy Scriptures and the
Fathers of the Church that condemned the use of images in worship.
Prominent iconodules were interned in the monastery of Hormisdas in the
hope that he would turn them from the error of their ways by his
arguments and influence. He directed the education of Theophilus and
supported the iconoclastic policy pursued by that pupil when upon the
throne. Theophilus appointed his tutor syncellus to the Patriarch
Antony, employed him in diplomatic missions,[104] and finally, upon the
death of Antony, created him patriarch. The name of John can still be
deciphered under somewhat curious circumstances, in the litany which is
inscribed on the bronze doors of the Beautiful Gate at the south end of
the inner narthex of S. Sophia. When those doors were set up in 838,
Theophilus and his empress had no son, and accordingly, in the threefold
prayer inscribed upon the doors, the name of John was associated with
the names of the sovereigns as a mark of gratitude and esteem. But in
the course of time a little prince, to be known in history as Michael
III., was born and proclaimed the colleague of his parents. It then
became necessary to insert the name of the imperial infant in the litany
graven on the Beautiful Gate of the Great Church, and to indicate the
date of his accession. To add another name to the list of names already
there was, however, impossible for lack of room; nor, even had there
been room, could the name of an emperor follow that of a subject, though
that subject was a patriarch. The only way out of the difficulty,
therefore, was to erase John's name, and to substitute the name of the
little prince with the date of his coming to the throne; the lesser
light must pale before the greater. This was done, but the bronze proved
too stubborn to yield completely to the wishes of courtiers, and
underneath Michael's name has kept fast hold of the name John to this
day. The original date on the gate also remains in spite of the attempt
to obliterate it.
SS. Sergius and Bacchus was one of the sanctuaries of the city to which
the emperor paid an annual visit in state.[105] Upon his arrival at the
church he proceeded to the gallery and lighted tapers at an oratory
which stood in the western part of the gallery, immediately above the
Royal Gates, or principal entrance to the church. He went next to the
chapel dedicated to the Theotokos, also in the gallery, and after
attending to his private devotions there, took his place in the
parakypticon ([Greek: en to parakyptiko tou thysiasteriou)], at the
north-eastern or south-eastern end of the gallery, whence he could
overlook the bema and follow the public service at the altar.[106] In
due course the Communion elements were brought and administered to him
in the chapel of the Theotokos; he then retired to the metatorion (a
portion of the gallery screened off with curtains), while the members of
his suite also partook of the Communion in that chapel. At the close of
the service he and his guests partook of some light refreshments,
biscuits and wine, in a part of the gallery fitted up for that purpose,
and thereafter returned to the palace.
_Architectural Features_
In the description of the architectural features of the church and for
the plans and most of the illustrations in this chapter I am under deep
obligation to Mr. A. E. Henderson, F.S.A. The information gained from
him in my frequent visits to the church in his company, and from his
masterly article on the church which appeared in the _Builder_ of
January 1906, has been invaluable.
In design the church is an octagonal building roofed with a dome and
enclosed by a rectangle, with a narthex along the west side. This was a
favourite type of ecclesiastical architecture, and is seen also in
another church of the same period, San Vitale of Ravenna, in which
Justinian and Theodora were interested. There, however, the octagonal
interior is placed within an octagonal enclosure. The adoption of a
rectangular exterior in the Constantinopolitan sanctuary is a
characteristic Byzantine feature.[107] S. Vitale was founded in 526, a
year before SS. Sergius and Bacchus.
[Illustration: PLATE XIII.
(1) SS. SERGIUS AND BACCHUS. FROM THE SOUTH-EAST.
(2) SS. SERGIUS AND BACCHUS. IN THE GALLERY OVER THE NARTHEX.
_To face page 70._]
As an examination of the plan will show, the architect's design has not
been followed with strict accuracy, and the result is that both the
enclosing square and the interior octagon are very irregular figures.
Furthermore, the two portions of the building have not the same
orientation, so that the octagon stands askew within its rectangular
frame. How this lack of symmetry should be explained, whether due to
sloven work or the result of the effort to adapt the church to the lines
of the earlier church of SS. Peter and Paul, with which it was united,
is difficult to decide.
The court which stands before the Turkish portico in front of the west
side of the building represents the old atrium of the church, and to the
rear of the portico is still found the ancient narthex. At the south end
of the narthex is a stone staircase leading to the gallery. The arch at
the foot of the staircase is built of fragments from the old ciborium or
eikonostasis of the church. The great height (0.24 metre or 9 inches) of
the steps is found, according to Mr. Antoniadi, also in S. Sophia.
The exterior walls, which are mostly in brick and rubble masonry,
exhibit poor workmanship, and have undergone considerable repair,
especially on the east. On the south there are two thicknesses of
walling. The outer thickness has arched recesses at intervals along its
length, corresponding to openings in the inner thickness, and thus while
buttressing the latter also enlarges slightly the area of the church.
The length of the rectangular enclosure from west to east is 101 feet,
with an average breadth of 772-1/2 feet from north to south, excluding
the recesses in the latter direction.
All the windows of the church have been altered by Turkish hands, and
are rectangular instead of showing semicircular heads.
The passage intervening between the rectangular enclosure and the
octagon is divided into two stories, thus providing the church with an
ambulatory below and a gallery above.
The domed octagon which forms the core of the building stands at a
distance of some 18-1/2 feet from the rectangle within which it is
placed. It measures 53-1/2 feet by 50-1/2 feet. The eight piers at its
angles rise to a height of 33-1/2 feet from the floor to the springing
of the dome arches. The archways thus formed, except the bema arch, are
filled in with two pairs of columns in two stories set on the outer
plane of the piers. The lower colonnade is surmounted, after the classic
fashion, by a horizontal entablature profusely carved while the upper
columns are bound by arches, thus making seven sides of the octagon a
beautiful open screen of fourteen columns and as many triple arcades,
resplendent with marbles of various hues and rich with carved work. The
mass of the piers is relieved by their polygonal form, a fluted cymatium
along their summit, and a repeating design of a flower between two broad
leaves below the entablature. Though the flower points upwards it has
been mistaken for a cluster of grapes.[108] At the four diagonal points
the sides of the octagon are semicircular, forming exhedrae, an
arrangement which gives variety to the lines of the figure, widens the
central area, secures more frontage for the gallery, and helps to
buttress the dome. The same feature appears in S. Sophia, whereas in San
Vitale all the sides of the octagon, excepting the eastern side, are
semicircular. The extension of the interior area of a building (square
or octagonal) by means of niches at the angles or in the sides, or both
at the angles and in the sides, was a common practice.[109]
There is considerable difference in the size of the piers and the dome
arches. The eastern piers stand farther apart than their companions, and
consequently the arch over them, the triumphal arch of the sanctuary, is
wider and loftier than the other arches. The bays to the north-east and
the south-east are also wider than the bays at the opposite angles. The
apse is semicircular within, and shows three sides on the exterior. As
in S. Sophia and S. Irene, there is no prothesis or diaconicon.
The pairs of columns, both below and above, are alternately verd
antique and red Synnada marble, resting on bases of the blue-veined
white marble from the island of Marmora. The capitals on the lower order
are of the beautiful type known as the 'melon capital,' a form found
also in San Vitale at Ravenna and in the porch of S. Theodore in
Constantinople (p. 246). The neckings are worked with the capitals, and
enriched by 'egg-and-dart' pointing upwards. In the centre of the
capitals was carved the monogram of Justinian or that of Theodora. Most
of the monograms have been effaced, but the name of the empress still
appears on the capital of the western column in the south bay, while
that of Justinian is found on the first capital in the south-western
bay; on both capitals in the north-western bay, accompanied by the title
Basileus; and, partially, on the last capital in the north-eastern bay.
In the soffit of the architrave are sunk panels of various patterns, the
six-armed cross occurring twice. The beadings of the fasciae are
enriched with the designs commonly known as 'rope,' 'bead-and-reel,'
'egg-and-dart,' and again 'bead-and-reel.'
The frieze is in two heights. The lower portion is a semicircular
pulvinar adorned with acanthus leaves, deeply undercut; the upper
portion is occupied by a long inscription in raised ornamental letters
to the honour of Justinian, Theodora, and S. Sergius. The cornice is
decorated with dentils, 'bead-and-reel,' projecting consols,
'egg-and-dart,' and leaves of acanthus.
The inscription (Fig. 20) may be rendered thus: Other sovereigns,
indeed, have honoured dead men whose labour was useless. But our
sceptred Justinian, fostering piety, honours with a splendid abode the
servant of Christ, Creator of all things, Sergius; whom nor the burning
breath of fire, nor the sword, nor other constraints of trials
disturbed; but who endured for the sake of God Christ to be slain,
gaining by his blood heaven as his home. May he in all things guard the
rule of the ever-vigilant sovereign, and increase the power of the
God-crowned Theodora whose mind is bright with piety, whose toil ever is
unsparing efforts to nourish the destitute.
The inscription is not mere flattery to the founders of the church.
Justinian and Theodora were devout after the fashion of their day, and
took a deep interest in the poor. The empress erected an asylum for
fallen women, hostels for strangers, hospitals for the sick, and homes
for the destitute. 'On the splendid piece of tapestry embroidered in
gold which formed the altar cloth of S. Sophia, she was represented with
Justinian as visiting hospitals and churches.'[110]
[Illustration: FIG. 20. INSCRIPTION ON THE FRIEZE.]
To the rear of the southern straight side of the octagon two columns
stand under the gallery, with wide fillets worked on both sides of their
bases, shafts, and capitals, showing that a frame of stone or wood was
once affixed to them. The capitals are of the ordinary cushion type and
bear on opposite faces the monograms Justinian, Basileus.
[Illustration: PLATE XIV.
(1) SS. SERGIUS AND BACCHUS. THE INTERIOR, LOOKING NORTH-EAST.
(2) SS. SERGIUS AND BACCHUS. PORTION OF THE ENTABLATURE.
_To face page 74._]
Two feet above the cornice, or twenty feet from the floor of the church,
the level of the gallery is reached.[111] Here the columns are smaller
than those below, and are bound together by arches instead of by an
architrave. Their capitals represent the type known as the
'Pseudo-Ionic' or cushion capital, in view of its broad head. It appears
appropriately here as the form of capital required to carry the impost
of an arch upon a capital. At one time, indeed, that demand was met by
placing upon the capital a distinct block of stone, a fragment, so to
speak, of the horizontal architrave. It is the device adopted in San
Vitale at Ravenna, S. Demetrius of Salonica, and elsewhere, but never it
would seem in Constantinople, except in the underground cisterns of the
city. It was, however, too inartistic to endure, and eventually was
superseded by capitals with a broad flattened head on which the wide
impost of an arch could rest securely.[112]
A free form of acanthus, deeply undercut on the face towards the central
area of the church, covers the capitals, and in the centre of that face,
on all the capitals except the eighth (counting from the north-east) is
carved the monogram of the title Basileus, or of Justinian, or of
Theodora.
In the south side of the gallery stand two columns corresponding to the
two columns in the aisle below. They are poor in design and not
original. The western capital is 'Pseudo-Ionic,'[113] with a plain cross
on the northern face. The eastern capital is in the basket form with
roundels on the four faces. Two additional columns are found in the
western portion of the gallery. They are of verd antique and larger than
the other columns in this story of the church, and have sunk crosses in
them. The splendour of the interior decoration has certainly been
dimmed, for the walls of the edifice once gleamed with marbles and
glittered with mosaics. 'By the sheen of its marbles,' says
Procopius,[114] 'it was more resplendent than the sun, and everywhere it
was filled profusely with gold.' When Ferguson examined the building,
remains of frescoes or of mosaics, which have disappeared since his
time, could be distinguished in the narthex. The soffit, both of the
upper and of the lower cymatium on the piers, projects sufficiently to
admit the application of the customary marble incrustation. The
proportions of the building are marred by the boarded floor which rises
seventeen centimeters above the original pavement, disguising the real
elevation of the dome and of the columns in the lower colonnade. But
notwithstanding all changes for the worse the building is still a
beautiful structure. Very effective especially is the happy combination
of the various lines and forms here brought together--the rectilinear
and the semicircular sides of the octagon, the octagonal fabric and the
round dome that crowns it, the horizontal entablature stretched along
the summit of the lower story of columns and the arches that leap from
column to column in the gallery. This harmonious variety of form has
also a historical significance. An old order in architecture and a new
order here meet and embrace before the earlier, having served its age,
passes away and the later comes triumphant to fill another era of the
world with fresh beauties. Here in the tide of time we look before and
after.
To the student of architecture the dome of this church is specially
interesting. In the application of the dome to the octagon no
pendentives are employed. The octagon is carried up to the base of the
dome, which is built in sixteen longitudinal compartments that impinge
upon one another and form groins giving to the dome its strength and
sweep. On the groins is a plaster moulding, probably Byzantine. The
eight compartments directly above the dome arches are flat, and flush
with the inner face of the octagon, and in each of them is a
semicircular-headed window. They rise perpendicular to a point a little
above the windows, and then curve with a radius to the centre of the
dome.
[Illustration: PLATE XV.
THE BAPTISTERY, S. SOPHIA, FROM THE EAST.
THE BAPTISTERY, S. SOPHIA. THE INTERIOR, LOOKING WEST.
_To face page 76._]
[Illustration: FIG. 21.--VIEW OF THE EXTERIOR OF THE DOME OF SS. SERGIUS
AND BACCHUS.]
On the other hand the eight compartments directly above the angles of
the octagon are narrower than the preceding compartments; they have no
windows, and, what is of special importance to note, they are deeply
concave.[115] Such marked hollowness is found in later domes as a
decorative feature, but here it is primarily and supremely a
constructive device. By its means the concave compartments are set
slightly back from the octagon's inner face, leaving, at the springing
line, portions of the wall-head to appear as little flat ledges on each
side of the angles. This is a most skilful expedient, and compares
favourably with the methods employed elsewhere to apply the dome to the
octagon.[116] In the octagonal church of S. Lorenzo at Milan the octagon
is turned into the circle by the introduction of squinches. In San
Vitale a considerable walling is built between the line of the octagon
and the springing line of the dome, while the bed for the dome is formed
by introducing, in the space over the angles of the octagon, niches
which are worked above to the circle on plan. On the other hand, it is
interesting to compare with these methods the method employed in the
baptistery of S. Sophia, now a Sultan's Turbe, near the southern
entrance to the inner narthex. Although the walls of the building
describe a square on the exterior, they form an octagon on the interior
with semicircular bays at the diagonals, as in SS. Sergius and Bacchus.
But in the application of the dome the true pendentive is used. The
baptistery was erected shortly before S. Sophia, and in view of the
erection of the great church.
The curvature of the dome of SS. Sergius and Bacchus has three zones,
which have respectively a radius of m. 8, (drawn from the centre of the
octagon), m. 3-1/4, and m. 9-1/2, (centre about m. 2, below the
springing of the dome). The first extends to a point a little above the
heads of the dome windows; the second about m. 2 higher; the third to
the crown of the dome. The groins stop short a little below the dome's
apex, where they are arched into one another, leaving a saucer-shaped
crown now capped by a Turkish finial. The dome is covered with lead, and
presents an undulating surface owing to the protuberance of its eight
concave compartments.[117]
The system of weighting and buttressing the dome displays great skill,
and will be best understood by studying Mr. Henderson's geometrical and
constructive sections of the systems (Figs. 28, 29).
[Illustration: FIG. 22.--BRICK STAMPS IN SS. SERGIUS AND BACCHUS.
(From rubbings by Mr. A. E. Henderson.)
_At east end of south aisle._
_In the gallery._]
[Illustration: FIG. 23.]
[Illustration: FIG. 24.]
[Illustration: FIGS. 25, 26, AND 27.]
[Illustration: FIG. 28.]
[Illustration: FIG. 29.]
[Illustration: FIG. 30.]
[81] Procop. _De aed._ i. c. 4; Banduri, iii. p. 45.
[82] _De top._ ii. c. 14.
[83] Cedren. ii. pp. 642-43.
[84] Mansi, viii. col. 1010.
[85] Banduri, iii. p. 45. The church was visited by Russian pilgrims
in 1200, 1350, 1393.--_Itin. russes_, pp. 160, 120, 164.
[86] Procop. _De aed._ i. p. 186. S. Peter 'near the palace' is
mentioned in the list of abbots at the Synod of C.P. in 536. Mansi,
viii. col. 930, col. 939. Another document of the same Synod, col.
1010, is signed by Peter, hegoumenos of SS. Peter and Paul and of the
holy martyrs SS. Sergius and Bacchus.
[87] Diehl, _Manuel d'art byzantin_, p. 31. Antoniadi has drawn my
attention to the junction of a basilica and a hexagonal building in a
baptistery at Tivoli. See Dehio und Bezold, _Atlas_, plate i. fig. 10.
[88] Synax, Oct. 7.
[89] Du Cange, iv. p. 135.
[90] Cedren. i. p. 635; Procop. _Secret History_, c. 6; Procop. _De
aed._ ii. p. 234; Theoph. p. 339; Theoph. Cont. p. 154.
[91] Cedren. i. pp. 642-43. The Synaxaria (Sirmondi) speak of three
churches of S. Sergius, in or near Constantinople; [Greek: en tais
Sophiais], Oct. 7; [Greek: plesion tes Aetiou kinsternes, Nov. 9 (near
Monastery of Manuel, p. 258); [Greek: peran en Rhouphinianais], May 29
(near Kadikeui).]
[92] Page 220.
[93] Baronius, _Annales ecclesiastici_, tom. ix. p. 253, Luccae, 1741:
'quam basilicam eorum hic in domo nostra sub nomine praedictorum
venerabilium constructam, illustrare et illuminare large dignemini.'
[94] _Ibid._ p. 254.
[95] _De aed._ i. p. 186.
[96] _Ut supra_, [Greek: kai epeita kai temenos allo ek plagiou touto
parakeimenon] (i.e. SS. Sergius and Bacchus).
[97] Baronius, x. p. 43.
[98] Theoph. p. 349; Malalas, p. 485.
[99] Le Grand Palais. Epigram 8 in the _Anthologia Graeca
epigrammatum_ (vol. i. Stadt-Mueller) celebrates the erection by
Justinian of SS. Peter and Paul, [Greek: eis ton naon ton hagion
apostolon plesion tou hagiou Sergiou eis ta Hormisdou].
[100] Baronius, x. p. 43 'ex domo Placidiana, ubi degebat, confugit ad
ibi proxime junctam ecclesiam S. Petri'; cf. Vigilius' letter, _Ep._
vii. t. i. _Ep. Rom. pont._
[101] Theoph. p. 349; Malalas, p. 485.
[102] _Notitia_. Two palaces bearing similar names stood in the First
Region of the city, the _Palatium Placidianum_ and the _Domus
Placidiae Augustae_. Vigilius refers to the palace in his circular
letter, giving an account of his treatment at Constantinople. There
also the legates of Pope Agatho were lodged in 680, on the occasion of
the First Council in Trullo, and there likewise Pope Constantine in
710, when he came to the East at the command of Justinian II., took up
his abode.--Anastasius Bibliothecarius, pp. 54, 65.
[103] Epistola ccli. See Du Cange, _Const. Christ._ iv. p. 116.
[104] 'Under the microscope of modern historical criticism, ... it is
not surprising to find that the famous embassy of John the Grammarian
to the court of Baghdad must be rejected as a fiction irreconcilable
with fact.'--Prof. Bury in the _English Historical Review_, April
1909. But he was sent on other embassies.
[105] Constant. Porphyr. pp. 87-88.
[106] Similar to the parakypticon at the east end of the southern
gallery in S. Sophia. Reiske (_Comment. ad Constant. Porphyr._ p. 195)
defines it as 'Fenestra, quae in sacrificatorium despicit e
catechumeniis.' Cf. on the whole subject, Antoniadi, [Greek: Ekphrasis
tes Hagias Sophias], vol. ii. p. 291, note 101; p. 331, note 190; p.
332.
[107] The plan of SS. Sergius and Bacchus is similar to that of the
cathedral of Bosra (511-12), which was also dedicated to the same
saints. Fergusson, _History of Ancient and Mediaeval Architecture_,
vol. i. p. 432.
[108] Gyllius, _De Top. C.P._ ii. c. 16. If the design represented
vine leaves and grapes, it surely did not allude to the god Bacchus,
but to the vine in the gospel of S. John. The small columns on the
piers are Turkish.
[109] Antoniadi, _S. Sophia_, vol. ii, pp. 7-9, draws attention to the
development of buildings with sides turned into exhedrae, from their
simplest form to their culmination in S. Sophia. He refers for
illustrations to plans in Dehio und Bezold, _Die kirchliche Baukunst
des Abendlandes_, vol. i. pp. 23-31; _Atlas_, vol. i. plate i. figures
1, 2, 3, 4, 7; plate iii. figures 1, 2, 7.
[110] C. Diehl, _Theodora_, pp. 242, 342.
[111] The ratio of the height of the gallery above the floor of the
church to the height of the summit of the dome is, according to
Antoniadi, 1/3.5, the same as in S. Sophia as built by Anthemius.
[112] 'Pulvins,' says Rivoira (_Lombardic Architecture_, p. 11,
English translation), 'serve the purpose of providing the springers of
the arches with a base corresponding to the wall which they carry,
while allowing the support beneath to be much slighter without
injuring the stability of the structure.'
[113] Rivoira, _ut supra_, p. 62: 'The volutes in the Pseudo-Ionic
capital intended to conceal the abruptness of the transition from the
square of the pulvin to the round.'
[114] _De aed._ i. p. 187.
[115] 'The centres of the radii of these concave compartments are
formed by having three points given the groins on either side and the
angle of the octagon in the centre. With these points for each
compartment the radius is given, and an arc turned giving the
concavity required for each web at its springing.'--A. E. Henderson in
the _Builder_, January 1906, p. 4.
[116] In S. George of Ezra in Syria (515), as Mr. E. M. Antoniadi
informs me, the dome overhangs or oversails the angles of the octagon.
[117] 'The dome stands within a polygon of sixteen sides, that rises
four metres above the springing line, keeping the dome taut and
weighting the haunches. Against this polygonal casing are set
buttresses formed by the extension of the piers of the octagon to
within m. 1-1/2 from the cornice of the dome. These buttresses are in
their turn respectively strengthened, on the rear, by two small
buttresses; of which those on the north, south, east, and west sides
rest on an arch of the gynecaeum, and carry the thrust to the outer
walls of the church, while the others rest on the exhedrae and the
vaulting of the gynecaeum. Furthermore, from the summit of the
buttresses formed by the piers of the octagon a small buttress is set
against the cupola itself up to the cornice.' This marshalling of the
buttresses around the dome in three tiers, while securing the
stability of the structure, is moreover strikingly artistic. See Fig.
21.
CHAPTER IV
THE CHURCH OF S. IRENE 118-143
The church of S. Irene stands at a short distance to the north-east of
S. Sophia, in the first court of the Seraglio. Its identity has never
been questioned, for the building was too much in the public eye and too
near the centre of the ecclesiastical affairs of the city to render
possible any mistake concerning its real character. It is always
described as close to S. Sophia.[118] According to the historian
Socrates,[119] it was originally one of the Christian sanctuaries of the
old town of Byzantium, a statement we may well believe, seeing Byzantium
was the seat of a bishop before the foundation of Constantinople. The
designation of the church as 'the Ancient' or 'the Old Church,' Ecclesia
Antiqua, [Greek: he palaia],[120] and the special regard cherished for
the church during the earlier history of the city, are also thus best
explained. The original sanctuary was small,[121] but when Byzantium
became the capital of the East the old fabric was enlarged and
beautified by Constantine the Great to harmonize with its grander
surroundings, and was dedicated to Peace, in honour of the rest and
quiet which settled upon the Roman world when the founder of the city
had vanquished all his rivals after eighteen years of civil war.[122]
[Illustration: PLATE XVI.
_Abdullah Freres._
S. IRENE, FROM THE SOUTH-EAST.
_To face page 84._]
NOTE
Other churches of the same name were found in Constantinople:
S. Irene in the Seventh Region, according to the _Notitia_. S. Irene
in Sykai (Galata), [Greek: peran en Sykais]; Theophanes, p. 353.
S. Irene by the Sea, [Greek: pros thalassan]; Nicetas Choniates,
p. 269; Synax., Jan. 10. The last was also known as the New,
[Greek: Nea]; Synax., Jan. 23. Erected in the reign of the Emperor
Marcian, it was partially restored by the Emperor Manuel Comnenus
after its destruction by fire; Nicet. Chon. _ut supra_. It was styled
likewise 'at the Ferry,' [Greek: to perama]; Codinus, _De aed._ p. 89;
Banduri, ii. p. 31.
Until the year 360, when the church of S. Sophia was opened to public
worship by the Emperor Constantius, S. Irene appears to have been the
cathedral of the city. Hence, probably, the name sometimes given to it,
the Patriarchate, [Greek: to patriarcheion].[123] Nor did the church
lose its primacy altogether even after the erection of S. Sophia. On the
contrary, the two churches were regarded as forming one sanctuary; they
were enclosed within the same court, served by the same clergy, and
known by the same name, 'the Great Church,' [Greek: he Megale
Ekklesia].[124] S. Irene was again the sole cathedral building, while S.
Sophia lay in ruins for eleven years after being set on fire in 404, on
the occasion of the final banishment of John Chrysostom.
S. Irene comes prominently into view during the fierce struggle between
the adherents of the Nicene Creed and the Arians, in the half-century
which followed the inauguration of New Rome. Having been persuaded that
the point at issue between the two theological parties was not
essential, and that the agitation of the question was due to love of
disputation, Constantine the Great, who valued peace at almost any
price, attempted to suppress the controversy by his authority, and
accordingly ordered the Patriarch Alexander to admit Arius, then present
in the city, to the Holy Communion. With this order Alexander, a
champion of the Nicene Creed, refused to comply. Whereupon the followers
of Arius decided to have recourse to violence. But on the very eve of
the day fixed to carry out their purpose, Arius was taken suddenly ill
in the Forum of Constantine and died on the spot. The historian
Socrates regards the event as the act of God, for when the patriarch
heard what the heretics intended to do, he retired to the church of S.
Irene, and there for many days and nights, with fasting and tears, and
with his lips pressed to the altar, implored divine succour in his
terrible extremity. 'If the opinions of Arius be true,' the patriarch
prayed, 'let me die; but if they are false let him be judged.' The
tragic end of Arius was considered the answer to that prayer.
Upon the death of Alexander in 343, at the age of ninety-eight, the two
parties came into collision in regard to the question of his successor.
The deceased prelate had recommended two persons as suitable to fill his
place: the presbyter Paul, because of his abilities; the deacon
Macedonius, on account of his age and venerable appearance. The Arians
favoured Macedonius, as more in sympathy with their opinions; the
orthodox, however, carried the election and installed Paul in S. Irene.
The defeated party seems to have submitted, but the Emperor Constantius,
a violent Arian, quashed the election, and appointed Eusebius of
Nicomedia, a prominent upholder of the views of Arius, bishop of the
capital. Upon the death of Eusebius in 346 the theological combatants
again seized the opportunity to try their strength. The orthodox
recalled Paul; the Arians consecrated Macedonius. Incensed by these
proceedings, Constantius, then at Antioch, ordered Hermogenes, the
magister militum in Thrace, to proceed to Constantinople and drive Paul
from the city. But no sooner did Hermogenes attempt to execute his
instructions than the populace rose, burnt his house to the ground, and
after dragging him along the streets, killed him. The emperor was
furious. He hurried back to Constantinople, banished Paul, and reduced
by one-half the amount of free bread daily distributed among the
citizens. Nor did he fully recognize Macedonius as bishop. Under these
circumstances Paul made his way to Rome, and, having secured the support
of the Pope, reappeared in Constantinople as the rightful bishop of the
see. But the emperor, again in Syria, was not to be baffled. More angry
than ever, he sent peremptory orders to Philip, the prefect of
Constantinople, to expel Paul and to recognize Macedonius. By skilful
arrangements Paul was quietly removed from the scene. But to install
Macedonius was a more difficult undertaking. The prefect, however,
ordered his chariot, and with Macedonius seated by his side made for S.
Irene, under an escort of troops carrying drawn swords. The sharp, naked
weapons alarmed the crowds in the streets, and without distinction of
sect or class men rushed for the church, everybody trying to outstrip
his neighbour in the race to get there first. Soon all the approaches to
the building were packed to suffocation; no one stirred backwards or
forwards, and the prefect's chariot was unable to advance. What seemed a
hostile barricade of human beings welded together obstructed his path.
In vain did the soldiers brandish their swords in the hope of
frightening the crowd to disperse. The crowd stood stock still, not
because it would not, but because it could not move. The soldiers grew
angry, resorted to their weapons, and cut a way to the church through
that compact mass of humanity at the cost of 3150 lives; some of the
victims being crushed to death, others killed at the point of the sword.
So was Macedonius conducted to his throne in the temple of Peace.[125]
But the conflict between the opposite parties continued, and after six
years spent in efforts to recover his position, Paul was restored to
office through the intervention of the Pope of Rome, of the Emperor
Constans, and of the Synod of Sardica. It was a brief triumph. In 350
Paul was exiled for life to Cucusus, and Macedonius ruled once more in
his stead.[126] For the next thirty years S. Irene with the other
churches of the capital remained in the hands of the Arians.
[Illustration: PLATE XVII.
(1) S. IRENE, SOUTH SIDE.
(2) S. IRENE, NORTH SIDE. IN THE DISTANCE, S. SOPHIA.
_To face page 86._]
During that period the Nicene faith was preached by Gregory of Nazianzus
only in a small chapel, subsequently dedicated to S. Anastasia.[127] But
with the accession of Theodosius the Great the adherents of the Creed of
Nicaea prevailed, and the Second General Council, held in Constantinople
in 381, adopted that creed as the true faith of the Christian Church.
According to the biographer of S. Stephen the Younger, who enumerates
the six ecumenical councils, and indicates, in most cases, where each
met, that famous Council met in the church of S. Irene.[128] But
Theodore Lector[129] says the Council assembled in the church of
Homonoia, and explains the name of that church as commemorative of the
harmony which prevailed among the bishops who gathered there on that
occasion. As a matter of fact, one of the churches of the city bore the
name Homonoia.[130] Possibly the discrepancy between the statements of
the authors just mentioned may be due to a confusion arising from a
similar meaning of the names of the two churches.
According to the Anonymus,[131] the usurper Basiliscus took refuge with
his wife and children in S. Irene, when he was overthrown in 477, and
the Emperor Zeno recovered the throne. But, according to the _Paschal
Chronicle_,[132] Basiliscus fled on that occasion to the great
baptistery of S. Sophia. As that baptistery stood between S. Irene and
S. Sophia and may have served both churches, the difference between the
two statements is not serious.
After standing for two centuries the Constantinian edifice was burnt to
the ground by the fire which the rebel factions in the Nika Riot set to
the offices of the prefect on Friday, the 16th of January 532. The
building had narrowly escaped the same fate in the fire which destroyed
S. Sophia earlier in the course of the riot, and might have survived
also the conflagration in which it actually perished, but for the strong
wind which carried the flames from the praetorium to the church,
devouring on their way the bath of Alexander, a part of the hospice of
Eubulus, and the hospital of Sampson with its patients.
The restoration of the church was included in the magnificent scheme of
Justinian the Great to build on the wilderness of ashes created by his
rebel subjects the finest monuments of his empire. And so S. Irene rose
from its ruins, the largest sanctuary in Constantinople, except S.
Sophia.[133] The bricks bearing the mark 'the Great Church,' [Greek:
Megale 'Ekklesia], which are built into a raised bank against the
northern wall of the atrium, afford no indication of the date when S.
Irene was rebuilt. The bank is of comparatively recent origin.[134]
In the month of December 564, the thirty-seventh year of Justinian's
reign, another great fire threatened to destroy the buildings which that
emperor had erected in the quarter of the city beside S. Sophia. The
hospital of Sampson was again burnt down; the atrium of the Great
Church, known as the Garsonostasion, suffered; two monasteries close to
S. Irene perished, and, what most concerns us, the atrium and part of
the narthex of S. Irene itself were consumed.[135] How soon these
injuries were repaired is not recorded.
During the 176 years that followed the reconstruction of the church by
Justinian, S. Irene does not appear in history. But in 740 it was
injured by the earthquake which shook Constantinople in the last year of
the reign of Leo III. the Isaurian.[136] Theophanes[137] is very precise
in regard to the time when the disaster occurred; it was on the 26th of
October, the ninth indiction, on a Wednesday, at eight o'clock. The
damage done both in the city and in the towns of Thrace and Bithynia was
terrible. In Nicaea only one church was left standing, while
Constantinople deplored the ruin of large portions of the landward
fortifications and the loss of many churches, monasteries, and public
monuments. S. Irene was then shaken, and, as the examination of the
building by Mr. George has proved, sustained most serious injuries. The
Emperor Leo died about six months after the disaster, and it is
therefore uncertain whether the church was rebuilt before his death. His
first attention was naturally directed to the reconstruction of the
fortifications of the city, where his name still appears, with that of
his son and successor Constantine Copronymus, as the rebuilder of the
fallen bulwarks. But although there is no record of the precise date at
which the ruined church was repaired, we may safely assume that if the
work was not commenced while Leo III. sat upon the throne, it was
undertaken soon after the accession of Constantine Copronymus. S. Irene
was too important to be long neglected, and was probably rebuilt during
the ascendancy of the iconoclasts.
The church reappears for a moment in 857 during the dispute which raged
around the persons of Ignatius and Photius as to which of them was the
lawful patriarch. While the partisans of the latter met in the church of
the Holy Apostles to depose Ignatius, the few bishops who upheld the
claims of Ignatius assembled in S. Irene to condemn and depose Photius
with equal vehemence.[138]
The church comes into view once more in connection with the settlement
of the quarrel caused in 907 by the fourth marriage of Leo VI. the Wise.
As the union was uncanonical, the Patriarch Nicholas deposed the priest
who had celebrated the marriage; he, moreover, refused the Communion to
the emperor, and treated Zoe, the emperor's fourth wife, as an outcast.
For such conduct Nicholas lost his office, and a more pliant
ecclesiastic was appointed in his place. The inevitable result followed.
The religious world was torn by a schism which disturbed Church and
State for fifteen years. At length Romanus I. summoned a council of
divines to compose the agitation, and peace was restored in 921, by a
decree which condemned a fourth marriage, but allowed a third marriage
under very strict limitations. So important was this decision regarded
that it was read annually, in July, from the pulpit, and on that
occasion the emperor, with the patriarch, attended service in S. Irene,
and at its close took part in a procession from S. Irene to S. Sophia,
on the way back to the Great Palace.[139]
[Illustration: PLATE XVIII.
S. IRENE. THE INTERIOR, LOOKING EAST.
(With the kind permission of Professor C. Gurlitt, from his work _Die
Baukunst Konstantinopels_, Berlin, E. Wasmuth.)
_To face page 90._]
On Good Friday the patriarch held a service for catechumens ([Greek:
katechesis]) in S. Irene, which the patricians were required to
attend.[140]
The church of S. Irene has never been used as a mosque. After its
enclosure within the precincts of the Seraglio soon after the Turkish
conquest, it was converted into an armoury, probably because it stood in
the court occupied by the body of Janissaries who formed the palace
guard, and it has served that military purpose, in contradiction to its
name, for the most part ever since. For several years it contained the
first collection of antiquities made by the Turkish Government, and some
of the objects in that collection still remain to recall the use of the
building as a museum; the most interesting of them being the chain
stretched across the mouth of the Golden Horn during the siege of 1453,
the monument to the charioteer Porphyrios, and the pedestal of the
silver statue of the Empress Eudocia, which played a fatal part in the
relations of that empress to the great bishop of Constantinople, John
Chrysostom. Since the establishment of the constitutional regime in the
Ottoman Empire the building has been turned into a Museum of Arms.
_Architectural Features_
Until the recent establishment of constitutional government in Turkey it
was impossible to obtain permission to study this church in a
satisfactory manner, so jealously was even entrance into the building
guarded. The nearest approach to anything like a proper examination of
the building was when Salzenberg was allowed to visit the church in
1848, while the church of S. Sophia was undergoing repairs under the
superintendence of the Italian architect Fossati. But the liberty
accorded to Salzenberg was not complete, and, consequently, his plan of
the church published in his _Altchristliche Baudenkmaeler von
Konstantinopel_ is marred by serious mistakes. Happily the new
Government of the Empire is animated by an enlightened and liberal
spirit, and at the request of His Excellency Sir Gerard Lowther, H.B.M.
Ambassador to the Sublime Porte, permission was granted to the Byzantine
Research and Publication Fund to have the church examined as thoroughly
as its condition allowed, and to make all the plans, drawings, and
photographs required in the interests of a scientific knowledge of its
architectural character. The Byzantine Research and Publication Fund was
fortunate in having as its president, Edwin Freshfield, LL.D., so long
distinguished for his devotion to Byzantine archaeology, and it is
mainly due to his generosity that the means necessary for carrying on
the study of the church were provided. The society was, moreover, most
happy in being able to secure the services of an architect in Mr. W. S.
George, who already possessed considerable experience in the
investigation of Byzantine buildings at Salonica and elsewhere.
Fortunately, also, the building was at the same time placed under
repair, in view of its conversion into a museum of arms, thus affording
exceptional facilities for the erection of scaffolding and the removal
of plaster and other obstructions. Mr. George gave nearly five months to
the study of the church, and the results of his careful investigations
will appear in a monograph to be published by the Byzantine Research and
Publication Fund. But with great courtesy, in view of the fact that I
was engaged on the present work, and also because I waived my own
application for leave to study S. Irene in favour of the application
made by the Byzantine Fund, I have been allowed to anticipate that
monograph by making use of some of the results of Mr. George's
investigations. For this permission I am very grateful, as it will add
much to the value of this volume. I visited the church frequently while
Mr. George was at work upon it, and my account of its architectural
features is based entirely upon the information he then kindly supplied,
and upon the notes he has communicated to me since his return to
England.
[Illustration: PLATE XIX.
(1) S. IRENE. VAULTING AT THE NORTH-WEST CORNER OF THE ATRIUM.
(2) S. IRENE. THE NORTHERN ARCH OF THE MAIN DOME, SEEN FROM
THE SOUTH GALLERY.
_To face page 92._]
The architectural feature which gives to this building a peculiar
interest, in the study of the development of planning and construction,
is the more complete fusion of the basilican type of plan with a domical
system of roofing which it presents than is found in any other example
of a similar combination.
On the west, where the ground retains its original level, stands the old
atrium, though much modified by Turkish repairs and alterations. It had
covered arcades on the north, south, and west sides, but only the outer
walls of the northern and southern arcades, with some portions of their
inner walls, and three complete vaulted bays at the northern end of the
western arcade, are Byzantine. The walls, vaults, and piers in other
parts of the arcades are Turkish. There is no trace of the west door
which, under ordinary circumstances, would form the main entrance to the
atrium, but a Byzantine doorway, now built up, is found close to the
narthex, in the outer wall of the south arcade. The area of the atrium
has been, moreover, greatly reduced by the erection, on its four sides,
of an inner range of Turkish vaulting.
Five doors led from the atrium to the narthex, but only the central and
the northernmost of these doors are now open, the latter entrance still
retaining its original architrave and cornice of white marble, with the
usual mouldings and a cross worked on the crowning member of the
cornice. The present entrance to the church, however, is on the north
side of the building, through a porch that leads down a sloping Turkish
passage to the western end of the north aisle.
The narthex is in five bays, the two terminal bays having cross-groined
vaults, the three central, vaults of a domical character with blunt
rounded groins at the springing. The whole vaulting surface of the
narthex was once covered with mosaics exhibiting mainly a geometrical
pattern.
From the narthex three tall arched openings conducted to the nave, and
one opening to each aisle. But the direct communication between the
narthex and the northern aisle is now cut off by the insertion of the
Turkish entrance to the church, although the old doorway to the aisle
remains complete.
The nave is divided into two large bays of equal breadth but unequal
length, the western bay being the shorter. In the latter the arches
which support its roof are, to the east and west, semicircular, while
those to north and south are roughly elliptical, springing from the same
level and rising to the same height as the semicircular arches, but
being of shorter span. These elliptical arches extend to the outer walls
of the church, thus partaking of the character of short barrel vaults.
Upon these arches is raised what has been called an elliptical dome. But
in no part has it the character of a true ellipse, nor does it spring
from its supporting arches in the simple regular manner of a dome, but
in the complex manner of a vault built upon arches of unequal curvature.
It should therefore rather be called a domical vault. Where it shows
above the roof it has the appearance of a modified and very low cone
covering an irregular elliptical drum.
The eastern bay of the nave is square on plan, bounded by semicircular
arches, all extended so as to form short barrel vaults. The western arch
is joined to the eastern arch of the western bay, thus forming a short
barrel vault common to both bays. The vault to the east runs to the
semi-dome of the apse; whilst the vaults to north and south, like the
corresponding vaults in the western bay, extend to the outer walls and
cover the eastern portions of the aisles and galleries. Above the
supporting arches regular pendentives are formed, and above these there
is a drum carrying a dome. The apse to the east of the nave is
semicircular within and covered by a semi-dome.
Between that semi-dome and the eastern barrel vault of the nave a break
is interposed, giving the bema arch two orders or faces, with their
external and internal angles rounded off, and the whole surface of the
semi-dome and of the bema arch is covered with mosaic. At one time the
mosaic extended also over the surface of the barrel vault. The
decoration in the semi-dome consists of a large cross in black outline
upon a gold ground; below the cross there are three steps set upon a
double band of green that runs round the base of the semi-dome. A
geometrical border bounds the semi-dome, and then comes the following
inscription, an extract from Psalm lxv. verses 5, 6 (the lxiv. in the
Septuagint version), on the inner face of the arch:
[Greek: (DEUT EI)SOMETHA EN TOIS AGATHOIS TOU OIKOU SOU,
HAGIOS O NAOS SOU THAUMASTOS EN DIKAIOSYNE EPAKOUSON
HEMON O TH[EO]S O S[OT]ER HEMON HE ELPIS
PANTON TON PERATON TES GES KAI TON EN THALASSE
MAK(RA)[N]].
(Come we will go?) in the good things of thy house. Holy is
thy temple. Thou art wonderful in righteousness. Hear us, O God
our Saviour; the hope of all the ends of the earth and of them
who are afar off upon the sea.
The letters enclosed within curved brackets and the accents[141] above
them are paint only; the letters within square brackets are not in the
inscription, but are supplied where evident contractions render that
course necessary. The remaining letters are in unrestored mosaic.
Probably [Greek:(Deut ei) sometha] is a mistake of the restorer for the
word [Greek: plesthesometha] in the original text. 'We shall be filled
with the goodness (or the good things) of thy house.'
Three other geometrical patterns in mosaic succeed, after which follows
a broad wreath of foliage on the outer face of the bema arch and the
words:
[Greek:(HO O)IKODOMON EIS T(ON OIKON SOU KAI) ANABASIN
AUTOU, KAI TEN EPANGELIAN (TOU HAGIOU PNEUMATOS
EU HEMAS ELPEISAMEN EIS TO O)NOMA A(UTOU)].
The mosaic above the crown of the semi-dome has been injured and
restored imperfectly in plaster, paint, and gilt. Hence the large black
patch in it which includes the upper arm of the cross.
The letters enclosed within curved brackets are in paint and are
manifestly the work of a restorer who has spoiled the grammatical
construction of the words and obscured the meaning of the inscription.
The remaining letters are in unrestored mosaic.
I venture to suggest that the original text was a quotation from Amos
ix. 6, with possibly some variations:
[Greek: ho oikodomon eis ton ouranon anabasin autou kai ten
epangelian autou epi tes ges themelion].
'He who builds his ascent up to the heaven and his command
on the foundations of the earth.'
The words, [Greek: elpeisamen eis to onoma autou], 'we have hoped in his
name,' may be original (Psalm xxxii. 21; Isaiah xxvi. 8).
With these inscriptions may be compared the beautiful collect used at
the consecration of a church:
[Greek: Akolouthia eis enkainia naou.
Nai Despota Kyrie ho Theos ho Soter hemon, he elpis panton ton
peraton tes ges, epakouson hemon ton hamartolon deomenon sou kai
katapempson to panagion sou Pneuma to proskyneton kai pantodynamenon
kai hagiason ton oikon touton].
'Yea, Lord God Almighty our Saviour, the hope of all the ends
of the earth, hear us sinners when we call upon thee, and send thy
Holy Spirit, the worshipful and all powerful, and sanctify this house.'
Below the windows of the apse are ranges of seats for the clergy,
forming a sloping gallery, and consisting of eleven risers and eleven
treads, so that, according to the method of seating adopted, there are
five or six or eleven rows of seats. There is no vestige of a special
episcopal seat in the centre, but the stonework has been disturbed; for
some of the seats are built with portions of the moulded base of the
marble revetment of the building. Underneath the seats runs a narrow
semicircular passage originally well lighted through openings[142] in
the riser of one range of seats, and having a doorway at each end.
[Illustration: PLATE XX.
(1) S. IRENE. MOSAIC ON SOFFIT OF AN ARCH BETWEEN THE NARTHEX AND THE
ATRIUM.
(2) S. IRENE. PORTION OF THE MOSAIC INSCRIPTION ON THE OUTER ARCH OF THE
APSE.
_To face page 96._]
On either side of the nave, towards the eastern end of each aisle,
there is an approximately square compartment covered with a domical
vault, and having an opening communicating with the nave immediately to
the west of the bema. To the east of these compartments stands what was
the original eastern wall of the church, and in it, in the north aisle,
a large doorway retaining its architrave and cornice, is still found.
Of the corresponding doorway in the south aisle only the threshold is
left. These doorways must have communicated with the outer world to the
east of the church, like the doorways which occupy a similar position in
the Studion (p. 53). The northern compartment had an opening, which is
still surmounted by architrave and cornice, also in its north wall.
There are, moreover, four other openings or recesses in the northern
wall of the church, and two in the southern.
The main portions of the aisles are divided from the nave by light
screens of columns, the eastern and western portions being connected by
passages driven through the dome piers. In the eastern nave bay there
are four columns, giving five aisle bays on each side. The columns are
very slender, without any base moulding, and stand upon square
pedestals, now framed round with Turkish woodwork. On opening one of
these frames the pedestal was found to be a mutilated and imperfectly
squared block of stone. Such blocks may have served as the core of a
marble lining, or may be damaged material re-used.
The capitals are of the 'Pseudo-Ionic' type, with roughly cut Ionic
volutes. The sinking on their lower bed is too large for the necks of
the columns. Towards the aisles they bear the monograms of Justinian and
Theodora, identical with the monograms of these sovereigns in S. Sophia,
while on the side towards the nave they have a cross in low relief.
Usually monograms are placed in the more conspicuous position.
Above the capitals the vaulting that covers the aisles and supports the
galleries is of an uncommon type. Towards the nave the arches are narrow
and raised upon very high stilts; from each capital a semicircular arch
is thrown across to the outer wall, where is a range of windows, each of
which has an extrados at a slightly higher level than the extrados of
the corresponding nave arch; and thus a long narrow space is left
between the four arches of each vault compartment that could be filled,
wholly or in part, without the use of centering. The result is a narrow,
irregularly curved vault, shaped to the backs of each of its
surrounding arches, and having, in the main, the character of a
spherical fragment.
The western portion of each aisle is divided from the nave by an
irregular arcade supported by a pier and one column, and, consequently,
there are three aisle bays to the western nave bay, and not four as
shown by Salzenburg.
The whole interior surfaces of the walls, up to the level of the
springing of the gallery vaulting, and the nave walls, up to the gallery
level, were once faced with marble. This is proved by the presence in
the walls of many marble plugs and some iron holdfasts, as well as by
remains of the moulded base of the facing.
At the eastern extremity of the aisles there are chambers formed by
walls built, as the vertical straight joints and difference of materials
employed indicate, at various periods. The chamber at the end of the
northern aisle has an archway, now built up, in its eastern wall, and
seems to have served as a vestibule. It is in these chambers that
Salzenberg supposes the staircases leading to the galleries stood, but
it is evident from the character of the walls and vaulting that no such
staircases could ever have existed there.
The galleries extend over the narthex and over the whole length of the
aisles. Access to them is now obtained by a wooden staircase and landing
of Turkish construction, but how they were reached in Byzantine times is
not evident. Possibly the fragments of wall on the exterior face of the
south wall of the narthex and the traces of vaulting beside them may be
the remains of a staircase. Or a staircase may have stood to the west of
the narthex over the vaulting of the atrium, where projecting spurs of
walls appear.
The vaulting of the gallery over the narthex was originally similar to
that of the narthex itself, but only the cross-groined vaults at the
corners are Byzantine; the three central compartments are Turkish. Five
windows in the western wall looked into the atrium, and as many openings
in the eastern wall into the nave and side galleries. Below the former
range is a string-course corresponding to that which runs round the
interior of the building at gallery level.
The gallery over each aisle consists of two open portions under the dome
arches, divided from each other by the dome piers, which are pierced to
connect the different parts of the gallery with each other, and with the
gallery over the narthex. In the side walls there is a range of windows
at gallery level; five on each side of the eastern nave bay, three in
the south wall of the western nave bay, but none, at present, in its
northern wall. Above these windows are two ranges of windows in each
lunette under the dome arches, a system of five and three in the eastern
bay, and of four and two in the western bay. All these windows, now
square-headed, had originally semicircular heads. The lunette filling
the western dome arch had doubtless a similar window arrangement, though
at present it has only one window.
[Illustration: PLATE XXI.
(1) S. IRENE. INTERIOR, LOOKING NORTH-WEST.
(2) S. IRENE. DOOR AT THE EAST END OF THE NORTH AISLE.
_To face page 98._]
The eastern ends of the side galleries have been formed into separate
chambers since the Turkish occupation. Of the additions beyond the
original east wall of the church, that to the north was connected with
the gallery by a tall wide arch, while that to the south was divided off
from the gallery with only a small door as a means of communication. The
southern addition was divided into two chambers as on the ground floor.
The walls above gallery level and the large vaulting surfaces of the
building are now covered with plaster, but a close examination proves
that if any mosaic or marble revetment ever existed above gallery level,
none of it, excepting the mosaic in the apse, remains.
Looking next at the exterior of the building, it is to be observed that
the ground on the north, south, and east has been raised as much as
fifteen feet. In many places the walls have undergone Turkish repair.
The apse shows three sides. The drum of the dome is pierced by twenty
semicircular-headed windows (of which only five are now open), and as
their arches and the dome spring at about the same level the heads of
the windows impinge upon the dome's surface. Two low shoulders cover the
eastern pendentives. The plan of the drum is peculiar. From the
shoulders, just mentioned, to the windows, it is a square with rounded
corners, one side of the square being joined with and buried in the drum
of the western dome vault; but upon reaching the base of the windows it
becomes an accurate circle in plan, and at the springing of the window
arches is set back, leaving a portion of the piers to appear as
buttresses. The upper portion of the drum is carried well up above the
springing of the dome, leaving a large mass of material properly
disposed so as to take the thrusts produced.
The careful examination of the building by Mr. George has proved that
the fabric is not the work of one age, but consists of parts constructed
at different periods. For the full evidence on the subject we must await
the forthcoming monograph on the church. Here, only the main results of
Mr. George's survey can be presented.
Up to the level of the springing of the aisle vaults, the walls of the
main body of the building, excepting the narthex and the additions at
the east end of the church, are built of large well-squared stones laid
in regular courses, and are homogeneous throughout.
Above that level the walls are built in alternate bands of brick and
stone, five courses of brick to five courses of stone being the normal
arrangement. The stones in this portion of the walls are smaller and
much more roughly squared than those below the springing of the aisle
vaults. This brick and stone walling is, so far as could be ascertained,
homogeneous right up to the domical vault and the dome. As usual the
arches and vaults are in brick. A point to be noted is that the recesses
or openings in the lower part of the north and south walls of the church
do not centre with the windows and vaulting above them; sometimes,
indeed, the head of an opening comes immediately below a vaulting arch
or rib. Again, at the north-eastern external angle of the apse the wall
up to the level of the springing of the aisle vaulting is in stone, but
above that level in brick, and the two portions differ in the angle
which they subtend. Evidently there has been rebuilding from a level
coinciding with the springing of the aisle vaulting. Projecting above
the ground at the same place is a square mass of stonework that was left
unbuilt upon when that rebuilding took place. The narthex is built of
brick, with bands of large stone at wide intervals, and is separated by
distinct joints from the upper and lower walls of the body of the
church. Furthermore, while the two eastern bays on each side of the
western portion of the nave continue and belong to the unusual system of
vaulting followed in the aisles, the bay on each side immediately
adjoining the narthex belongs to the vaulting system found in the
narthex, and has, towards the nave, an arch precisely similar to the
arches between the nave and the narthex. The division between the two
systems is well marked, both in the nave and in the aisles, and points
clearly to the fact that the narthex and the body of the church are of
different dates.
[Illustration: PLATE XXII.
(1) S. IRENE. VAULTING OVER THE SOUTH AISLE.
(2) S. IRENE. A COMPARTMENT OF SOUTH AISLE VAULTING (2) (LOOKING
DIRECTLY UPWARD).
_To face page 100._]
Thus the architectural survey of the building shows that the principal
parts of the fabric represent work done upon it on three great
occasions, a conclusion in striking accord with the information already
derived from history. For we have seen (p. 89) that after the
destruction of the original Constantinian church by fire in the Nika
Riot, Justinian the Great erected a new sanctuary upon the old
foundations; that later in his reign another fire occurred which
necessitated the reconstruction of the narthex of that sanctuary; and
that some two centuries later, towards the close of the reign of Leo the
Isaurian, the church was shaken by one of the most violent earthquakes
known in Constantinople, and subsequently restored probably by that
emperor or by his son and successor Constantine Copronymus. Accordingly,
leaving minor changes out of account, it is safe to suggest that the
walls of the body of the church, up to the springing of the aisle
vaults, belong to the new church built by Justinian after the Nika Riot
in 532; while the narthex, the aisle vaults immediately adjoining it,
and the upper portion of the western end of the south wall, represent
the repairs made probably by the same emperor after the injuries to the
fabric caused by the fire of 564. The earthquake of 740 must therefore
have shaken down or rendered unstable all the upper part of the
building, but left standing the narthex, the gallery above it, and the
lower part of the walls of the church. Consequently, the upper part of
the building, the apse, the dome-arches, the dome-vault, and the dome
with its drum, belong to the reconstruction of the church after that
earthquake.
The buttresses to the apse where it joins the main eastern wall are
later additions, and still later, but before Turkish times, are the
short walls at the north and south-eastern corners forming the small
eastern chambers.
Of the building erected by Constantine the Great the only possible
vestige is the square projection at the north-eastern angle of the apse,
but that is an opinion upon which much stress should not be laid.
In harmony with these conclusions is the evidence afforded by the
mosaics found in the church. Those of the narthex are of the same
character as the mosaics in S. Sophia, Constantinople, and may well have
been executed under Justinian. On the other hand, the mosaics in the
apse are characteristic of the iconoclastic period, the chief decoration
there being a simple cross. For, as Finlay[143] has remarked, Leo the
Isaurian 'placed the cross on the reverse of many of his gold, silver,
and copper coins, and over the gates of his palace, as a symbol for
universal adoration.' A similar iconoclastic decoration and a portion of
the same verses from Psalm lxv. formed the original decoration of the
apse in S. Sophia, Salonica.
Thus also is the presence of capitals bearing the monograms of Justinian
and Theodora explained, seeing those sovereigns were intimately
connected with the church. And thus also is a reason suggested why those
monograms face the aisles instead of the nave; it was a position which
would be assigned to them by a later restorer of the church who was
obliged to use old material, and at the same time felt anxious to
conceal the fact as much as possible, lest the glory of the previous
benefactors of the church should eclipse his own renown.
[Illustration: PLATE XXIII.
(1) S. IRENE. CAPITAL IN SOUTH ARCADE, SEEN FROM THE SOUTH AISLE.
(2) S. IRENE. BASE OF COLUMN IN THE SOUTH AISLE, SEEN FROM THE SOUTH
AISLE.
_To face page 102._]
The conclusion that in the present building we have parts representing
different periods solves also the problem of the elliptical domical
vault. For it is difficult to imagine that a Byzantine architect with a
free hand would choose to build such a vault. But given the supports Mr.
George believes were left standing after the earthquake of 740, and
given also the narthex on the west, the architect's liberty was limited,
and he would be forced to cover the space thus bounded in the best way
the circumstances allowed.
How the western portion of the church was roofed in Justinian's time it
is impossible to say with certainty. There are buttress slips in the
south wall at gallery level and in the nave below, where the break
occurs in the arcade, that suggest the existence, in the church as
originally built by Justinian, of a narthex carrying a gallery. In that
case the length of the barrel vault over the western part of the church
would be about the length of the barrel vault over the eastern part, and
the church would then show in plan a regular cross with a dome at the
centre, two lateral doors, one of which is now built up, giving access
to the ends of the narthex.
The dates here assigned to the different parts of the building simplify
the problem of the tall drum below the main dome. That this could have
been built by Justinian, as has been supposed, is difficult of belief if
the large domes which are known to have been built by him are carefully
examined. It is true that the drum dome of S. Sophia, Salonica, has also
been claimed for Justinian, but that drum is low and only partially
developed, and although its date is not known, the consensus of opinion
is against its being so early. The whole question of the development of
the drum still awaits treatment at the hands of an investigator who has
thoroughly studied the buildings themselves, and perhaps the publication
of the results obtained by Mr. George at S. Sophia, Salonica, and S.
Irene, Constantinople, two crucial examples, will throw some light on
the subject. For the present the date here given for the drum of S.
Irene (_i.e._ towards the middle of the eighth century) is an inherently
probable one.
In the foregoing description of S. Irene there is no pretence to an
exhaustive statement of facts, or any claim that the conclusions reached
are final. There is still too much plaster on the walls to permit a
complete examination of the building. But the conclusions here suggested
are those which agree best with the evidence which has been brought to
light by Mr. George under present circumstances.
[Illustration: FIG. 31.]
[Illustration: FIG. 32.]
[Illustration: FIG. 33.]
[Illustration: FIG. 34.]
[Illustration: FIG. 35.]
[118] Socrates, ii. c. 6; _Corpus juris civilis_, Nov. iii. c. 3. 2;
_Itin. russes_, p. 119.
[119] Socrates, ii. c. 16. So also the author of the _Vita Pauli Patr.
C.P._ The Church of S. Irene, which the Anonymus (Banduri, ii. p. 31)
says had once been a heathen temple, was the church of S. Irene,
[Greek: to perama].
[120] _Notitia, regia secunda_; Codin. _De aed._ p. 73.
[121] Socrates, _loc. cit._
[122] _Ibid._
[123] Banduri, ii. p. 52.
[124] Socrates, ii. c. 16.
[125] Socrates, ii. c. 16.
[126] _Ibid._ ii. 13, 15, 16.
[127] _Ibid._ v. 7.
[128] _Vita S. Stephani Junioris_, Migne, P.G. 100, col. 1144, [Greek:
he deutera en Kplei en to nao tes agias Eirenes].
[129] Theodore Lector, ed. Valesius (1748), p. 533. Eutychius
afflicted by the divine anger went [Greek: en to euagei eukterio entha
pepisteutai anapauesthai meros hieron leipsanon ton thespesion
Pantaleontos kai Marinou, epikaloumenou tou topou Homonoia ek tou ekei
sunelthontas tous hekaton pentekonta episkopous epi Theodosiou tou
megalou basileos]. The passage is preserved in John Damascene, _De
imaginibus_, book iii.
[130] _Notitia, Regio nona_, 'continet in se ecclesias duas, Cenopolim
et Omonaeam.'
[131] Banduri, ii. p. 25.
[132] _Ad annum_ 478.
[133] Procop. _De aed._ i. c. 2; _Pasch. Chron._ p. 622.
[134] For this information I am indebted to Mr. W. S. George.
[135] Theoph. p. 371.
[136] Patr. Nicephorus, _in Breviario_.
[137] Theoph. p. 634.
[138] Mansi, xv. 211; xvi. p. 18. See _Basile I._ par Albert Vogt, p.
206.
[139] Const. Porphyr. _De cer._ p. 186; Cedren. ii. pp. 265, 275, 297.
Readers of Russian are referred to D. Belaev. 'The Church of S. Irene
and the Earthquake in C.P. 28 June 1894,' _Vizantisky Vreinennik_, i.,
St. Petersburg, 1894, parts iii.-iv. section iii. pp. 769-798, and the
article by the same author on the 'Interior and Exterior View of S.
Irene' in the same periodical, 1895, parts i, ii. section i. pp.
177-183. For the references to these articles I am indebted to Mr.
Norman E. Baynes, one of our younger Byzantine scholars.
[140] Const. Porphyr. _De Cer._ p. 179.
[141] Only some of the accents are indicated in the transcription.
[142] These openings are now covered with Turkish wooden staging, and
the passage is therefore quite dark.
[143] _History of the Byzantine Empire_, p. 34, Everyman Edition.
CHAPTER V
THE CHURCH OF S. ANDREW IN KRISEI, HOJA MUSTAPHA PASHA MESJEDI
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: Mone 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
lost its reputation and has hung ever since a dishonoured oracle on the
dead arms of the cypress, like a criminal on a gibbet. Although this
tale cannot be traced to its Byzantine source, it is manifestly an echo
of the renown which the precincts of the mosque once enjoyed as a throne
of judgment before Turkish times, and serves to prove that Hoja Mustapha
Pasha Mesjedi is indeed the old church of S. Andrew in Krisei.
[Illustration: PLATE XXIV.
S. ANDREW IN KRISEI. EAST END.
(From a Photograph by A. E. Henderson, Esq.)
_To face page 106._]
The earliest reference to the locality known as Krisis occurs in the
narrative of the martyrdom of S. Andrew of Crete given by Symeon
Metaphrastes,[150] who flourished in the latter part of the ninth
century. A devoted iconodule, S. Andrew, came from his native island to
Constantinople, in the reign of Constantine Copronymus (740-775),
expressly to rebuke the emperor for opposing the use of eikons in
religious worship. As might have been anticipated, the zeal and courage
of the saint only incurred cruel and insulting treatment, and at length
a martyr's death. For, while his persecutors were dragging him one day
along the streets of the city in derision, a half-witted fisherman
stabbed him dead with a knife. So strong was the feeling prevalent at
the time against the champion of the cause of eikons that his body was
flung among the corpses of murderers and thieves; but eventually his
admirers succeeded in removing it from its foul surroundings and buried
it 'in a sacred place which was named Krisis' ([Greek: eis hena hieron
topon ho hopoios eponomazeto Krisis]).[151] It is evident from this
statement that the name Krisis was applied to the locality before the
interment of S. Andrew there; how long before, it is impossible to say,
but probably from early times. The body of the martyr was laid in or
beside one of the two churches dedicated to saints also named S. Andrew,
which stood on the Seventh Hill of the city already in the sixth
century.[152]
[Illustration: PLATE XXV.
(1) S. ANDREW IN KRISEI, FROM THE SOUTH-WEST.
(2) S. ANDREW IN KRISEI. THE INTERIOR, LOOKING SOUTH.
_To face page 108._]
NOTE
One of these churches was dedicated to S. Andrew the Apostle, and
stood 'near the column,' [Greek: plesion tou stylou];[153] the other
to S. Andrew, not otherwise identified, was near the Gate of
Saturninus, [Greek: plesion tes portas tou Satourninou].[154] It is
difficult to decide which church is represented by the mosque. For
there were two columns on the Seventh Hill of the city: the Column of
Constantine the Great, which stood outside the city bounds, giving
name to the extra-mural district of the Exokionion now Alti Mermer; and
the Column of Arcadius now Avret Tash. Nor can the position of the
Gate of Saturninus be determined more accurately than that it was an
entrance in the portion of the Constantinian Walls which traversed the
Seventh Hill, the Xerolophos of Byzantine days. On the whole, however,
the indications favour the view that Hoja Mustapha Pasha Mesjedi
represents the church of S. Andrew near the Gate of Saturninus. A
church in that position, though outside the Constantinian
fortification, was still so near them that it could be, very
appropriately, described as near one of the city gates. Again the
Russian pilgrims[155] who visited the shrines of Constantinople in the
second quarter of the fifteenth century found two churches dedicated
to S. Andrew in this part of the city, one to S. Andrew the Strategos,
the other to S. Andrew 'mad with the love of God' ('God-intoxicated').
In proceeding northwards from the church of S. Diomed, which stood
near the Golden Gate (Yedi Koule), the Russian visitor reached first
the sanctuary dedicated to S. Andrew the Strategos, and then the
church dedicated to S. Andrew the 'God-intoxicated,' which lay still
farther to the north. But this order in the positions of the two
churches implies that Hoja Mustapha Pasha Mesjedi represents the
church of S. Andrew the Strategos, a martyr of the fourth century,
viz. the church which the documents of the sixth century describe as
near the Gate of Saturninus, without specifying by what title its
patron saint was distinguished. This agrees, moreover, with what is
known regarding the site of the church of S. Andrew the Apostle. It
stood to the west of the cistern of Mokius,[156] the large ruined
Byzantine reservoir, now Tchoukour Bostan, to the north of Hoja
Mustapha Pasha Mesjedi.
The church does not appear again in history, under the designation
[Greek: en krisei], until the reign of Andronicus II. (1282-1328), when
it was found, like so many other churches which survived the Latin
occupation of the city, in a state demanding extensive repair. It was
then embellished and enlarged by the protovestiarissa Theodora,[157] a
lady who occupied a prominent position in the society of the day, both
as the emperor's cousin, and on account of her accomplishments and
character. In her early youth she was married to George Muzalon,[158]
the favourite counsellor and trusted friend of Theodore II. Ducas of
Nicaea. What confidence Muzalon enjoyed may be inferred from the fact
that he was associated with the Patriarch Arsenius as guardian of the
emperor's son, John Lascaris, when left the heir to the throne of
Nicaea, as a child eight years old.[159] Had Muzalon not met with an
untimely end he might have become the colleague of his ward, and
Theodora might have worn the imperial crown. The tragic murder of her
husband by his political opponents, while celebrating the obsequies of
the Emperor Theodore, provoked a terrible outburst of indignation and
grief on her part,[160] and so vehement was her condemnation of the
criminals that her uncle, the treacherous Michael Palaeologus,
threatened she would share her husband's fate if she did not control her
feelings.[161] After the accession of Michael Palaeologus to the throne,
her hand was bestowed on the protovestiarius Raoul, and hence she is
generally known by his name and title as Raoulaina the protovestiarissa
([Greek: he Rhaoulaina protobestiarissa]). One of her beautiful
daughters became the wife of Constantine Palaeologus, the ill-fated
brother of Andronicus II. But, as already stated, Theodora was not only
highly connected. Like many noble ladies in Byzantine society, she
cultivated learning,[162] and took a deep interest in the theological
discussions and ecclesiastical affairs of her day. She was a devoted
adherent of the party attached to the person and memory of the Patriarch
Arsenius; the party that never forgave Michael Palaeologus for blinding
the young John Lascaris and robbing him of the throne, the party that
opposed the subjection of the Eastern Church to the Papal See, and
which maintained the freedom of the Church from the political
interference of the emperor. Whatever its faults, that party certainly
represented the best moral life of the period.
[Illustration: PLATE XXVI.
(1) S. ANDREW IN KRISEI. CAPITAL IN THE INNER NARTHEX.
(2) S. ANDREW IN KRISEI. CAPITAL IN THE ARCADE UNDER THE WEST DOME ARCH.
_To face page 110._]
To heal the schism caused by the attitude of the Arsenites 'was the
serious labour of the Church and State' for half a century. And in
pursuance of the policy of conciliation, Andronicus II. allowed the body
of Arsenius to be brought to Constantinople from the island of
Proconessus, where he had died in exile and been buried. The whole city
gathered to welcome the remains of the venerated prelate, and saw them
borne in solemn and stately procession from the landing at the Gate of
Eugenius (Yali Kiosk) to the church of S. Sophia. There, robed in
pontifical vestments, the body was first seated upon the patriarchal
throne, then laid before the altar, while the funeral service was
intoned, and finally placed on the right hand of the bema in a chest
locked and sealed for safe keeping. Once a week, however, the body was
exposed to public view, and all strife seemed hushed in a common
devotion to the memory of the saint. It was soon after this event that
Theodora restored the church and monastery of S. Andrew, and upon the
completion of the work she besought the emperor to allow the remains of
Arsenius to be transferred to that shrine. The request was granted, and
the body was carried to the church of St. Andrew with as great pomp and
ceremony as attended its arrival in the capital. There it was kept until
the patriarchate of Niphon (1311-1314), when it was again taken to S.
Sophia to appear in the final conclusion of peace between the friends
and foes of the deceased.[163] Standing beside the remains, Niphon
pronounced, in the name and by the authority of the dead man, a general
absolution for all offences committed in connection with the quarrels
which had raged around the name of Arsenius; and so long as S. Sophia
continued to be a Christian sanctuary the remains were counted among the
great treasures of the cathedral. 'There,' to quote the words of a
devout visitor shortly before the Turkish conquest, 'is found the body
of the holy patriarch Arsenius, whose body, still intact, performs many
miracles.'[164]
During the closing years of her life Theodora made the monastery or
convent of S. Andrew in Krisei her home.[165] To retire thus from the
troubled sea of secular life to the haven of a monastery, and there
prepare for the voyage beyond earthly scenes, was a common practice in
the fashionable world of the men and women of Byzantine days. And it was
natural for a wealthy traveller to leave at the port of call some
splendid token of devotion and gratitude. The protovestiarissa was still
an inmate of the monastery in 1289, when her friend the Patriarch
Gregory, to whom she was bound by many ties, was compelled to
resign.[166] He was one of the most learned men of his time and took an
active part in the efforts to reconcile the Arsenites. It was during his
tenure of office that the body of Arsenius was brought to the capital,
and subsequently transferred from S. Sophia to the church of S. Andrew;
he also opposed the union of the Churches, and in the controversy
regarding the 'Procession of the Holy Ghost' which divided Christendom,
he vigorously defended the doctrine of the Greek Communion against
Veccus, who championed the Latin Creed.
Strongly attached to her friends, and quick to resent any injustice to
them, Theodora came forward in the hour of the patriarch's disgrace and
offered him a refuge in the monastery of Aristina, which stood, as we
have seen, near the church of S. Andrew and in the immediate
neighbourhood of her own residence.[167] It was a fortunate arrangement,
for Gregory soon fell seriously ill and required all the sympathy and
generous kindness which Theodora was able to extend to him.[168] Upon
his death, ten short months after his retirement, Theodora determined to
show again her admiration for the man and his work by honouring his
memory with a funeral befitting the position he had held in the Church.
She was prevented from carrying out her intention only by the
peremptory and reiterated commands of the emperor, that Gregory should
be buried as a private person.[169]
[Illustration: PLATE XXVII.
(1) S. ANDREW IN KRISEI. CAPITAL IN THE OUTER NARTHEX.
(2) S. ANDREW IN KRISEI. CAPITAL IN THE OUTER NARTHEX.
(From a Photograph by A. E. Henderson., Esq.) _To face page 112._]
After the death of Theodora we have only occasional glimpses of the
church and monastery. In 1350 Stephen of Novgorod came 'to kiss' the
relics of S. Andrew of Crete, and describes the convent as 'very
beautiful.'[170] Once, at least, a sister proved too frail for her
vocation;[171] sometimes a devout and wealthy inmate, such as
Theognosia,[172] would provide an endowment to enable poor girls to
become her heirs in religion; or the sisterhood was vexed by the
dishonesty of parties who had rented the lands from which the convent
derived its revenues.[173] Towards the end of its Byzantine period
another Russian pilgrim[174] came to honour the remains of S. Andrew the
Strategos, and bring the Christian history of the church to a close. It
was converted into a mosque by Mustapha Pasha, Grand Vizier in the reign
of Selim I. (1512-1520).[175] The custom of illuminating the minarets of
the mosques on the eve of the Prophet's birthday was introduced first at
this mosque.[176]
_Architectural Features_
On account of the serious changes made in the building and its
surroundings when it became a mosque, and after the earthquake of 1765,
its real character is not immediately apparent. The present entrance is
in the northern side, where a fine Turkish arcade has been erected. The
mihrab is on the south side, a greater change for the correct
orientation of a mosque than is usually necessary in the adaptation of a
church to the requirements of a sanctuary in which the worshippers turn
towards Mecca. To the east a hall has been added for the accommodation
of women who attend the services; while on the west is another hall,
where the dervishes of the Teke attached to the mosque hold their
meetings. The north aisle also has been much altered and is covered with
Turkish domes.
The first impression produced by the interior of the building is that we
have here a church on the trefoil plan, similar to S. Mary of the
Mongols (p. 272) or S. Elias of Salonica, for the central area is
flanked by two semi-domes, which with the eastern apse form a lobed plan
at the vaulting level. A closer examination of the building, however,
will prove that we are dealing with a structure whose original features
have been concealed by extensive Turkish alterations, and that the
trefoil form is a superficial disguise.
The arches supporting the central dome on the north and south sides are
filled in with semi-domes which rest on arches thrown diagonally across
the 'aisles' on each side of the central dome. These arches are very
clumsily set to the sides of an irregular hexagon, with the central wall
arch much larger than the side arches. They have no responds, and have
every appearance of being makeshifts.
The eastern dome arch is prolonged into a barrel-vaulted bema, flanked
by shallow niches leading to the prothesis and diaconicon, and beyond
the bema is the semicircular apse. Only the diaconicon now remains,
covered by a cross-groined vault, and its apse pierced by a door leading
to the hall of the Teke. The place of the prothesis has been taken by a
similar door and a small Turkish dome.
The western dome arch is filled in with a triple arcade resting on two
marble columns with finely carved cubical capitals. Above the arcade is
a group of three windows whose heads are circular on the inside, but
pointed on the outside. To the west of this arcade is an oblong passage
corresponding to the 'inner narthex' of S. Theodosia. It is in three
bays. The central long bay is barrel-vaulted; the two outer bays open
into the north and south 'aisles'; the bay to the north is covered by a
Turkish dome, while that to the south has a cross-groined vault which
seems to be original.
Beyond this to the west is the outer narthex, a fine piece of work, and,
from the character of its details, of the same period as the western
dome arcade. It is in five bays. The three central bays correspond to
the 'inner narthex'; the middle bay is covered by a low saucer dome on
pendentives, and is separated from the two side bays by columns set
against flat pilasters. The latter bays are covered by groined vaults
springing from the imposts of the capitals, which are of the Byzantine
Ionic type, with high carved imposts. They resemble the capitals in the
gallery of SS. Sergius and Bacchus, and are worthy of particular notice.
[Illustration: PLATE XXVIII.
(1) S. ANDREW IN KRISEI. OUTER NARTHEX.
(2) S. ANDREW IN KRISEI. INNER NARTHEX, LOOKING SOUTH.
_To face page 114._]
The two outer bays are separated from the central compartment of three
bays by strongly projecting pilasters. They are covered by low saucer
domes similar to the dome over the central bay, and communicate on the
east with the 'aisles.' Both outer and inner narthexes are in one story,
above which rise the windows of the western dome arch and the semi-domes
on north and south.
Turning now to the exterior, the south wall is the only outer wall which
is exposed at the ground level. It is faced with finely dressed and
polished stone, with thin joints, no tiles, and a stone-moulded cornice.
The windows are covered with four centred Turkish arches and are evident
insertions. Above the stone cornice rise the low drums of the
semi-domes. These, as well as the square base of the dome and the dome
itself, are faced with polished stone alternating with courses of three
bricks set in thick beds of mortar. The angles are plain, without
shafts, and the drums, dome base, and dome are crowned with stone
cornices moulded to a reversed ogee.
The north and south semi-domes are each pierced by three large windows,
which on the interior cut through the curved surface of the domes, and
on the exterior appear as dormers in the roof above the cornice.
Accordingly they are double glazed, with one glazed frame on the inside
corresponding to the curved dome surface, and a second upright glazed
frame on the outside. The roofs are covered with lead.
The central dome is circular inside, with a high drum pierced by eight
windows. On the outside it is octagonal, with a window on each side.
These have circular arched heads, but have no moulding, shaft, or inset
to either arches or sides. The dome is crowned by a moulded stone
cornice of the same type as that of the other walls.
In attempting to reconstruct the original form of the church we may
first note those features which are evidently Turkish. None of the
exterior masonry is Byzantine, as the use of polished ashlar with fine
joints, of pointed arches, and of moulded stone cornices clearly proves.
The absence of shafts at the angles of the dome drums and the unrecessed
windows are additional proofs of this fact, and we may conclude that the
entire exterior was refaced in Turkish times.
The diagonal arches under the north and south semi-domes are peculiar.
Furthermore, in lobed Byzantine churches the lateral apses project
beyond the square outer walls. Here they are contained within the
walls.[177]
Nor are the semi-domes themselves Byzantine in character. The large
windows in the dome surface and the lead-covered dormers placed above
the flat moulded cornice betray a Turkish hand; for windows in the dome
are universal in the great Turkish mosques, and the method of protecting
them on the exterior with wooden dormers is quite foreign to Byzantine
ideas. The form of the drums and cornices should be compared with the
minor domes of the mosque of Sultan Bayazid.
A careful examination of the building has led to the following
conclusions. The lateral semi-domes with their supporting arches are a
Turkish addition. The central dome, including the drum, is probably
entirely Turkish, and takes the place of an original ribbed dome. The
two easternmost domes in the north 'aisle' and those over the inner
narthex and the prothesis are also Turkish, and, as already stated, the
exterior of the entire building. On the other hand, the eastern apse,
the dome arches, the arcade, and the windows above it on the west side
of the dome, the inner narthex with the ground vault to the south of it,
and the entire outer narthex, are parts of the original building, dating
probably from the sixth or seventh century. It should be
particularly noticed that the windows over the western dome arcade are
circular-headed inside, though they have been provided with pointed
heads on the outside in the process of refacing.
[Illustration: PLATE XXIX.
(1) S. ANDREW IN KRISEI. IN THE CLOISTER ON THE SOUTH SIDE OF THE
CHURCH, LOOKING EAST.
(2) S. ANDREW IN KRISEI. THE CHAIN ON THE WITHERED TREE IN THE COURT ON
THE WEST OF THE CHURCH.
_To face page 116._]
If we stand in the northern lateral apse and face the mihrab the reason
for the alterations is evident. The original Christian orientation is
ignored, and the apses, in place of being lateral, are terminal. To the
left is the old apse left unaltered; to the right, the original filling
of the dome arch forms a 'nave-arcade' similar to that of the mosque of
Sultan Bayazid; while by means of the additional apses the building has
been converted into a miniature imperial mosque of the S. Sophia type, a
distinctly clever piece of Turkish alteration.
In its original form the central dome was surrounded by an 'ambulatory'
of one story formed by the aisles and 'inner narthex.' Such a plan is
common to both the domed basilica type and the domed cross type, the
difference depending upon the treatment of the cross arms above. In both
types, however, the side dome arches are invariably filled in with
arcades similar to that filling in the western arch of S. Andrew. We are
therefore justified in restoring such arcades here. The type thus
restored differs from the domed cross church in that the cross arms do
not extend to the outer walls, and from the domed basilica in that the
western dome arch is treated in a similar manner to the lateral arches.
To this type the term 'ambulatory church' may be applied.
Adjoining the west end of the church is the fine cloister of the Teke of
dervishes, probably on the lines of the old monastery. All the columns
around the court are Byzantine, and one of them bears the inscription:
the (column) of, Theophane--[Greek: he tes Theophanes] (Fig. 69). In the
south wall is built a beautiful Byzantine doorway having jambs and
lintel decorated on the face with a broad undercut scroll of flat leaves
and four-petalled flowers, running between two rows of egg and dart,
while on the intrados are two bands of floral ornaments separated by a
bead moulding. One of the bands is clearly a vine scroll. The method
employed here, of joining leaves to a centre so as to form spiral
rosettes, is found also on some of the small capitals in S. Sophia.
Similar rosettes appear in the decoration of the doorway to the Holy
Sepulchre on the ivory in the Trivulce collection at Milan.[178]
[Illustration: Fig. 36.--THE CHURCH OF S. ANDREW IN KRISEI (RESTORED
PLAN).]
[Illustration: PLATE XXX.
S. ANDREW IN KRISEI. THE DECORATED DOORWAY IN THE CLOISTER.
_To face page 118._]
[Illustration: FIG. 37.]
[Illustration: FIGS. 38 AND 39.]
[Illustration: Fig. 40.]
[144] Pachym. ii. pp. 35, 123.
[145] _Itin. russes_, p. 122.
[146] Synax., October 17.
[147] Pachym. ii. p. 133.