November 10- The Great Church of Christ- Η Του Χριστού Μεγάλη Εκκλησία

With the exception of the major routes all the streets in Istanbul are very narrow. American cars do not do well here. I don’t think I have even seen an American car. They are too wide to navigate these streets. Even in its heyday there was no need for wide streets. The only mode of transportation would have been your feet, a horse or maybe donkey. Of course there is the Great American Import- McDonald’s and Burger King. I don’t think you will find the Double Bacon Cheeseburger or an Egg McMuffin. This is a Muslim country and they do not eat pork.

The first stop is the Basilica Cistern. From the 5th century this was Constantinople’s water supply. The city needed a dependable water supply. Being on the coast and one of the largest- if not the largest- city of the world, they could not supply all their needs through drilling wells. The Emperor Valens constructed an aqueduct that brought water into the city from far away mountains. The water was used by the inhabitants of the city and then what was not used was diverted into the cistern to be used in times of seige or other difficulties.

Its an amazing feat of engineering. All of the columns supporting a roof which in turn supports the ground above which today has the city of Istanbul above it. We walk through it but in bygone days we would be underwater.

Next stop Agia Sophia or the Great Church of Christ. We walk across the street from the Basilica Cistern and pay our entrance fee. I am in awe and anticipation. The history of the Orthodox Church and the Empire is focused on this one church. Agia Sophia- the Holy Wisdom of God- has stood on this spot since the time of St Constantine the Great. This present Church was built by Justinian in 532. This church has been here for 1,478 years. It has withstood the ravages of time, nature (earthquakes) and man (conquests by Latins and Ottomans).

Before you enter the Church there is a small area to the left where examples of marble works that has been recovered and restored are exhibited. One is the amvon of St John Chrysostom. The amvon- or pulpit, originally was in middle of the Church and raised high above the people so they could hear the homily. I was moved by the thought that the most eloquent of all the preachers of the Gospel spoke from this platform.

Slowly I approach the huge Narthex doors. I am about to walk into history. We had studied the order of services and how the imperial met the ecclesiastical in this space. I walk through the Royal Doors through which no one but the Emperor passed. I see with my own eyes the reason why Justinian declared, “Solomon, I have outdone You!” or the emissaries from Rus when the declared “We did not know whether we were in heaven or on earth. For God surely dwells there!”

There is no way that anyone could feel claustrophobic here. The spaciousness of the Church allows the soul to soar heavenward. It cannot be contained here. As soon as you step into the Church you are confronted with the order that was part of the ritual of Agia Sophia. In the floor there are inlaid “position markers” where certain people stood at various part of the ceremonial. For instance, as soon as you walk in the Royal Doors there are two inlaid circles in the floor. One circle was where the Emperor stood, the other where the Patriarch stood as he welcomed the Emperor into the Church for prescribed Feasts and events.  Inlaid in the Nave of the Church are three marble lines delinating certain areas of the floor. One area was where the imperial officers of state stood during the liturgy, another area was reserved for the Senate and leading families, the third for everyone else. Only men were allowed on the floor level of Agia Sophia. Even the Empress was not allowed on the floor but had her own throne in the women’s balcony.

I looked at the floor and thought of the marble floor at Saint George in Downey. There was a little debate that the marble tiles should have been chosen a little more carefully to make a more uniform appearance rather than the luck of the draw as to which marble piece was picked up. You look at the marble floor and columns of Agia Sophia and the one thing that gets you is a lack of uniformity. The builders Constantinople, as all builders throughtout the ancient and not so ancient world, recycled and reused the materials that were available to them. And this includes marble slabs, and columns. The captials of the columns of Agia Sophia, wherever you can see them are not uniform, they were brought from other places and used. Same thing with the floor. The remains of pagan temples that were destroyed found themselves in the building of Agia Sophia. As we were going out of the Church, Panagioti mentioned that the massive doors were the actual door from the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus. I would not be surprised if the rest of that temple was here in Agia Sophia. And why not? If you are going to embark on a massive building program as did St Constantine and subsequent Emperors, you will need to use that which you have available to you from wherever you can get it. The obelisks in the Hippodrome (or what is left of it) were brought from Egypt. The Basilica Cisterns which we visited right before Agia Sophia is another prime example of using material from other sources including pagan temples. The bases of two of the columns where placed on two enormous heads of the Medusa. Symbolically, paganism was being drowned in the new city.

A couple of other tidbits. Panagioti showed us to a place where there was a ladder used to clean Agia Sophia. Behind it was a sealed, closed door. The door was built by Justinian as an escape route should the crowds get antsy and riot as they did during the Nika riots earlier in his reign. It was the same rioters that burnt down (accidentally or on purpose) the previous Agia Sophia. It was put down brutally and still smarting from the experience had this escape route behind the Imperial Throne in the Church. It led into a tunnel away from the Church to the Palace. It is sealed up now. There is a tradition/ legend that when the Last Emperor, Constantine XI Paleologos left the Church to take up his post to defend the city, he left by this door. He was never seen again after the body. After the victory of the Ottoman Turks a headless body was discovered that wore the imperial foot coverings and this why we say that the Emperor died in battle. One tradition has it that he didn't die and is hidden behind this door waiting to come out again when Agia Sophia is once again an Orthodox Church. Of course there is another popular tradition that holds that at the moment the Turks entered Agia Sophia, the priest who was celebrating the Liturgy took the Chalice and ran out of the Church through this door and will come out to finish the Liturgy when it becomes a Church once again.

The Ottoman Turks had a policy that when a city capitulated they would be spared the rampage of the troops. If a city was conquered by force of arms, the Sultan's army would have three days to do whatever they wanted to do to the city and its inhabitants. This seems barbaric to us but this was an acceptable practice by virtually all armies of the day. Even in most recent history, the bringing home of war souveniers and trophies was acceptable, and this is a remnant of what armies have done for time immemorial. The bodies of the inhabitants of the city littered the floor of the Great Church that the Sultan commanded that they all be moved in order for him to enter the Church. His soldiers piled the bodies on the right side of the Church and when he entered the Church on horseback to claim the city, he rode to the top of the pile of bodies to plant his flag, but his horse began to slip. The Sultan reached out to the nearest column to keep from falling and in doing so left his handprint on the column.

The Islamic call to prayer sounded and the Great Church of Christ, the Holy Wisdom, became Ayasofya Tzami.

Try as they might to obliterate the Christian aspect of this Church, they could not succeed. They puled the arms of the crosses on the heavy bronze doors, but you can see the cross. A plaque over the Royal/ Imperial doors was never obliteated. The mosaics were, thankfully, not purposely destroyed but covered over with plaster. This one act perhaps saved these priceless icons from being lost forever. The faces of two of the Cherubim have been unveiled. Technology may advance a little more in a few years that we can get a glimpse of what beautiful icons and mosaics remain to be uncovered.
 

In the Great Church of Christ, the Holy Widsom




There is no need to ask if I prayed at Agia Sophia. The glory and worship of God continues in this place even as a museum. This site has been consecrated to the glory of God and it will remain so until the end of time. The prayers must remain, for the time being, silent and inconspicuous.