Church of St. George of Samatya: An Armenian Apostolic Church in Istanbul
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.6
- Popularity
- Low
- Country
- Turkey
- Primary era
- Modern
- External website
- Open
- Eras represented
- Medieval, Modern
- Civilizations
- Armenian, Byzantine, Ottoman
- Site type
- Religious
- Remains
- Church
On this page11 sections
History
The Church of St. George of Samatya is an Armenian Apostolic church in Istanbul, Turkey, rebuilt in the nineteenth century in the Armenian architectural tradition. It stands in Koca Mustafapaşa, the neighbourhood historically known as Samatya, and occupies the site of the Byzantine Monastery of the Theotokos Peribleptos, formerly one of the most important Greek Orthodox monasteries in Constantinople.
Early Christian and Byzantine foundations
A church called Hagios Stephanos en tais Aurelianai stood here in the fifth century. It lay near the Helenianai Palace and the monastery of St. Dalmatios, beside an abundant sacred spring. The surviving spring later gave the complex its Turkish name, Sulu Manastır, meaning “Water Monastery.”
In the eleventh century, Emperor Romanos III Argyros founded the large Monastery of the Theotokos Peribleptos on a nearby plateau on the southern slope of Constantinople’s seventh hill. The name Theotokos means “God-bearer,” a title for the Virgin Mary, while Peribleptos means “conspicuous” or “easy to see,” reflecting the monastery’s elevated and isolated position in the Xerolophos area near the sea walls. Romanos established the monastery after an unsuccessful expedition to Syria, spent heavily on its construction, and was criticized for the expense. He was buried there in 1034.
Emperor Nikephoros III Botaneiates repaired the complex in 1080. After his deposition, his successor Alexios I Komnenos compelled him to become a monk at the monastery, where he was later buried. During the eleventh and twelfth centuries, the imperial court visited Peribleptos each year for Candlemas, a Christian feast associated with the presentation of Christ at the Temple.
Latin occupation and Palaiologan restoration
After the Fourth Crusade and the Latin sack of Constantinople in 1204, the church remained briefly under Greek control before being transferred to Venetian Benedictine monks. Following the end of the Latin Empire, Emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos restored the church.
At the end of the thirteenth century, the monastery’s young monk Hylarion was sent to protect its possessions in Elegmoi in Bithynia. Although monks were forbidden to fight, he organized local inhabitants against Turkish raiders. After returning to Constantinople, he was requested again when renewed raids threatened the area. The monastery’s hegumen, the head of an Orthodox monastery, eventually authorized his return.
The complex suffered damage from fire and lightning in 1402. During an epidemic and the Ottoman siege of Constantinople in 1422, Emperor Manuel II Palaiologos lived at the monastery. The church and monastery were described that year by the Spanish envoy Ruy González de Clavijo, whose account was later confirmed by excavations.
Armenian use and rebuilding
After Mehmed II conquered Constantinople in 1453, the complex initially remained under the Greek Orthodox Church. Its transfer to the Armenian community took place sometime after the conquest and no later than 1643. The change has been associated either with the resettlement of Armenians in Samatya between 1461 and 1480 or with the intervention of Şivekâr, an Armenian woman who was a favourite of Sultan Ibrahim I, in 1643. Until 1643 or 1644, the complex served for a period as the seat of the Armenian Patriarchate of Constantinople.
Several Armenian churches were built in Samatya during the Ottoman period. By the middle of the seventeenth century, the refectory, or communal dining hall, was the Byzantine complex’s surviving visible building. The complex was renovated in 1722 by the Armenian architect Meldon, destroyed in the great Samatya fire of 1782, and reconstructed in 1804. The fire also destroyed the mosaic showing Michael VIII Palaiologos, his wife Theodora, and their son Constantine.
The present church was rebuilt between 1866 and 1887 after another fire in 1877, as an endowment of Michael Hagopian. The work retained the foundations of the Byzantine church and remains of the spring structure. Two large schools were also built beside the church. In its present Armenian use, the complex is dedicated to Saint George, whereas the Byzantine monastery was dedicated to the Theotokos Peribleptos.
Remains
The enclosed church precinct
Present Armenian church
The church stands within Istanbul’s walled area, a short distance from the Sea of Marmara. A high enclosing wall separates the precinct from its surroundings, with other buildings arranged around it. The present structure is rectangular, oriented from southwest to northeast, and measures approximately 25 by 30 metres. Its northeastern end contains an apse, and a bell-gable rises above the building.
Inside, a decorated barrel vault covers the church, whose interior is lavishly ornamented. The nineteenth-century rebuilding followed the footprint of the Byzantine church, retaining its foundations while creating the present Armenian house of worship.
Chapel of Saint John the Forerunner
A chapel dedicated to Saint John the Forerunner stands over the sacred spring, or Ayazma, within the church precinct. An Ayazma is a spring regarded in Eastern Christian tradition as holy. The spring structure survived the rebuilding of the nineteenth century and remains central to the physical arrangement that gave Sulu Manastır, or “Water Monastery,” its Turkish name. The Ayazma is regarded as one of the most beautiful in Istanbul.
Byzantine monastery remains
Central church
The Byzantine church described by Clavijo had a central plan with a square nave, a dome, an atrium, and adjoining rooms. Excavations confirmed this arrangement. Its hemispherical dome was decorated with mosaic and supported by eight polychrome jasper columns resting on four squinches. Squinches are architectural supports that allow a dome on a polygonal base to transition to a square room.
Jasper slabs covered the Byzantine church’s walls and floor. Two adjoining side rooms contained several imperial tombs. The exterior walls were richly decorated with paintings of towns and castles endowed to the monastery. The nineteenth-century rebuilding preserved the foundations of this Byzantine structure, linking the present church to the earlier monastery.
Refectory and monastic grounds
The complex included a large refectory with a fresco of the Last Supper, together with monks’ cells, gardens, and vineyards. A mosaic in the refectory portrayed Michael VIII Palaiologos, Theodora, and their son Constantine before its destruction in the 1782 Samatya fire. Several relics were exhibited in the Byzantine church, including the body of Saint Gregory I.
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