Church of St. Mary of the Spring (Istanbul)
Encyclopedia
The Monastery of the Mother of God at the Spring (full name in , pr. Moni tis Theotóku tis Pigis; Turkish
name: Balıklı Meryem Ana Rum Manastiri) or simply Zoödochos Pege ' onMouseout='HidePop("23342")' href="/topics/Life-giving_Spring">Life-giving Spring
"), is an Eastern Orthodox sanctuary in Istanbul
. The present church, built in 1835, bears the same dedication as the shrine erected in this place between the end of the fifth and the beginning of the sixth century. After several renovations, this building was destroyed in the first half of the fifteenth century by the Ottomans
. The complex got its name from a nearby holy spring, reputed to have healing properties. For almost fifteen hundred years, this sanctuary has been one of the most important pilgrimage sites of Greek
Orthodoxy.
, in the district of Zeytinburnu
, in the neighbourhood of Balıklı
, along Balıklı Silivrikapı Sokak. It lies a few hundred meters outside the walled
city, about five hundred meters from the Gate of Silivri
(Turkish
: Silivri Kapısı). The complex is protected by a high wall, and – being surrounded by Eastern Orthodox and Armenian cemeteries – lies in a green landscape.
and Cedrenus, the church was originally erected by Emperor
Justinian in the last years of his reign (559-560) near a fountain of water from a holy well
situated outside the walls of Theodosius II in correspondence of today's Gate of Silivri. During hunting the Emperor noticed a small chapel surrounded by many women. Asking the meaning of the building, he was told that this was the “source of the miracles”. He at once ordered that a magnificent church be built there, with the material remaining after the erection of the Hagia Sophia
.
According to a later legend, the sanctuary was erected by Emperor Leo I the Thracian (r. 457–474) because of a miracle that occurred when he was still a soldier. Before entering the City, Leo met a blind man who asked him to give him water. A female voice ordered the future Emperor to wet the eyes of the blind man with water from a nearby swamp. The same voice added that she had chosen that very place to be worshiped and that he would one day receive the crown to the empire. Leo followed her order and at once the blind man recovered his eyesight. After his accession to the throne, the Emperor erected a magnificent church on this place. This legend is possibly a later invention of the monks of the sanctuary. It is possible that, before the Justinian's building was erected, a small monastery had already existed there.
The building underwent many repairs over the centuries. The largest were required because of earthquakes: in 790, under Empress Irene, and – after the great earthquake of 869 – under Basil I
(r. 867–886). On 7 September 924 Tsar Simeon I of Bulgaria
burned the complex, which was at once restored by Romanos I Lekapenos (r. 920–944). Three years later the son of Simeon, Peter
was married to Maria
, the niece of Lekapenos.
Due to its position outside the city, the monastery was often used as place of exile. In 1078 Georgios Monomachos was banished there. In 1084, Emperor Alexios I Komnenos
confined the philosopher John Italus
to the monastery, because of his neoplatonic theories.
After the Latin invasion of 1204
, the church was occupied by the Latin clergy and, according to Byzantine sources, this caused the end of the so called "habitual miracle" (to synetés thauma).
In 1328 Andronikos III Palaiologos
used the monastery as base to attack Constantinople. Two years later, as he lay dying in the town of Didymoteicho
, he drank water from the spring and recovered at once.
During the Ottoman siege of Constantinople in 1422
, Sultan Murad II
camped in the sanctuary. It is unknown whether the Byzantines restored the building before the conquest of the city
in 1453 Russian pilgrims of the fifteenth century do not mention the church, only the spring. The 16th-century French scholar Pierre Gilles writes that in 1547 the church did not exist anymore, but the sick continued to attend the spring.
In 1727 Nikodemos, Metropolitan
of Dercos and Neochorion
, built a small chapel above the Hagiasma. An icon, discovered in the foundations of the old church, was venerated in the chapel. The Armenians
tried to take possession of the spring, but several firmans secured the possession to the Greeks. The complex was controlled by Turkish guardians, who collected from the pilgrims a tax that used for the maintenance of the prisons. Later the complex came into the possession of the Patriarchate
, until in 1821 the Janissaries destroyed the chapel and poisoned the spring. In 1833, a firman allowed Patriarch Constantius I to rebuild the church, which was inaugurated in 1835.
The church was heavily damaged during the Istanbul Pogrom
on 6 September 1955, but since then it has been restored.
The sanctuary is directed by a titular bishop and is one of the most popular among the Orthodox of Istanbul, who visit it especially during the Friday after Easter
and on September 14. On these two days, a great feast, both profane and religious takes place there. Funerals of people to be buried in the nearby cemetery are also celebrated in the church.
In Byzantine times the sanctuary was one of the most important in Constantinople
. On Ascension Day, the Emperor arrived by boat to the small harbor of the Golden Gate. He rode up to the sanctuary, where he was acclaimed by the factions, who offered him a cross and garlands. Later, he dressed in his ceremony robe in his apartments and, after receiving the Patriarch, the two entered the church hand-in-hand. After the celebration, he invited the Patriarch for dinner.
Each future Empress coming to Constantinople for her wedding was received by her future spouse in the Monastery of the Spring.
The dedication feast of the church took place on July 9. Moreover, the Ascension, the Marriage at Cana
(8 January) and the anniversary of the Miracle of Leo I on 16 August were celebrated here.
The Life-giving spring gave origin to many churches and monasteries bearing the same name in the Greek world, but most of them were erected after the end of the Byzantine Empire.
The icon
that represents the Virgin of the Spring shows the Virgin
blessing and embracing the Child. She is surrounded by two angels and usually is sitting on the more elevated of two basins which are sustained by a water jet coming from a larger marble basin adorned with a cross. Around this, stands the Emperor with his guard, while on the left there is the Patriarch with his bishops. On the background, is represented Leo I with the blind man together with the walls of the City. Under the basin a paralytic and a mad are healed with the spring’s water.
type, with a 4:3 proportion between the sides, and was partly subterranean. It was surrounded by two exonartheces
(on the E and W side) and two esonarteces
(on the S and N sides). The light coming from outside was concentrated on the source, which could be reached descending two stairs having 25 steps. Each stair was delimited by a marble balustrade and surmounted by a marble arcade. The water fell into a marble basin, and a canalization distributed it in the church. The edifice was adorned with frescos and surmounted by a dome glittering with pure gold. Around the church there were three chapels, devoted respectively to Saint Eustratius
, the Theotokos and Saint Anne
.
The present church is also rectangular in shape. It is roughly oriented in E - W direction, and has three naves divided by columns and preceded by an esonarthex. By the Northwest corner rises a metallic bell tower. The interior is richly adorned. On the right side near the middle of the nave there is a Pulpit
, while at the end lies a rich iconostasis
. Right of the iconostasis there is an icon which the tradition says painted by Saint Luke. The source lies in a subterranean crypt
outside the church, and can be accessed descending a stair parallel the long sides of the church. A symmetric stair leads from the crypt to the church’s yard. The crypt is adorned with paintings and icons, and is surmounted by a dome painted with Christ in a starry sky. The water flows into a marble basin, where fishes are swimming. These fishes, present in the basin since centuries, gave origin to the Turkish name of the complex (balikli in Turkish means "place where there are fishes"). According to a late legend, the day of the Conquest of Constantinople a monk was frying fishes in a pan near the source. When a colleague announced him the fall of the City, he replied that he would have believed him only if the fishes in the pan would have come back to life. After his words these jumped in the source and began swimming.
The yard in front of a church is a cemetery with marble tombs – mostly of them dating to the nineteenth and twentieth century - belonging to wealthy Rum
of Istanbul. Also several Patriarchs are buried here. Characteristic of this cemetery are also several gravestones with Karamanli inscriptions, which constitute by far the largest surviving group in this language. The complex is also surrounded by two large cemeteries, respectively Armenian and Greek, each enclosed in high walls.
About one kilometer south of the church is active an important Greek hospital, the Balikli Rum Hastanesi Vakf (“Balikli Greek Hospital Foundation”).
Turkish language
Turkish is a language spoken as a native language by over 83 million people worldwide, making it the most commonly spoken of the Turkic languages. Its speakers are located predominantly in Turkey and Northern Cyprus with smaller groups in Iraq, Greece, Bulgaria, the Republic of Macedonia, Kosovo,...
name: Balıklı Meryem Ana Rum Manastiri) or simply Zoödochos Pege ' onMouseout='HidePop("23342")' href="/topics/Life-giving_Spring">Life-giving Spring
Life-giving Spring
The Life-giving Spring or Life-giving Font is a feast day in the Orthodox Church that is associated with a historic church in Constantinople, as well as an icon of the Theotokos which is venerated by the Eastern Orthodox Church and those Eastern Catholic Churches which follow the Byzantine...
"), is an Eastern Orthodox sanctuary in Istanbul
Istanbul
Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...
. The present church, built in 1835, bears the same dedication as the shrine erected in this place between the end of the fifth and the beginning of the sixth century. After several renovations, this building was destroyed in the first half of the fifteenth century by the Ottomans
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
. The complex got its name from a nearby holy spring, reputed to have healing properties. For almost fifteen hundred years, this sanctuary has been one of the most important pilgrimage sites of Greek
Greek Orthodox Church
The Greek Orthodox Church is the body of several churches within the larger communion of Eastern Orthodox Christianity sharing a common cultural tradition whose liturgy is also traditionally conducted in Koine Greek, the original language of the New Testament...
Orthodoxy.
Location
The church is located in IstanbulIstanbul
Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...
, in the district of Zeytinburnu
Zeytinburnu
Zeytinburnu is a working class neighbourhood, municipality and district on the European side of İstanbul, Turkey, on the shore of the Marmara Sea just outside the walls of the ancient city, beyond the fortress of Yedikule...
, in the neighbourhood of Balıklı
Balıklı, Istanbul
Balıklı is a neighborhood of Istanbul, Turkey. It belongs to the Zeytinburnu municipality , and is part of the Kazlıçeşme Mahalle....
, along Balıklı Silivrikapı Sokak. It lies a few hundred meters outside the walled
Walls of Constantinople
The Walls of Constantinople are a series of defensive stone walls that have surrounded and protected the city of Constantinople since its founding as the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire by Constantine the Great...
city, about five hundred meters from the Gate of Silivri
Silivri
Silivri is a city and a district in Istanbul Province along the Sea of Marmara in Turkey, outside of metropolitan Istanbul, containing many holiday and weekend homes for residents of the city. The largest city in the district is also named Silivri...
(Turkish
Turkish language
Turkish is a language spoken as a native language by over 83 million people worldwide, making it the most commonly spoken of the Turkic languages. Its speakers are located predominantly in Turkey and Northern Cyprus with smaller groups in Iraq, Greece, Bulgaria, the Republic of Macedonia, Kosovo,...
: Silivri Kapısı). The complex is protected by a high wall, and – being surrounded by Eastern Orthodox and Armenian cemeteries – lies in a green landscape.
History
According to historians ProcopiusProcopius
Procopius of Caesarea was a prominent Byzantine scholar from Palestine. Accompanying the general Belisarius in the wars of the Emperor Justinian I, he became the principal historian of the 6th century, writing the Wars of Justinian, the Buildings of Justinian and the celebrated Secret History...
and Cedrenus, the church was originally erected by Emperor
Roman Emperor
The Roman emperor was the ruler of the Roman State during the imperial period . The Romans had no single term for the office although at any given time, a given title was associated with the emperor...
Justinian in the last years of his reign (559-560) near a fountain of water from a holy well
Holy well
A holy well, or sacred spring, is a small body of water emerging from underground and revered either in a Pagan or Christian context, often both. Holy wells were frequently pagan sacred sites that later became Christianized. The term 'holy well' is commonly employed to refer to any water source of...
situated outside the walls of Theodosius II in correspondence of today's Gate of Silivri. During hunting the Emperor noticed a small chapel surrounded by many women. Asking the meaning of the building, he was told that this was the “source of the miracles”. He at once ordered that a magnificent church be built there, with the material remaining after the erection of the Hagia Sophia
Hagia Sophia
Hagia Sophia is a former Orthodox patriarchal basilica, later a mosque, and now a museum in Istanbul, Turkey...
.
According to a later legend, the sanctuary was erected by Emperor Leo I the Thracian (r. 457–474) because of a miracle that occurred when he was still a soldier. Before entering the City, Leo met a blind man who asked him to give him water. A female voice ordered the future Emperor to wet the eyes of the blind man with water from a nearby swamp. The same voice added that she had chosen that very place to be worshiped and that he would one day receive the crown to the empire. Leo followed her order and at once the blind man recovered his eyesight. After his accession to the throne, the Emperor erected a magnificent church on this place. This legend is possibly a later invention of the monks of the sanctuary. It is possible that, before the Justinian's building was erected, a small monastery had already existed there.
The building underwent many repairs over the centuries. The largest were required because of earthquakes: in 790, under Empress Irene, and – after the great earthquake of 869 – under Basil I
Basil I
Basil I, called the Macedonian was a Byzantine emperor of probable Armenian descent who reigned from 867 to 886. Born a simple peasant in the Byzantine theme of Macedonia, he rose in the imperial court, and usurped the imperial throne from Emperor Michael III...
(r. 867–886). On 7 September 924 Tsar Simeon I of Bulgaria
Simeon I of Bulgaria
Simeon I the Great ruled over Bulgaria from 893 to 927, during the First Bulgarian Empire. Simeon's successful campaigns against the Byzantines, Magyars and Serbs led Bulgaria to its greatest territorial expansion ever, making it the most powerful state in contemporary Eastern Europe...
burned the complex, which was at once restored by Romanos I Lekapenos (r. 920–944). Three years later the son of Simeon, Peter
Peter I of Bulgaria
Peter I was emperor of Bulgaria from 27 May 927 to 969.-Early reign:Peter I was the son of Simeon I of Bulgaria by his second marriage to Maria Sursuvul, the sister of George Sursuvul. Peter had been born early in the 10th century, but it appears that his maternal uncle was very influential at...
was married to Maria
Eirene Lakapena
Irene Lekapene was the Empress consort of Peter I of Bulgaria. She was а daughter of Christopher Lekapenos, son and co-emperor of Romanus I, and his wife Augusta Sophia....
, the niece of Lekapenos.
Due to its position outside the city, the monastery was often used as place of exile. In 1078 Georgios Monomachos was banished there. In 1084, Emperor Alexios I Komnenos
Alexios I Komnenos
Alexios I Komnenos, Latinized as Alexius I Comnenus , was Byzantine emperor from 1081 to 1118, and although he was not the founder of the Komnenian dynasty, it was during his reign that the Komnenos family came to full power. The title 'Nobilissimus' was given to senior army commanders,...
confined the philosopher John Italus
John Italus
John Italus, also Johannes Italos, Ioannis Italos, Ioánnes Italós was a Neoplatonic Byzantine philosopher of the eleventh century. He was Calabrian in origin, his father being a soldier. He came to Constantinople, where he became a student of Michael Psellus in classical Greek philosophy. He...
to the monastery, because of his neoplatonic theories.
After the Latin invasion of 1204
Fourth Crusade
The Fourth Crusade was originally intended to conquer Muslim-controlled Jerusalem by means of an invasion through Egypt. Instead, in April 1204, the Crusaders of Western Europe invaded and conquered the Christian city of Constantinople, capital of the Eastern Roman Empire...
, the church was occupied by the Latin clergy and, according to Byzantine sources, this caused the end of the so called "habitual miracle" (to synetés thauma).
In 1328 Andronikos III Palaiologos
Andronikos III Palaiologos
Andronikos III Palaiologos, Latinized as Andronicus III Palaeologus was Byzantine emperor from 1328 to 1341, after being rival emperor since 1321. Andronikos III was the son of Michael IX Palaiologos and Rita of Armenia...
used the monastery as base to attack Constantinople. Two years later, as he lay dying in the town of Didymoteicho
Didymoteicho
Didymóteicho is a town located in the eastern part of the Evros peripheral unit of Thrace, Greece. It is the seat of the municipality of the same name. The town sits on a plain and located south east of Svilengrad, south of Edirne, Turkey and Orestiada, west of Uzunköprü, about 20 km north...
, he drank water from the spring and recovered at once.
During the Ottoman siege of Constantinople in 1422
Siege of Constantinople (1422)
The first full-scale Ottoman Siege of Constantinople took place in 1422 as a result of the Byzantine Emperor Manuel II's attempts to interfere in the succession of Ottoman Sultans, after the death of Mehmed I in 1421...
, Sultan Murad II
Murad II
Murad II Kodja was the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1421 to 1451 ....
camped in the sanctuary. It is unknown whether the Byzantines restored the building before the conquest of the city
Fall of Constantinople
The Fall of Constantinople was the capture of the capital of the Byzantine Empire, which occurred after a siege by the Ottoman Empire, under the command of Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II, against the defending army commanded by Byzantine Emperor Constantine XI...
in 1453 Russian pilgrims of the fifteenth century do not mention the church, only the spring. The 16th-century French scholar Pierre Gilles writes that in 1547 the church did not exist anymore, but the sick continued to attend the spring.
In 1727 Nikodemos, Metropolitan
Metropolitan bishop
In Christian churches with episcopal polity, the rank of metropolitan bishop, or simply metropolitan, pertains to the diocesan bishop or archbishop of a metropolis; that is, the chief city of a historical Roman province, ecclesiastical province, or regional capital.Before the establishment of...
of Dercos and Neochorion
Delcus
Derka is a residential see of the Orthodox Church subject to the Oecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople New Rome and situated in the Istanbul suburb of Yesilkoy . The metropolitan is a member of the Patriarchal Synod...
, built a small chapel above the Hagiasma. An icon, discovered in the foundations of the old church, was venerated in the chapel. The Armenians
Armenians
Armenian people or Armenians are a nation and ethnic group native to the Armenian Highland.The largest concentration is in Armenia having a nearly-homogeneous population with 97.9% or 3,145,354 being ethnic Armenian....
tried to take possession of the spring, but several firmans secured the possession to the Greeks. The complex was controlled by Turkish guardians, who collected from the pilgrims a tax that used for the maintenance of the prisons. Later the complex came into the possession of the Patriarchate
Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople
The Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople , part of the wider Orthodox Church, is one of the fourteen autocephalous churches within the communion of Orthodox Christianity...
, until in 1821 the Janissaries destroyed the chapel and poisoned the spring. In 1833, a firman allowed Patriarch Constantius I to rebuild the church, which was inaugurated in 1835.
The church was heavily damaged during the Istanbul Pogrom
Istanbul Pogrom
The Istanbul riots , were mob attacks directed primarily at Istanbul's Greek minority on 6–7 September 1955. The riots were orchestrated by the Turkish government under Adnan Menderes. The events were triggered by the false news that the Turkish consulate in Thessaloniki, north Greece—the...
on 6 September 1955, but since then it has been restored.
The sanctuary is directed by a titular bishop and is one of the most popular among the Orthodox of Istanbul, who visit it especially during the Friday after Easter
Easter Friday
Easter Friday, or Bright Friday, is the Friday after the Christian festival of Easter. The name is sometimes applied to Good Friday, which falls a week earlier....
and on September 14. On these two days, a great feast, both profane and religious takes place there. Funerals of people to be buried in the nearby cemetery are also celebrated in the church.
In Byzantine times the sanctuary was one of the most important in Constantinople
Constantinople
Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...
. On Ascension Day, the Emperor arrived by boat to the small harbor of the Golden Gate. He rode up to the sanctuary, where he was acclaimed by the factions, who offered him a cross and garlands. Later, he dressed in his ceremony robe in his apartments and, after receiving the Patriarch, the two entered the church hand-in-hand. After the celebration, he invited the Patriarch for dinner.
Each future Empress coming to Constantinople for her wedding was received by her future spouse in the Monastery of the Spring.
The dedication feast of the church took place on July 9. Moreover, the Ascension, the Marriage at Cana
Marriage at Cana
In Christianity, the transformation of water into wine at the Marriage at Cana or Wedding at Cana is the first miracle of Jesus in the Gospel of John....
(8 January) and the anniversary of the Miracle of Leo I on 16 August were celebrated here.
The Life-giving spring gave origin to many churches and monasteries bearing the same name in the Greek world, but most of them were erected after the end of the Byzantine Empire.
The icon
Icon
An icon is a religious work of art, most commonly a painting, from Eastern Christianity and in certain Eastern Catholic churches...
that represents the Virgin of the Spring shows the Virgin
Mary (mother of Jesus)
Mary , commonly referred to as "Saint Mary", "Mother Mary", the "Virgin Mary", the "Blessed Virgin Mary", or "Mary, Mother of God", was a Jewish woman of Nazareth in Galilee...
blessing and embracing the Child. She is surrounded by two angels and usually is sitting on the more elevated of two basins which are sustained by a water jet coming from a larger marble basin adorned with a cross. Around this, stands the Emperor with his guard, while on the left there is the Patriarch with his bishops. On the background, is represented Leo I with the blind man together with the walls of the City. Under the basin a paralytic and a mad are healed with the spring’s water.
Description
According to Nikephoros Kallistos (writing in fourteenth century) the church by that time had a rectangular shape of basilicaBasilica
The Latin word basilica , was originally used to describe a Roman public building, usually located in the forum of a Roman town. Public basilicas began to appear in Hellenistic cities in the 2nd century BC.The term was also applied to buildings used for religious purposes...
type, with a 4:3 proportion between the sides, and was partly subterranean. It was surrounded by two exonartheces
Narthex
The narthex of a church is the entrance or lobby area, located at the end of the nave, at the far end from the church's main altar. Traditionally the narthex was a part of the church building, but was not considered part of the church proper...
(on the E and W side) and two esonarteces
Narthex
The narthex of a church is the entrance or lobby area, located at the end of the nave, at the far end from the church's main altar. Traditionally the narthex was a part of the church building, but was not considered part of the church proper...
(on the S and N sides). The light coming from outside was concentrated on the source, which could be reached descending two stairs having 25 steps. Each stair was delimited by a marble balustrade and surmounted by a marble arcade. The water fell into a marble basin, and a canalization distributed it in the church. The edifice was adorned with frescos and surmounted by a dome glittering with pure gold. Around the church there were three chapels, devoted respectively to Saint Eustratius
Saint Eustratius
Saint Eustratius may refer to:*Saint Eustratius , also called Agios Efstratios*Eustratius the Wonderworker*Eustratius of Antioch*Eustratius, companion of Orestes of Cappadocia...
, the Theotokos and Saint Anne
Saint Anne
Saint Hanna of David's house and line, was the mother of the Virgin Mary and grandmother of Jesus Christ according to Christian and Islamic tradition. English Anne is derived from Greek rendering of her Hebrew name Hannah...
.
The present church is also rectangular in shape. It is roughly oriented in E - W direction, and has three naves divided by columns and preceded by an esonarthex. By the Northwest corner rises a metallic bell tower. The interior is richly adorned. On the right side near the middle of the nave there is a Pulpit
Pulpit
Pulpit is a speakers' stand in a church. In many Christian churches, there are two speakers' stands at the front of the church. Typically, the one on the left is called the pulpit...
, while at the end lies a rich iconostasis
Iconostasis
In Eastern Christianity an iconostasis is a wall of icons and religious paintings, separating the nave from the sanctuary in a church. Iconostasis also refers to a portable icon stand that can be placed anywhere within a church...
. Right of the iconostasis there is an icon which the tradition says painted by Saint Luke. The source lies in a subterranean crypt
Crypt
In architecture, a crypt is a stone chamber or vault beneath the floor of a burial vault possibly containing sarcophagi, coffins or relics....
outside the church, and can be accessed descending a stair parallel the long sides of the church. A symmetric stair leads from the crypt to the church’s yard. The crypt is adorned with paintings and icons, and is surmounted by a dome painted with Christ in a starry sky. The water flows into a marble basin, where fishes are swimming. These fishes, present in the basin since centuries, gave origin to the Turkish name of the complex (balikli in Turkish means "place where there are fishes"). According to a late legend, the day of the Conquest of Constantinople a monk was frying fishes in a pan near the source. When a colleague announced him the fall of the City, he replied that he would have believed him only if the fishes in the pan would have come back to life. After his words these jumped in the source and began swimming.
The yard in front of a church is a cemetery with marble tombs – mostly of them dating to the nineteenth and twentieth century - belonging to wealthy Rum
Rum (disambiguation)
Rum may refer to the following:* Rum, a spirit made from sugar-cane by-products such as molasses or sugar cane juice* Rûm, a variant of "Rome", was the term by which Muslims referred to the Christian Europeans in general, and the Eastern Romans Byzantines in particular, in the Middle Ages...
of Istanbul. Also several Patriarchs are buried here. Characteristic of this cemetery are also several gravestones with Karamanli inscriptions, which constitute by far the largest surviving group in this language. The complex is also surrounded by two large cemeteries, respectively Armenian and Greek, each enclosed in high walls.
About one kilometer south of the church is active an important Greek hospital, the Balikli Rum Hastanesi Vakf (“Balikli Greek Hospital Foundation”).