Byzantium

The few days we've had here in the former capital of the Roman Empire have of course been nowhere near enough . . .

There are a whole chorus of reasons to come to Constantinople, but one of the main ones would be Kariye Djami, or the Church of Holy Savior in Chora.








Christ and his Mother.




This is one of the rare churches that survived Muslim iconoclasm and still contains the stunning imagery of the original sanctuary.






















St. Paul, Saint of the Year.





A side chapel was devoted to funerals, so the images had an impressive black background.






















With of course, the image of the Resurrection:








Abel is first to the right of Jesus in the light green, holding a shepherd's staff.





We visited Holy Savior in Chora on Sunday on our way to Hagia Sophia, the vast basilica built by the Emperor Justinian.

Up on the city's central hill, where the emperor's palace used to face the basilica, stands the Blue Mosque.























Now with complementary red.






Hagia Sophia, Holy Wisdom, was built in the 530's, and is still today an architectural marvel.














The interior dome is massive:










With a splash of contemporary scaffolding.




Not as fortunate as Holy Savior in Chora, Hagia Sophia was immediately made into a mosque with the fall of Constantinople to the Turks in 1453, who painted over the sacriligious interior imagery.
























Photos don't do justice to the scale of the enormous church.





Occasionally you can find an original face peeking out, like the Theotokos and Christchild in this central arch:















With Constantinople being the center of the Empire for centuries, the bishop of Constantinople played a pivotal role in the Church. We were able to visit the church of the Patriarch of Constantinople, and pray for a reunion of the Churches of East and West after the tragic division of 1054.








The symbol of Saint Andrew, patron of the Church of Constantinople, is the two-headed eagle over the doors of the iconostasis.