Changes After Construction
The first structure, thought to date back to the Byzantine period, burned in 1600.
During the reign of Mustafa III, the church was quickly rebuilt in wood with the sultan’s permission; later, this wooden structure also burned in a major fire.
The present masonry church with a wooden roof was built in 1837.
The building has been open for worship again since December 6, 1998.
Records dated 1538, 1576, and 1652 show that the church was visited in different periods and was mentioned together with fires and the holy spring.
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The church belongs to the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Istanbul.
It stands at Ayakapı on the shore of the Golden Horn, on Abdülezel Paşa Avenue, and is counted among the large churches of Istanbul.
The interior is described through a vault system carried by twelve large wooden columns resting on four walls; the upper covering takes the form of a tiled roof.
There is a masonry bell tower; according to legend, its large bell was gifted by Tsar Nicholas of Russia, who bore the saint’s name.
The iconostasis, made entirely of marble and distinguished by its relief stone craftsmanship, is one of the notable elements of the building.
The church and its holy spring continued to be mentioned together in the sources after the fires of 1600 and 1633.
