Book Review
The Holy Apostles
A Lost Monument, a Forgotten Project, and the Presentness of the Past.
Margaret Mullett and Robert G. Ousterhout, Editors
Dumberton Oaks Research Library and Collection.
2020.
“The Holy Apostles” is an excellent volume of essays published by scholars focusing on the long destroyed Church of the Holy Apostles in Constantinople. During the centuries of the Byzantine Empire, the Church of the Holy Apostles in Constantinople contained the relics of Apostles, Saints, and Christian Emperors including Constantine and Justinian. After the fall of Constantinople in 1453, it became for an extremely brief period the Patriarchal Cathedral.
Patriarch Gennadios was permitted to use the Church following the conversion of Hagia Sophia into a Mosque. The Patriarch subsequently decided to abandon the Church and to move the Patriarchate elsewhere. Large numbers of unfriendly Turkish settlers were moving into the area and there was a body found on the premises which was perceived as a threat. Furthermore, the Patriarchate did not have the funds necessary to maintain and preserve the Church.
Tragically, the Church was destroyed and converted into a Mosque. The Fatih Camii Mosque presently stands on the ruins of the long lost Church. Fortunately, the Church of the Holy Apostles survives in the memory of historians and scholars who have contributed time and effort into examining the Church.
There are excellent and informative essays by scholars who recount the history of the Church and the relevance of the Apostles of Christ (for whom the Church was named) in the theology of the fathers of the Church. Scholars have taken the time to study historic descriptions of the Church and have attempted to give us an idea of what the Church of the Holy Apostles looked like. They have done so by visiting and photographing existing Churches which resemble the descriptions of the Church of the Holy Apostles.
Photographs are produced of the still standing Church of Saint Irene in Constantinople and other Churches that may bear a resemblance to the Church of the Holy Apostles. This text is really an excellent effort undertaken to study the Church of the Holy Apostles. It is very informative and it is good to see that one of the most important Churches in the history of Constantinople has not been forgotten.
At the present time, the condition of Hagia Sophia is steadily worsening. One day, scholars may be working on a project about Hagia Sophia. With Hagia Sophia, there are at least photographs and videos that can be studied to teach future generations of the beauty and splendor of Hagia Sophia.
History never really ends. Five and a half centuries ago, Sultan Mehmet II demolished the Church of the Holy Apostles. Today, President Erdogan of Turkey presides over the ruination of Hagia Sophia.