Istanbul Vacation Guide

St. George’s Cathedral, Istanbul

The Patriarchal Cathedral Church of St. George is the principal Eastern Orthodox cathedral located in Istanbul, the largest city in Turkey and, as Constantinople, capital of the Byzantine Empire until 1453, and of the Ottoman Empire until 1922.

Since about 1600, it has been the seat of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople whose leader is regarded as the primus inter pares (first among equals) in the Eastern Orthodox Church, and as the spiritual leader of 300 million Orthodox Christians worldwide.

The church, dedicated to the Christian martyr Saint George, is the site of numerous important services, and is where the patriarch will consecrate the chrism (myron) on Holy and Great Thursday, when needed. For this reason, the church is also known as the “Patriarchal Church of the Great Myrrh”.

At one time, the patriarch would consecrate all of the chrism used throughout the entire Orthodox Church. However, now the heads of most of the autocephalous churches sanctify their own myrrh.

The church is located in the Fener (Phanar) district of Istanbul, northwest of the historic centre of old Constantinople. (Its address is Dr Sadık Ahmet Cadesi No 19, Fener 34083, Fatih-Istanbul.) It is a relatively small church, especially so considering its status in world Christianity. This, however, can be explained by the Islamic laws of the Ottoman Empire that governed the rights of dhimmis, which stipulate that all non-Islamic buildings must be smaller and humbler than corresponding Islamic buildings such as mosques: prior to the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople in 1453, the Patriarchal cathedral was Hagia Sophia (also known as the Cathedral of the Holy Wisdom).

The church is open to the public from 8.00 am to 4.30 pm, but strict security screening is in place, as a measure against the possibility of an attack from Islamic extremist groups.

It is visited by a stream of pilgrims from Greece and other Orthodox countries. Behind the church are the offices of the Patriarchate and the Patriarchate Library. The church, which was part of a convent or monastery before becoming the seat of the Patriarch, is outwardly unimpressive, but its interior is lavishly decorated.

Eastern Orthodox Church

The Eastern Orthodox Church, also called the Orthodox Church, is the second-largest Christian church, with approximately 220 million baptized members.

It operates as a communion of autocephalous churches, each governed by its bishops via local synods. The church has no central doctrinal or governmental authority analogous to the head of the Roman Catholic Church—the Pope—but the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople is recognized by them as primus inter pares (“first among equals”), which may be explained as a representative of the church.

As one of the oldest surviving religious institutions in the world, the Eastern Orthodox Church has played a prominent role in the history and culture of Eastern and Southeastern Europe. The Eastern Orthodox Church officially calls itself the Orthodox Catholic Church.

Eastern Orthodox theology is based on holy tradition, which incorporates the dogmatic decrees of the seven ecumenical councils, the Scriptures, and the teaching of the Church Fathers. The church teaches that it is the one, holy, catholic and apostolic church established by Jesus Christ in his Great Commission, and that its bishops are the successors of Christ’s apostles.

It maintains that it practices the original Christian faith, as passed down by holy tradition. Its patriarchates, reminiscent of the pentarchy, and other autocephalous and autonomous churches, reflect a variety of hierarchical organisation. It recognizes seven major sacraments, of which the Eucharist is the principal one, celebrated liturgically in synaxis. The church teaches that through consecration invoked by a priest, the sacrificial bread and wine become the body and blood of Christ. The Virgin Mary is venerated in the Eastern Orthodox Church as the God-bearer, honored in devotions.

The churches of Constantinople, Alexandria, Jerusalem, and Antioch—except for some breaks of communion such as the Photian schism or the Acacian schism—shared communion with the Church of Rome until the East–West Schism in 1054.

The 1054 schism was the culmination of mounting theological, political, and cultural disputes, particularly over the authority of the pope, between those churches. Before the Council of Ephesus in AD 431, the Church of the East also shared in this communion, as did the various Oriental Orthodox Churches before the Council of Chalcedon in AD 451, all separating primarily over differences in Christology.

The Eastern Orthodox Church is the primary religious denomination in Belarus, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Georgia, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Ukraine, and Greece; in the latter case it is additionally responsible for governing the autonomous region of the monastic community of Mount Athos.

The majority of Eastern Orthodox Christians live mainly in Southeast and Eastern Europe, Siberia, and the Russian Far East. Roughly half of Eastern Orthodox Christians live in the post-Soviet states, mostly Russia.

There are also communities in the former Byzantine regions of Africa, the Eastern Mediterranean, and in the Middle East, which are decreasing due to forced migration driven by increased religious persecution.

Eastern Orthodox communities are also present in many other parts of the world, particularly North America, Western Europe, and Australia, formed through diaspora, conversions, and missionary activity.