Part 9 (1/2)
[116] In S. George of Ezra in Syria (515), as Mr. E. M. Antoniadi informs me, the dome overhangs or oversails the angles of the octagon.
[117] 'The dome stands within a polygon of sixteen sides, that rises four metres above the springing line, keeping the dome taut and weighting the haunches. Against this polygonal casing are set b.u.t.tresses formed by the extension of the piers of the octagon to within m. 1-1/2 from the cornice of the dome. These b.u.t.tresses are in their turn respectively strengthened, on the rear, by two small b.u.t.tresses; of which those on the north, south, east, and west sides rest on an arch of the gynecaeum, and carry the thrust to the outer walls of the church, while the others rest on the exhedrae and the vaulting of the gynecaeum. Furthermore, from the summit of the b.u.t.tresses formed by the piers of the octagon a small b.u.t.tress is set against the cupola itself up to the cornice.' This marshalling of the b.u.t.tresses around the dome in three tiers, while securing the stability of the structure, is moreover strikingly artistic. See Fig.
21.
CHAPTER IV
THE CHURCH OF S. IRENE 118-143
The church of S. Irene stands at a short distance to the north-east of S. Sophia, in the first court of the Seraglio. Its ident.i.ty has never been questioned, for the building was too much in the public eye and too near the centre of the ecclesiastical affairs of the city to render possible any mistake concerning its real character. It is always described as close to S. Sophia.[118] According to the historian Socrates,[119] it was originally one of the Christian sanctuaries of the old town of Byzantium, a statement we may well believe, seeing Byzantium was the seat of a bishop before the foundation of Constantinople. The designation of the church as 'the Ancient' or 'the Old Church,' Ecclesia Antiqua, [Greek: he palaia],[120] and the special regard cherished for the church during the earlier history of the city, are also thus best explained. The original sanctuary was small,[121] but when Byzantium became the capital of the East the old fabric was enlarged and beautified by Constantine the Great to harmonize with its grander surroundings, and was dedicated to Peace, in honour of the rest and quiet which settled upon the Roman world when the founder of the city had vanquished all his rivals after eighteen years of civil war.[122]
[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE XVI.
_Abdullah Freres._ S. IRENE, FROM THE SOUTH-EAST.
_To face page 84._]
NOTE
Other churches of the same name were found in Constantinople: S. Irene in the Seventh Region, according to the _Not.i.tia_. S. Irene in Sykai (Galata), [Greek: peran en Sykais]; Theophanes, p. 353.
S. Irene by the Sea, [Greek: pros thala.s.san]; Nicetas Choniates, p. 269; Synax., Jan. 10. The last was also known as the New, [Greek: Nea]; Synax., Jan. 23. Erected in the reign of the Emperor Marcian, it was partially restored by the Emperor Manuel Comnenus after its destruction by fire; Nicet. Chon. _ut supra_. It was styled likewise 'at the Ferry,' [Greek: to perama]; Codinus, _De aed._ p. 89; Banduri, ii. p. 31.
Until the year 360, when the church of S. Sophia was opened to public wors.h.i.+p by the Emperor Constantius, S. Irene appears to have been the cathedral of the city. Hence, probably, the name sometimes given to it, the Patriarchate, [Greek: to patriarcheion].[123] Nor did the church lose its primacy altogether even after the erection of S. Sophia. On the contrary, the two churches were regarded as forming one sanctuary; they were enclosed within the same court, served by the same clergy, and known by the same name, 'the Great Church,' [Greek: he Megale Ekklesia].[124] S. Irene was again the sole cathedral building, while S.
Sophia lay in ruins for eleven years after being set on fire in 404, on the occasion of the final banishment of John Chrysostom.
S. Irene comes prominently into view during the fierce struggle between the adherents of the Nicene Creed and the Arians, in the half-century which followed the inauguration of New Rome. Having been persuaded that the point at issue between the two theological parties was not essential, and that the agitation of the question was due to love of disputation, Constantine the Great, who valued peace at almost any price, attempted to suppress the controversy by his authority, and accordingly ordered the Patriarch Alexander to admit Arius, then present in the city, to the Holy Communion. With this order Alexander, a champion of the Nicene Creed, refused to comply. Whereupon the followers of Arius decided to have recourse to violence. But on the very eve of the day fixed to carry out their purpose, Arius was taken suddenly ill in the Forum of Constantine and died on the spot. The historian Socrates regards the event as the act of G.o.d, for when the patriarch heard what the heretics intended to do, he retired to the church of S.
Irene, and there for many days and nights, with fasting and tears, and with his lips pressed to the altar, implored divine succour in his terrible extremity. 'If the opinions of Arius be true,' the patriarch prayed, 'let me die; but if they are false let him be judged.' The tragic end of Arius was considered the answer to that prayer.
Upon the death of Alexander in 343, at the age of ninety-eight, the two parties came into collision in regard to the question of his successor.
The deceased prelate had recommended two persons as suitable to fill his place: the presbyter Paul, because of his abilities; the deacon Macedonius, on account of his age and venerable appearance. The Arians favoured Macedonius, as more in sympathy with their opinions; the orthodox, however, carried the election and installed Paul in S. Irene.
The defeated party seems to have submitted, but the Emperor Constantius, a violent Arian, quashed the election, and appointed Eusebius of Nicomedia, a prominent upholder of the views of Arius, bishop of the capital. Upon the death of Eusebius in 346 the theological combatants again seized the opportunity to try their strength. The orthodox recalled Paul; the Arians consecrated Macedonius. Incensed by these proceedings, Constantius, then at Antioch, ordered Hermogenes, the magister militum in Thrace, to proceed to Constantinople and drive Paul from the city. But no sooner did Hermogenes attempt to execute his instructions than the populace rose, burnt his house to the ground, and after dragging him along the streets, killed him. The emperor was furious. He hurried back to Constantinople, banished Paul, and reduced by one-half the amount of free bread daily distributed among the citizens. Nor did he fully recognize Macedonius as bishop. Under these circ.u.mstances Paul made his way to Rome, and, having secured the support of the Pope, reappeared in Constantinople as the rightful bishop of the see. But the emperor, again in Syria, was not to be baffled. More angry than ever, he sent peremptory orders to Philip, the prefect of Constantinople, to expel Paul and to recognize Macedonius. By skilful arrangements Paul was quietly removed from the scene. But to install Macedonius was a more difficult undertaking. The prefect, however, ordered his chariot, and with Macedonius seated by his side made for S.
Irene, under an escort of troops carrying drawn swords. The sharp, naked weapons alarmed the crowds in the streets, and without distinction of sect or cla.s.s men rushed for the church, everybody trying to outstrip his neighbour in the race to get there first. Soon all the approaches to the building were packed to suffocation; no one stirred backwards or forwards, and the prefect's chariot was unable to advance. What seemed a hostile barricade of human beings welded together obstructed his path.
In vain did the soldiers brandish their swords in the hope of frightening the crowd to disperse. The crowd stood stock still, not because it would not, but because it could not move. The soldiers grew angry, resorted to their weapons, and cut a way to the church through that compact ma.s.s of humanity at the cost of 3150 lives; some of the victims being crushed to death, others killed at the point of the sword.
So was Macedonius conducted to his throne in the temple of Peace.[125]
But the conflict between the opposite parties continued, and after six years spent in efforts to recover his position, Paul was restored to office through the intervention of the Pope of Rome, of the Emperor Constans, and of the Synod of Sardica. It was a brief triumph. In 350 Paul was exiled for life to Cucusus, and Macedonius ruled once more in his stead.[126] For the next thirty years S. Irene with the other churches of the capital remained in the hands of the Arians.
[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE XVII.
(1) S. IRENE, SOUTH SIDE.
(2) S. IRENE, NORTH SIDE. IN THE DISTANCE, S. SOPHIA.
_To face page 86._]
During that period the Nicene faith was preached by Gregory of n.a.z.ianzus only in a small chapel, subsequently dedicated to S. Anastasia.[127] But with the accession of Theodosius the Great the adherents of the Creed of Nicaea prevailed, and the Second General Council, held in Constantinople in 381, adopted that creed as the true faith of the Christian Church.
According to the biographer of S. Stephen the Younger, who enumerates the six ec.u.menical councils, and indicates, in most cases, where each met, that famous Council met in the church of S. Irene.[128] But Theodore Lector[129] says the Council a.s.sembled in the church of h.o.m.onoia, and explains the name of that church as commemorative of the harmony which prevailed among the bishops who gathered there on that occasion. As a matter of fact, one of the churches of the city bore the name h.o.m.onoia.[130] Possibly the discrepancy between the statements of the authors just mentioned may be due to a confusion arising from a similar meaning of the names of the two churches.
According to the Anonymus,[131] the usurper Basiliscus took refuge with his wife and children in S. Irene, when he was overthrown in 477, and the Emperor Zeno recovered the throne. But, according to the _Paschal Chronicle_,[132] Basiliscus fled on that occasion to the great baptistery of S. Sophia. As that baptistery stood between S. Irene and S. Sophia and may have served both churches, the difference between the two statements is not serious.
After standing for two centuries the Constantinian edifice was burnt to the ground by the fire which the rebel factions in the Nika Riot set to the offices of the prefect on Friday, the 16th of January 532. The building had narrowly escaped the same fate in the fire which destroyed S. Sophia earlier in the course of the riot, and might have survived also the conflagration in which it actually perished, but for the strong wind which carried the flames from the praetorium to the church, devouring on their way the bath of Alexander, a part of the hospice of Eubulus, and the hospital of Sampson with its patients.