Nicea’s 4th century church has the same name as the great basilica in Istanbul: Santa Sophia, or Holy Wisdom. Some architectural modifications were made after the great earthquake in 11th century, but basically what we see here is a church from the time period of the Council of Nicea in 325. When the Roman Empire fell apart in 395, Byzantines developed Nicaea, building churches, cisterns and water canals. When the Selnik Turks conquered the city they made Nicea their first capital, and added the minaret seen here to the left of the front door of the church.
The prominent feature of the church’s sanctuary is the Synthronon (seats for the bishops). These “bleachers” can be seen behind and to the right of this tour group that arrived just before we did. The second Council of Nicea was assembled here in 787. It’s importance is overshadowed in church history by the first council of Nicea because of the importance of the first council’s work in defining the nature of the Son as equal to the Father. Both were equally divine. That’s the meaning of that theological term “consubstantial.”
Our little group gathered in this section of the church to pray the Nicene creed. It is a creedal formula of faith shared by the mainline Christian churches. As a young man I was surprised and deeply moved when attending an Episcopalian Mass to learn that they too prayed the Nicene creed just as we Catholics did. When we got to the line, “We believe in the one holy Catholic and apostolic church,” I was reminded that they too were Catholic. We call ourselves “Roman Catholic" to distinguish ourselves from the "Anglican Catholics."
At the entrance to the plaza of the church in Nicea, we took advantage of the public bath room set up there in a corner of the plaza. On one side we saw this bedroom behind a curtain, and learned that was where this lady whom we met at the entrance to the “W.C.” lived. The lady was befriended by our tour leader Margarita. Her job is to monitor access to the toilets and see that they are kept clean.
When we left Nicea, we boarded a ferry that took us across the Sea of Marmara. As we departed the southern shore, this bow of the ferry boat was filled with people, but as the ferry continued it’s rather lengthy journey across the sea, the cold wind (it was April) drove most tourists to take shelter inside. As we neared the mooring at Kartal, only the brave (or foolish) remained on the bow’s bench.
We are now nearing the north shore, and will be only an hour’s drive into Istanbul. Our thoughts of arriving early at our Istanbul hotel and relaxing after a long days’ drive from Bursa were soon to be shattered by the 4:00 pm traffic in Turkey’s largest city.
Nicea’s 4th century church has the same name as the great basilica in Istanbul: Santa Sophia, or Holy Wisdom. Some architectural modifications were made after the great earthquake in 11th century, but basically what we see here is a church from the time period of the Council of Nicea in 325. When the Roman Empire fell apart in 395, Byzantines developed Nicaea, building churches, cisterns and water canals. When the Selnik Turks conquered the city they made Nicea their first capital, and added the minaret seen here to the left of the front door of the church.
The prominent feature of the church’s sanctuary is the Synthronon (seats for the bishops). These “bleachers” can be seen behind and to the right of this tour group that arrived just before we did. The second Council of Nicea was assembled here in 787. It’s importance is overshadowed in church history by the first council of Nicea because of the importance of the first council’s work in defining the nature of the Son as equal to the Father. Both were equally divine. That’s the meaning of that theological term “consubstantial.”
Our little group gathered in this section of the church to pray the Nicene creed. It is a creedal formula of faith shared by the mainline Christian churches. As a young man I was surprised and deeply moved when attending an Episcopalian Mass to learn that they too prayed the Nicene creed just as we Catholics did. When we got to the line, “We believe in the one holy Catholic and apostolic church,” I was reminded that they too were Catholic. We call ourselves “Roman Catholic" to distinguish ourselves from the "Anglican Catholics."
At the entrance to the plaza of the church in Nicea, we took advantage of the public bath room set up there in a corner of the plaza. On one side we saw this bedroom behind a curtain, and learned that was where this lady whom we met at the entrance to the “W.C.” lived. The lady was befriended by our tour leader Margarita. Her job is to monitor access to the toilets and see that they are kept clean.
When we left Nicea, we boarded a ferry that took us across the Sea of Marmara. As we departed the southern shore, this bow of the ferry boat was filled with people, but as the ferry continued it’s rather lengthy journey across the sea, the cold wind (it was April) drove most tourists to take shelter inside. As we neared the mooring at Kartal, only the brave (or foolish) remained on the bow’s bench.
We are now nearing the north shore, and will be only an hour’s drive into Istanbul. Our thoughts of arriving early at our Istanbul hotel and relaxing after a long days’ drive from Bursa were soon to be shattered by the 4:00 pm traffic in Turkey’s largest city.
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