Patriarchal Church of Saint George

A brief history

Since about 1600 this modest church in the Fener quarter has been the seat of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople. The patriarch is regarded as first among equals in the Eastern Orthodox Church and is often described as the spiritual leader of its roughly 300 million faithful worldwide. Nothing about the building announces that: it is a plain basilica on a narrow street, and the reason is that Ottoman rule did not permit a cathedral to look like one.

Saints & traditions

Its full Greek name calls it venerable rather than great, and the Turkish street name for it is simply Aya Yorgi — Saint George, as any neighbour would say it.