UPDATE: 01 October 2006
Early
Christianity in the Black Sea area
Looking
across Turkey, Ukraine and Georgia
GUEST
REPORTER: Todd Drummond, a native of Auburn, Alabama who has spent
most of his adult life living in Central Asia.
Click these links to see Todd's photos from:
 | |
| |
|
Turkey,
Georgia and Ukraine all deserve books of pictures and travel notes unto
themselves! Over the years I have spent many months in Turkey as a student
intern, honeymooner and traveler. Unfortunately, however, my best pictures of
Turkey’s Christian heritage were taken long before I got a good digital camera
and therefore are not included here. I had an opportunity to travel to Georgia
in July of 2006 to serve as an international observer of their university
testing and admissions process. I have been to Ukraine three times for work and
pleasure since 1985.
Indeed,
all of these countries have long and rich histories. However, I got the idea to
write a quick theme-based blurb on early Christian churches because 1) people
often forget about Asia Minor's (Turkey's) Christian heritage, though many
spectacular churches survive today, 2) the Ukraine is home to "Kyivan Rus,"
the first formation of Slavic statehood and the home of Christian Orthodoxy
after the fall of Byzantium and the Church there, 3) no one knows much of
anything about Georgia despite its ancient Christian heritage, and finally 4)
there is just so much to tell about all of these places that I would be writing
for another three months to do them all justice if other themes were to be
included.
I
am not a specialist on religious history, but roughly speaking, the Greek,
Armenian, Coptic and Georgian Orthodox Christian Churches all took shape in the
very first years of the Christian church - in the 2nd - 5th centuries AD. From a
geographical standpoint this makes good sense as when you leave Israel to the
north, Asia Minor and the Caucasus are the first places early pilgrims would
have come to. It is well known that the Emperor Constantine established
Christianity as the state religion in the Eastern Roman Empire in 330 AD. He
established this Christian empire on the ancient trading city of Byzantium and
this first true Christian Empire would become the Byzantine Empire. The name of
the town itself was changed to Constantinople, the name the city would have for
over one thousand years.
The
tremendous cathedral of St. Sofia built under Justinian and Theodora's reign in
the 6th century is the best known of the surviving early Christian cathedrals
due to its immense size and beauty. Despite becoming a mosque and later a museum
a thousand years after its completion, it remains one of Istanbul’s top
tourist attractions. In addition to being one of the largest early Christian
Churches it still contains some early mosaics and icons from the late middle
ages (11th-13th centuries). Unfortunately, many of the earliest Christian icons
of Constantinople were destroyed by Byzantines themselves, the
"iconoclasts" whose anti- icon movement held sway briefly in the
Byzantine Empire in the 8th century. However, much remains from the period of
10th through 14th centuries in several locations in Istanbul and beyond. St.
Sophia contains several such early golden mosaics from this time.
Istanbul
also has dozens of other early Christian churches as well as some later Greek,
Georgian and Armenian ones. One of the best preserved Byzantine Churches is
called "The Church of Chora" and it is located just inside the
northwest corner of the old city wall. Incidentally, not too far from the place
where the Turks first breached the wall and took the city from the Byzantines in
1453. Chora contains some of the most intact early mosaics and frescoes from the
12th and 13th centuries. It is an amazingly beautiful church. The current
foundation of the church is from the 10th century but it (like many other later
churches) was built on the foundation of an earlier church. It is common to find
churches from the late middle ages that are simply reconstructions of early
churches that were destroyed by earthquake, fire, or human made disaster. While
you can use a camera inside Chora, unfortunately flashes are not allowed and of
the dozens of shots that I have, most of them are not that clear. The eight to
ten shots here are the best I could manage. Any trip to Istanbul is not complete
without some sightseeing of the major Byzantine churches.
In
general, Turkey is an amazing place to visit. Outside of southern Europe,
Israel, Syria, Egypt and the Levant, there are perhaps fewer places on earth
with the archaeological and historical splendor that Turkey offers. Roman ruins
all along the southern and western coasts, ancient Hittite settlements in the
interior, not to mention Seljuk and Ottoman period Islamic architecture,
mosques, baths, forts, ancient churches, etc. Istanbul itself takes weeks to
explore. For those who tire quickly of "marveling at all those rocks"
as my wife sometimes calls it, the beaches and clear blue waters of the Aegean
and Mediterranean Seas are fantastic in summer, the shopping is good for carpets
and leather goods, the food can be excellent, and the prices are reasonable - if
you know how to bargain.
Not
to dissuade would-be travelers to Turkey though, I would say that outside of
Istanbul and the immediate coastal areas, it is still travel "for the
adventurer." The roads can be dangerous and Turkey is a little unstable in
the far eastern corner of the country. I’ve always experienced real adventure
in Turkey. On one trip coming to the USA from Kyrgyzstan in 1999, my "early
morning walk" in Istanbul was interrupted by the discovery of a homicide
victim down by the Marmora Sea, close to the fishing boats and fish markets. It
was early morning and I was the first person on the scene. While it is safe to
travel in most parts of the city you do have to be aware of what is going on
around you. Some of my favorite books about Turkey written by Turks are
"The Origins of a Turkish Family" (forget the author but it is on sale
all over Istanbul), "Istanbul" by Orhan Pamuk, as well as "My
Name is Red" by the same author. All three books are excellent and help
define the melancholy and splendor that are Turkey and Istanbul.
Georgia
is perhaps one of the best kept travel secrets in the world – at least from
most Americans. In the news of late due to the recent "Velvet
Revolution" Georgia is one big medieval fort and ancient Christian
pilgrimage site. Georgian hospitality is also legendary. One famous Georgian
tradition is the long feast (called the "supra") to celebrate holidays
and family events usually involving friends and the extended family. It is
accompanied with great food and wine drinking, dancing and singing. All serious
"supras" are led by a "Tamada" (like a Toastmaster) who
makes sure that all guests get to say their toasts at the appropriate time,
coordinates who is drinking what, and makes sure that everything stays under
control. It is not easy to be a Tamada as order and procedure (despite the
heavy wine drinking going on) are very important to the honor of the Georgian
people. The Georgians traditionally drank wine from hollowed-out bullhorns and
it is the tradition to "down" the full cup at once (the
"cups" can be big!).
For
the last 500 years Georgia has lived precariously balanced between the Ottoman,
Persian, and Russian Empires. Sacked by Tamerlane's troops (who came all the way
from Samarkand) in the late middle ages and then again by the Persians in 1795,
the Georgians are a proud and independent people. The Russians finally absorbed
Georgia into their Empire in 1801 when they began their expansion beyond the
North Caucasus Mountains. Although it is a small country, today it is plagued by
"divisions" and regional pride is strong (Abkhazia is disputed by the
Russians and the Georgians after a nasty civil way occurred there in the early
90s). The President of "Adjaria" (Black Sea Coast in the southwestern
portion of the country) also tried to separate from Georgia but was reined in
several years ago. Apparently, he was not much more than a local bandit and he
didn't have much local support. Throughout however, the Christian tradition in
Georgia has remained strong, even during the Soviet era.
As
I was working on this trip to Georgia I was limited in what I saw but Natasha
and I will go back. Tbilisi is an ancient city that has a European
character to it (little architectural style of the Soviet period - at least not
compared to what I have experienced in other parts of Eurasia). The churches and
forts, flea market and food were the highlights – “Kinkhali” and
“Hadjapuri” are excellent dishes and the bread is usually eaten when hot and
fresh. Outside of Tbilisi we went to the Black Sea Coast and port city of Batumi,
the valley of Telavi (wine country) and the ancient city of Signagi. The Stalin
museum in Gori (birthplace of Stalin) was also a "spooky highlight" of
the trip. Well, I guess it is best to “keep an open mind.” I guess he did
some have some good qualities as the curators will surely point out to their
guests. My favorite line was “he ONLY killed 700-800,000 people, not the
outrageous numbers that western historians are claiming.” Oh, yeah, OK, he was
decent after all?! The other highlight for us was the annual folk festival
complete with dancing and singing competitions for delegations from all over
Georgia.
I
first visited Ukraine in 1985 as a high school student and have been back twice
since then for work. The last several years have seen "the rise and fall of
the Orange Revloution" and it has been an exciting time to be in Kyiv.
Ukraine (no longer "the" Ukraine) as this is a "Russianism"
because the Russian preposition "na" (on or at) seemed to imply that
it was not a country in its own right, but a kind of "territory" or
"land extension" of the Empire (Russian Empire that is). The former
English translation "the" Ukraine reflects that meaning. Thus, it is
now PC to just say "Ukraine." FYI, Kiev is now spelled Kyiv.
Kyivans
claim that their city was the center of medieval Orthodox Christian activity
after the fall of Byzantium. From the 9th to 12th century hundreds of churches
were built there. Some of them survive to this day. St. Sophia has some of the
oldest mosaics and frescoes in existence. Unfortunately, photography is not
allowed inside. St. Mikhail existed for 9 centuries before it was destroyed by
the Stalinst regime in the 1930s. It was rebuilt in 2000 and is one of Kyiv’s
most beautiful Cathedrals. In general, the basic “cross” floor plan with
high vaulted ceilings and a large cupola with decorated internal rotundas can be
seen in the churches from Byzantium to Kiev and Tbilisi. The same brickwork
designs with very small external windows and large wooden doors can be seen in
many of the photographs from the outside. The golden “onion domed cupolas”
are more typical of the Slavic style while the Byzantine and Georgian churches
often have “cone shaped” tower-like roofs.
Travel
to this part of the world definitely makes Americans realize that our “western
heritage” is actually geographically a little further “to the east” than
we often realize. Enjoy our ancient Eastern Heritage!