- Ancient Chalcedon in Modern Kadıköy
- Reading the Ruins of Ancient Chalcedon
- Searching for St. Euphemia Basilica in Chalcedon
- Understanding Chalcedon before the Council of 451 AD
- St. Bassa Church in Kadıköy: What Do We Know?
The Chalcedon excavations in Kadıköy, Istanbul, have revealed the sacred site of St. Bassa Church, one of the excavation’s most significant discoveries. Although recent reports have released photographs and information about the church, its historical significance remains largely unknown. Who was St. Bassa? Why was a church dedicated to her established here? And what can the archaeological discoveries tell us about this important Christian site in ancient Chalcedon?
Who is St. Bassa?
According to Church tradition, St. Bassa was a woman who stood for her faith and was first imprisoned, then thrown into the Sea of Marmara. Her husband denounced her and their sons, all of whom believed in Christ. He was not a believer but a worshiper of Roman idols. When thrown into the sea, all thought she died, but then she came ashore on Pasalimani Island in the Sea of Marmara. The Orthodox site online says, “After eight days Saint Bassa came by ship to the governor of the island of Alona, not far from Cyzicus, in the Propontis or Sea of Marmora. After beating her with rods, they beheaded her.”[1]https://www.oca.org/saints/lives/0200/08/21/102356-martyr-bassa-of-edessa-and-her-sons-theogonius-agapius-and-pistu Others say she was burned alive and died. A martyr for Christ who stood for her Lord, even when society turned against her.
The https://www.oca.org site depicts her in a red martyred robe with her three sons, who seem quite a bit young in this screenshot. She lived in the city of Macedonian Edessa, now in modern Greece, and her persecution took place there, but she arrived in this region by ship before her beheading. The Chalcedonian church was most likely the first to be named after her.
The St. Bassa Church
Possibly because of her martyrdom near the Sea of Marmara, Christians in Chalcedon, a port on that sea, dedicated a church to St. Bassa by at least AD 450. She may also have been buried at this site, since historical records identify the church as a martyrium. Tradition places her death around AD 305.
By the middle of the fifth century, Christianity had become firmly established in Chalcedon. The city not only honored St. Euphemia but also preserved the memory of another woman martyr by dedicating a church to her. This gives us an important glimpse into the Christian character of Chalcedon, the city that hosted the Council of 451 AD, which made it famous throughout the Christian world.
When the Council of Chalcedon began in AD 451, at least two churches in the city honored women who had died for their faith, with the Basilica of St. Euphemia being the better known of the two. The historical record identifies one, while recent archaeological excavation has brought the other back into view. Together, these churches may have formed an important part of Chalcedon’s Christian landscape.
This evidence suggests that the Christian identity of Chalcedon did not rest solely on bishops, councils, or theological institutions. It also grew from the local memory of believers who honored those who had stood faithfully for Christ. By preserving the names and memory of martyrs, particularly women who suffered and died for their faith, the Christians of Chalcedon gave their city a distinctly personal and grassroots expression of Christian devotion.
Women of faith did not remain passive or hidden. They played a visible and influential role in the early Christian communities of this region. Perhaps following the example of Helena, Constantine’s mother, who was born only about 150 kilometers away along the Sea of Marmara, Christian women gave public testimony to a faith that honored their place within the community. Throughout the early growth of Christianity, women often established, strengthened, and sustained the faith of those around them.
Martyrium Church
In the research and pictures, the archaeologists have found bones and a memorial site. One of the best write-ups about the site is by Koray Erdogan[2]https://www.turkiyetoday.com/culture/uncovering-secrets-of-ancient-chalcedon-beneath-modern-kadikoy-141292, who has given much detail about what they have found.
Semavi Eyice writes: “One of the religious institutions established in the Haydarpaşa area during the Early Christian period is the church dedicated to Saint Bassa, built in the 5th century. A monastery was built next to it in 536, but no documents regarding this monastery remain from the 6th century onwards.”
Evidence suggests that a monastery stood near present-day Yeldeğirmeni; it was most likely another monastery, as it is about a 7-minute walk from the St. Bassa Church. Medieval sources also mention a monastery in the Haydarpaşa valley area, where the church is located. Such institutions often developed around important pilgrimage centers, making their presence noteworthy, given that the area hosted two churches dedicated to these ladies.
Chalcedon on a Pilgrim’s Road
The Silk Road from eastern Anatolia and Persia was found just north of this area, heading to either the Chalcedonian port or the one in Scutari (Üsküdar). Historians call it the Pilgrim’s Road and the Roman government used it for military and commercial purposes. The road headed to Nicomedia, Nicaea, Ancyra (Galatia), Tarsus, Antioch, and ultimately Jerusalem. Today, Bağdat Yolu, the Road of Baghdad, identifies this route, which lies east of the ancient city of Chalcedon.
Chalcedon became a natural stopping spot before pilgrims crossed over to Constantinople. The city had two churches that honored martyred saints. The woman writer and pilgrim Egeria (traveling 381-384 AD) mentions visiting the “very famous” martyr memorial of St. Euphemia.[3]https://ccel.org/m/mcclure/etheria/etheria.htm and many of the other martyr memorials in Constantinople. However, she makes no mention of St. Bassa.
This pilgrim from the eastern Mediterranean learned about Chalcedon, showing that the city attracted travelers and prompted the construction of another martyrium. Devotees actively visited many churches and places of testimony, traveling to honor those who, like Christ, made the ultimate sacrifice. The martyrs’ church, along with a nearby complex, most likely included the massive bathhouse at the site, which pilgrims used to wash and refresh themselves. Typically, a monastery complex included a hospital, accommodations for pilgrims, and shops. When pilgrims arrived, they could experience the entire location. This site likely integrated closely with society and centered spiritual worship near the port.
What has been found at St. Bassa?
What has been discovered in Kadikoy will tell us much about this church.
Archaeologists discovered a hypogeum, or vaulted underground burial chamber, containing numerous bones. Many Byzantine martyriums offered a place for others to be buried near a saint. Here we have a sacred site where others placed their remains or bones. Burial was often not an individual but a community experience. Resurrection will take place, and a sacred site would guarantee that one is not missed.
The many bones at this location indicate there was a special crypt for the main burial, which was St. Bassa, and possibly her boys. Thus, making this place an important place for prayer for women and those who faced some type of loss.
Istanbul Archaeology Museum Director Rahmi Asal said, “We also came across a section of Sainte Bassa Church, an important ruin from the Byzantine era that is narrated both in antique sources as well as modern publications. Inside the church’s apse, a mass grave was found containing approximately 28 bodies.”[4]https://www.dailysabah.com/life/history/ancient-mass-grave-wwii-bunker-among-new-finds-in-istanbuls-haydarpasa-dig With such a find, this makes the area a very historic, sacred, and memorial site. The focus is on the 19th-century train station, but the 1,500-year-old walls, churches, and sacred memorial bones show how important this location was to belief systems.
St. Bassa shows us that one’s sacrifice for Christ is of utmost importance and that women who follow Christ will not be forgotten. Kadikoy, known today as a very eclectic area of Istanbul, again has a very open and eclectic memorial in the open-air archaeology site. A place where modern notions and other religions have conquered, but the life of the martyrs for Christ still cries out to us, bearing testimony of how amazing the death of Christ was for those believers 1500 years ago.
Very few martyriums have remained in Istanbul, here is a list I put together:
Why Bones at St. Bassa Church
The hope of resurrection for Christians is real. The Lord Jesus resurrected from the dead and he will call all those who follow him up on the last day. Jesus said, “For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.” (John 6:40, ESV). This hope inspired a martyr for Christ to endure death, drawing many believers to desire to be near one who was faithful to Christ to the end. Their hope was in the resurrection of Christ, and not in this past saint.
Also, the idea of community in these types of churches became a reality for both a visitor and someone buried there. Being buried here placed one’s own death within that same story of faith, communion, and resurrection. Many of these martyrium chapels became cemeteries when the number of graves increased. This was quite evident in ancient Nicomedia (Izmit today).
Most likely, in 620, to spare St. Euphemia’s remains from the invading Persian armies, the saint’s bones were moved within Constantinople. Then a new martyrium rose within a former government building in 680 AD, near the Hippodrome and Hagia Sophia. After this, St. Bassa became the main site for burials and pilgrim visits in Chalcedon.
The Open-Air Museum
As the site opens up, visitors encounter the Haydarpaşa Train Station, which opened in 1908. The station did not exist when the Ottoman army gathered troops in this valley during the Crimean War in 1854. Decades later, workers laid these railway tracks to accelerate the movement of people and supplies, including German support for the Ottoman Sultan as Germany pursued the railway connection to Baghdad.
Yet visitors need to look beyond these more recent layers of history. The ruins before them date back at least 1,500 years and tell the story of a Christian city that became a witness and a light to the wider world. At the heart of that story stands the Christian confession proclaimed at the Council of Chalcedon in AD 451: Jesus Christ is one person who possesses two distinct natures, fully divine and fully human, at the same time. Of whom, when he prayed, he said: When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, 2 since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. 3 And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. 4 I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. 5 And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed. (John 17:1-5, ESV).
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