Aya Efimia: The Church of the Council of Chalcedon
Why is it significant?
Between the market stalls, behind a wall and a gate, a Greek Orthodox church hides among the fishmongers and greengrocers. Pause at the gate, with the smell of fish and fresh bread drifting past, and read the name: Aya Efimia, Saint Euphemia.
Key Facts
| Place | Aya Efimia: The Church of the Council of Chalcedon |
|---|---|
| Address | Yasa Caddesi, Osmanağa, 34714 Kadıköy/İstanbul, Türkiye |
| Geo Coordinates | 40.99080, 29.02510 |
| Part of Walk | Fish, Pickles and Sunset Tea: Istanbul's Asian Side from Kadıköy Market to Moda |
| Generated | Generated |
Between the market stalls, behind a wall and a gate, a Greek Orthodox church hides among the fishmongers and greengrocers. Pause at the gate, with the smell of fish and fresh bread drifting past, and read the name: Aya Efimia, Saint Euphemia.
Euphemia was a young Christian woman of Chalcedon, martyred, the story goes, around the year 303, under Emperor Diocletian. Chalcedon built her a great basilica, and in 451 that basilica hosted one of the most important meetings in the history of Christianity: the Council of Chalcedon. Hundreds of bishops gathered here, on this side of the water, to argue about one question... how Christ could be both fully God and fully human.
There is a lovely legend about it. When the bishops could not agree, both sides wrote down their definitions and placed them in Euphemia's tomb. When the tomb was opened days later, the story goes, the orthodox scroll was in the saint's hand and the other lay at her feet. Legend or not, the Council's decision still divides Christians today: the Armenian, Coptic and Syriac churches never accepted it.
The ancient basilica is long gone, and its exact site is still debated. The church in front of you is far more recent, built for the Greek families of Kadıköy, who once filled these streets alongside Armenians, Jews and Levantines. If the gate is open, step in for a moment: icons, candles, a carved wooden iconostasis, and the hush of a village church in the middle of the busiest market on the Asian side. And Euphemia herself? Her relics now rest across the water, in the patriarchal Church of St George in Fener.
But you came to Kadıköy to eat, and the market will not wait. This neighbourhood still lives the way the old city did, around fresh produce sold by people who know exactly where it came from. Turn back towards the pier side of the market and find Muvakkithane Caddesi, where a sweet shop's name has been famous since the eighteenth century.