Eğrikapı, formerly known as Charsia, is a neighborhood and former parish gathered around the I. Church of the Dormition of the Virgin (I.Naós Koimíseos tis Theotókou, Ι.Ναός Κοιμήσεως της Θεοτόκου). It borders the land walls on the historic peninsula of Constantinople—present-day Istanbul—and is situated between Ayvansaray and Tekfursaray.
Eğrikapı is also the name for the gate on the land walls that corresponds to the area––not coincidentally, the word translates to “crooked gate.” The Greek name of Charsia is also thought to be a derivative of “εγκάρσια,” translating to “skewed, oblique” like the modern Turkish name. In his writings, Armenian traveler Eremya Çelebi Kömürciyan calls it “Harsia”—meaning “transversal”—linking the name to the asymmetrical construction yet again. Another theory proposes that the gate’s Turkish name is derived from the bent road in front of it.
The Greek Orthodox parish has not survived to this day, and the neighborhood has not been officially named in the modern municipal map of Istanbul. However, “Eğrikapı” is used when referring to the district adjacent to Ayvansaray proper, where remains of the land walls and the gate still stand tall. We find further references to Eğrikapı as an active center for the Greek Orthodox community before and during the nineteenth century. For instance, Greek scholar Skarlatos Byzantios writes, referring to his past, “A detail that has perhaps escaped all authors to this day is that the Patriarch also used Eğrikapu as a correctional institution for libertines and rakes.” with reference to the parish church as a correctional institution and an asylum for the insane. He adds, “The enormous sexton of Eğrikapu, his heavy chains clinging around his waist, would be summoned to carry away the most notorious rowers or innkeepers from the middle of the street, claiming that they were insane, as the latter struggled and cried in vain.”
Church of Panagia Souda
The Church of Panagia (Virgin Mary) of Souda was the center of the district with the exact date of its construction remaining uncertain. According to Akyllas Millas, there is a possibility that the church had been built on the site of an older church dedicated to Hagios Nikitas, which existed as early as the twelfth century. The presence of the Hagios Nikitas holy spring in the garden of the church strengthens Millas' argument.
Athanasios Papadopoulos-Kerameus wrote in 1904 that the church existed in the ninth century, showing as evidence an account by chronicler and monk Theophanes. The account is believed to state that Byzantine emperor Nikephoros I locked up a person who wanted to kill him in the church in 810. Later records suggest that the church was already built by the late-sixteenth century. It is known that in 1640 and in the 1720s, the building suffered from two fires that were destructive to the point that reconstruction was necessary. Therefore, a decree from 1727 authorizes repairs, noting the church "had not been reconstructed in the last 90 years."
Hagios Kyriakos Greek Orthodox Cemetery
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