Istanbul is Constantinople by Chris White

Hagia Sophia Today

When Constantine became the emperor of the Roman Empire he made the momentous decision to move the capitol from Rome to the east where Europe and Asia Minor meet near the Black Sea in a small fishing village known as Byzantium.  Constantine quite modestly renamed the city after himself (Constantinople) and set about to utterly transform it into a grand, fortified city which he did within a few years.  Constantine was a military general and knew that the Roman empire’s greatest enemies lie in the east and so part of this decision was motivated by military strategy but the other part of this decision lay in Constantine’s spiritual commitments.

 Rome had been the physical and spiritual capitol of the Republic and later the Empire for 1000 years by then.  Constantine respected it for what it was, but he felt it was greatly contaminated by centuries of idolatry.  In his new city, only Christ would be honored and it would be free of pagan sacrifices.  Constantinople, flush with the wealth of government patronage became  a center of art, architecture, trade and commerce, but mostly for Christianity.  Constantine built a very famous church there called the Church of the Holy Apostles.  In this grand basilica he prepared tombs for the twelve apostles hoping to have their graves found and their bones brought there.  Unfortunately, he never got very far down the list.  The bones of Andrew, St. Luke, and Timothy were entombed there but that was about it.  Constantine was buried there as the 13^th apostle (sort’ve implied here) but the church was not to stand the test of time.  Later a descendant of Constantine, Justinian I built the Church of Holy Wisdom (Hagia Sophia) and this became the grandest and greatest church in Christendom with the largest dome in the world.  It was the inspiration for the dome on St. Peter’s and the Washington D.C. capitol.  Despite centuries of earthquakes and wars and conquests, Hagia Sophia stands today in all her glory.  She is a museum today because Turkey is a Muslim country, but if the walls could talk they would give witness to some of the greatest preachers and beautiful church services in the world. 

A city awash in gold and opulence, Constantinople was very, very sophisticated compared to the west.  During the peak years of the Crusades, the armies of Europe would pass through and were stunned at the sight.  No one in Western Europe lived in this degree of sophistication.

Constantinople was also an impregnable fortress because of its location and incredible walls.  When it fell in 1453 to the Muslims, it was largely because they were exhausted militarily and were no longer a match technologically to the implements of war.  When the city was conquered, a flood of scholars and theologians made their way to Europe with ancient manuscripts of the Bible in Greek.  These were read and studied with great interest all over Europe.  With the renewal of interest in ancient Greco-Roman culture and Christianity the Renaissance and later the Protestant reformations were touched off within 50 years, and thus the effects of the fall of Constantinople, touch our lives today as Protestant Christians who study the Bible today.

           

  An interesting irony: Rome was founded by Romulus.  When it fell in 476 the emperor’s name was Augustus Romulus.  Constantinople was founded by Constantine the Great.  When it fell, it    was ruled by Constantine the XI.  The lesson for us in this is to never elect a president with a name like George Washington in his name.  That would be tempting fate.

Today Constantinople is called Istanbul.  There are a few theories for the origins of this name but the one that suits my fancy is that Istanbul was the best the Arabic speaking Muslims could do with the word Constantinople.  As one drives through the city today, you see a plethora of Mosques that all look like the Hagia Sophia; even in conquest, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.