According to the tradition, on May 29th 1453, a monk of Baloukli Abbey in Constantinople was frying fish beside the holy water gushing at the foundation of the monastery, when someone informed him that the city was conquered. "Only if the fish jump out of the frying pan and get into the Holy Water shall I believe you", the monk answered. He hadn't finished his word when the half-fried fish jumped into the water. That is how the Zoodohou Pigi's monastery took the name Baloukli, coming from the Turkish word "balik", which means fish.

Ruined several times

The Abbey was built from the materials remained from the building of Hagia Sophia and had the same luck with Constantinople. Two terrible earthquakes decayed it and Symeon the Bulgarian burned it down.

Sultan Murat II erected the tents in the abbey's precinct in 1424, during the ineffectual siege of Constantinople, and then he destroyed it.

The leftovers were taken down during the years after Constantinople's fall, during the reign of sultan Bajezid II and the demolition's materials were used for the erection of a mosque in some other region.

In 1821, in the middle of the Greek revolution, Janissaries got furious against the Abbey. During the anti-Hellenic events of September 1955 the whole complex, the church and the cells, were completely set on fire and destroyed.

That is when the very old monk Chrysanthos Mantas was murdered, while his body was never found. The monastery's abbot, bishop of Pamfilos, Gerasimos, was also abused and cadet Evaggelos was beaten up.

The fanatic crowd ended up in the patriarchal cemetery, which is cited in the Abbey's precinct, destroying the Patriarchs’ graves and scattering their bones all over the place. That night, Mother Baloukliotissa's picture which had been placed in a special shrine was lost.

Nevertheless, lots of believers used to kneel and pray over the ruins every Easter Friday even after the damages. Once again in the next years, the Greeks found the courage to erect the Abbey under the guidance of Patriarch Athenagoras, while in 1955 Ecumenical Patriarch Mr. Bartholomew renovated it.

Compact memories

The monk named Alexander Moraitides, first cousin of the Greek writer Alexander Papadiamantes and notable travel journalist, described Baloukli Abbey 110 years ago in the Greek newspaper named "Acropolis", in the following way:

"Behold the underground temple, filled with people; Constantinople's women wearing tsemperia (traditional headscarfs) and Propontis’ women in garments reaching their feet. Seeing their lower half, someone may think they are men in breeches, while seeing their upper half they are beautiful women. If the traveller comes here on Easter Friday, the day of the Abbey's celebration, he won't even be able to approach the holy water, because of the numerous visitors".

Earlier, the monastery's great income were donated to hospitals and nursing homes, but were also used for the reinforcement of prisoners. Even earlier, before the 1821 revolution, they used to buy slaves as well, in order to immediately liberate them.

Armenians of Constantinople were always interested in conquering the Abbey, so in 1732 they made an underground tunnel and stole the Holy Water, but the sultan gave it back to the Greeks by editing a firman.

The thing that indelibly identifies Baloukli Abbey with the Greeks is its precinct, which is paved with grave plates from Constantinople and Asia Minor's Greek tombs.

In the past many Greeks were obliged to choose between Greek language and Orthodoxy, and they chose their faith. This means that they chose to speak Turkish rather than believing in Islam, a choice that was finally proved salutary for the preservation of their Greek origin.

On the other hand, those who were Islamized keeping their language, even if it was just an excuse, couldn't resist and were absorbed by the Ottomans. Since the Turkish-speaking Greeks didn't possess the complex Turkish writing that was similar to the Arabic, they used to carve the tombstones writing Turkish words with Greek characters.

"Compression of memory, when reciting it, don't cry", Patriarch Athenagoras used to say, when referring to the monastery.

The believers have fallen off

Baloukliotissa, which was previously a destination for excursions in the countryside, today looks like a sand grain among huge built blocks. The Abbey is located in Zeytinburnu of Constantinople, a suburb that barely covers an area of 11 square kilometers and has 300,000 residents.

Large masses of workforce from the depths of Turkey have been gathered in this place, as the local production of leather clothes is huge.

Constantinople moans due to the overpopulation and the Greek residents are getting desperately fewer. The legendary region of Baloukliotissa, which resisted against the continuous threats and disasters, is unfortunately running out of people. The people who visit the church of the Abbey on Sundays can be counted on the fingers.

Fortunately there are Greek visitors coming from every hidden corner of Greece, giving life to the place again.
TEXT-PHOTOS: GEORGE ZAFEIROPOULOS
SOURCE: www.greecewithin.com