Church History
The Panagia Paramythia church was built around 1578. The original structure was a rectangle stone basilica covered with plaster with a round arch projecting towards the eastern side. It had a gabled terracotta roof, marble slab floors. and one window. The narthex and iconostasis were wooden. Later additions expanded the structure to include three aisles with niches, each one having an arched window. The western wall of the southern entrance was integrated into the western façade of the church. There were 3 adjacent buildings within the complex.
Unfortunately, the Panagia Paramythia was damaged or destroyed by fire and rebuilt in 1640 and 1729. It was finally destroyed by fire in 1974, and the iron bell tower, built in 1833, was pilfered for scrap metal.
In 1587, when Mirad III confiscated the Patriarchal site of Pammakaristos Church and converted it to Fethiye Mosque, the Vlach princes in the Phanar offered their church, Panagia Paramythia, to the Patriarchate. It remained the site of the Patriarchate for 11 years (1587-1597) before the seat was moved briefly to St Demetrius , then to its present location, at the Cathedral of St. George.
Significant Historical Events at the Panagia Paramythia
Although, Panagia Paramythia was the Patriarchal site for a short time, several important and enduring historical and geopolitical decisions were made during the Great and Holy Synod of 1593 held here.
The Patriarchs granted autocephaly (independence) to the Russian Orthodox Church elevating Metropolitan Job of Moscow to Patriarch of Moscow And All of Russia, making the Patriarchate in Moscow the fifth patriarchate. This enhanced the integration of the Slavic peoples into the spiritual, social and artistic world of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. Today, the Russian Orthodox is the largest Orthodox Church in the world.
In the 1580s, Pope Gregory XIII sent three separate emissaries to the Patriarch of Constantinople requesting that the Orthodox Church adopt his “new” Gregorian calendar. The Synod of 1593 held here formally rejected the Gregorian calendar on grounds that the First Ecumenical Council of Nicaea in 325 specified the use of the Julian calendar for determining the date of Easter as the first Sunday following the first full moon after the vernal equinox. For this reason, the calendars of the Eastern and Western Christian churches for celebrating Easter are not aligned.
Historical Articles
Read more about the extensive history, events, and significance of the religious site of Panagia Paramythia.
