tic. See Fig.
21.

CHAPTER IV

THE CHURCH OF S. IRENE 118-143

The church of S. Irene stands at a short distance to the north-east of
S. Sophia, in the first court of the Seraglio. Its identity has never
been questioned, for the building was too much in the public eye and too
near the centre of the ecclesiastical affairs of the city to render
possible any mistake concerning its real character. It is always
described as close to S. Sophia.[118] According to the historian
Socrates,[119] it was originally one of the Christian sanctuaries of the
old town of Byzantium, a statement we may well believe, seeing Byzantium
was the seat of a bishop before the foundation of Constantinople. The
designation of the church as 'the Ancient' or 'the Old Church,' Ecclesia
Antiqua, [Greek: he palaia],[120] and the special regard cherished for
the church during the earlier history of the city, are also thus best
explained. The original sanctuary was small,[121] but when Byzantium
became the capital of the East the old fabric was enlarged and
beautified by Constantine the Great to harmonize with its grander
surroundings, and was dedicated to Peace, in honour of the rest and
quiet which settled upon the Roman world when the founder of the city
had vanquished all his rivals after eighteen years of civil war.[122]

[Illustration: PLATE XVI.
_Abdullah Freres._
S. IRENE, FROM THE SOUTH-EAST.
_To face page 84._]

NOTE

Other churches of the same name were found in Constantinople:
S. Irene in the Seventh Region, according to the _Notitia_. S. Irene
in Sykai (Galata), [Greek: peran en Sykais]; Theophanes, p. 353.
S. Irene by the Sea, [Greek: pros thalassan]; Nicetas Choniates,
p. 269; Synax., Jan. 10. The last was also known as the New,
[Greek: Nea]; Synax., Jan. 23. Erected in the reign of the Emperor
Marcian, it was partially restored by the Emperor Manuel Comnenus
after its destruction by fire; Nicet. Chon. _ut supra_. It was styled
likewise 'at the Ferry,' [Greek: to perama]; Codinus, _De aed._ p. 89;
Banduri, ii. p. 31.

Until the year 360, when the church of S. Sophia was opened to public
worship by the Emperor Constantius, S. Irene appears to have been the
cathedral of the city. Hence, probably, the name sometimes given to it,
the Patriarchate, [Greek: to patriarcheion].[123] Nor did the church
lose its primacy altogether even after the erection of S. Sophia. On the
contrary, the two churche