TAKEN FROM THE
AQUEDUCT OF VALENS.
(2) S. MARY DIACONISSA. THE NORTH ARM, LOOKING EAST.
_To face page 182._]

The identity of the church is a matter of pure conjecture, for we have
no tradition or documentary evidence on that point. Paspates[296]
suggests that it may have been the sanctuary connected either with the
'monastery of Valens and Daudatus,' or with the 'monastery near the
aqueduct,' establishments in existence before the age of Justinian the
Great.[297] It cannot be the former, because the monastery of Valens and
Daudatus, which was dedicated to S. John the Baptist, stood near the
church of the Holy Apostles close to the western end of the aqueduct of
Valens. It might, so far as the indication 'near the aqueduct' gives any
clue, be the sanctuary of the latter House, in which case the church was
dedicated to S. Anastasius.[298] But the architectural features of
Kalender Haneh Jamissi do not belong to the period before Justinian.
Mordtmann[299] identifies the building with the church of the Theotokos
in the district of the Deaconess ([Greek: naos tes theotokou ta
Diakonisses]), and in favour of this view there is the fact that the
site of the mosque corresponds, speaking broadly, to the position which
that church is known to have occupied somewhere between the forum of
Taurus (now represented by the Turkish War Office) and the Philadelphium
(the area about the mosque of Shahzade), and not far off the street
leading to the Holy Apostles. Furthermore, the rich and beautiful
decoration of the church implies its importance, so that it may very
well be the church of the Theotokos Diaconissa, at which imperial
processions from the Great Palace to the Holy Apostles stopped to allow
the emperor to place a lighted taper upon the altar of the shrine.[300]

Theophanes,[301] the earliest writer to mention the church of the
Diaconissa, ascribes its foundation to the Patriarch Kyriakos (593-605)
in the fourth year of his patriarchate, during the reign of the Emperor
Maurice. According to the historical evidence at our command, that
church was therefore erected towards the close of the sixth century. Dr.
Freshfield,[302] however, judging by the form of the church and the
character of the dome, thinks that Kalender Haneh Jamissi is 'not
earlier than the eighth century, and not later than the tenth.'
Lethaby[303] places it in the period between Justinian the Great and the
eleventh century. 'The church, now the Kalender