chmed Rifaat Effendi, that before the church became a
mosque it was known by the name of its founder, 'Isakias.' For it is a
matter of history that the church of S. Thekla was restored by the
Emperor Isaac Comnenus[338] in the eleventh century. The association of
his name with the building was therefore perfectly natural, if the
building is indeed the old church of S. Thekla, otherwise it is
difficult to account for that association.

There is, however, one objection to this identification that must not be
overlooked. According to Byzantine authorities, the church of S. Thekla
stood in the palace of Blachernae ([Greek: entos ton basileion; en to
palatio ton Blachernon][339]). That palace occupied the heights above
Aivan Serai, on which the quarter of Egri Kapou and the mosque of Aivas
Effendi now stand, within the walls that enclose the western spur of the
Sixth Hill. Toklou Ibrahim Dede Mesjedi, however, does not stand within
that enclosure, but immediately to the north of it, on the level tract
that stretches from the foot of the Sixth Hill to the Golden Horn. If
the reasons in favour of regarding the mosque as S. Thekla were less
strong, this objection would, perhaps, be fatal. But the strip of land
between the northern wall of the palace enclosure and the sea is so
narrow, and was so closely connected with the life of the imperial
residence, that a building on that tract might with pardonable
inaccuracy be described, as 'in the palace.'[340]

The church is mentioned for the first time in the earlier half of the
eighth century as a chapel ([Greek: eukterion]) which Thekla, the eldest
daughter of the Emperor Theophilus, restored and attached to her
residence at Blachernae.[341] The princess was an invalid, and doubtless
retired to this part of the city for the sake of its mild climate. To
dedicate the chapel to her patron saint was only natural. As already
intimated, the church was rebuilt from the foundations, in the eleventh
century, by Isaac Comnenus, in devout gratitude for his escape from
imminent death[342] in the course of his campaign against the barbarous
tribes beside the Danube, when he was overtaken at the foot of the
Lovitz mountain by a furious tempest of rain and snow. The plain on
which his army was encamped soon became a sheet of water, and many of
his men and animals were drowned or frozen to death. Thunder, lightning,
and hurricane combined to produce an awful scene, and there were moments
when the