The Evangelistria church at the foot of Tatavla, in Istanbul’s Dolapdere district. Photo: Ένωση Ορθοδόξων Δημοσιογράφων (Union of Orthodox Journalists) via Threads

Six Greek Families Keep Istanbul’s Evangelistria of Tatavla Alive

by · Greek City Times

Only a handful of Greek families are left around the Church of the Annunciation, the Evangelistria, at the foot of Tatavla in Istanbul’s Dolapdere district. Yet two years after the church was restored, its bell still rings every Sunday, the Athens-Macedonian News Agency (AMNA) reports.

The 132-year-old church was reopened by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew on 27 October 2024, after a full restoration paid for by shipowner Athanasios Martinos and his wife Marina, Orthodox Times reported at the time. For the few Greeks who still live in the area, AMNA’s Maria Zacharaki writes, the bigger challenge now is not saving the building but keeping the community around it alive.

“Five or six families”

Alexandros Meidan, president of the Evangelistria Community, belongs to one of the families still living in the neighbourhood, where a large Greek community once lived.

“About five or six families are left in the Evangelistria area. My own family, for example, has been at the same address for five generations. We are one of the oldest families in the area,” he told AMNA.

Read more: Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew Celebrates 35 Years of Priesthood in Constantinople

Father Philotheos Kelepouris, from Veria in northern Greece, has served at the Evangelistria for 12 years. A father of five, he came to Istanbul with his family in 2014. He told AMNA that visitors at the services give the parish real encouragement.

A priest talks with a visitor, in a photo from the Union of Orthodox Journalists’ Threads post on the Evangelistria of Tatavla. Photo: Ένωση Ορθοδόξων Δημοσιογράφων (Union of Orthodox Journalists) via Threads

“It is a moment of joy, a moment of encouragement and comfort. Encouragement and comfort so that we can all carry on our life here together, in this city,” he said, “so that each of us, through our own efforts, can keep leaving our mark, the mark of the Greek community, in a huge metropolis of more than 20 million people.”

Alongside the few local Greeks, the services now often draw visitors from Greece, Romanians and other Orthodox Christians, and even Ethiopian Christians.

A church built by its neighbourhood

The foundations were laid in 1876 on the site of a smaller wooden church, and the Evangelistria was consecrated in November 1894 by Patriarch Neophytos VIII. It was built with the money and the labour of the people of Tatavla, most of them working people.

“The church you see was literally built with the blood and sweat of the people of this area. After finishing their day’s work, people would come in the afternoon and each offer whatever they could,” Fr Philotheos told AMNA. The architect, Petrakis Meimaridis, who came from Tatavla, drew up the plans without payment.

The church is known for its five domes and two bell towers, and it was one of the last churches allowed to be built with a dome during the Ottoman Tanzimat reforms. It has two women’s galleries, built for large congregations; older parishioners recall waiting up to two and a half hours on the eve of the Annunciation to venerate the icon of the Virgin.

The restoration began in June 2022 and was finished in September 2024, Eleftheros Typos reported. Damp had rusted the metal clamps holding the stone cladding and destroyed much of the painted decoration, according to the Athanasios and Marina Martinos Foundation.

Next: the old Greek school

The community has now turned to the old Greek school, the large building opposite the church that was opened in the time of Patriarch Athenagoras. The plan is to renovate it as a cultural and educational centre, where children of the community could take lessons in Greek, foreign languages and music.

“We hope a sponsor, a benefactor, will be found to take on its renovation,” Fr Philotheos told AMNA. “Our community does not have great financial means. That makes our efforts difficult. With few means, we try to do a lot.”

At the reopening in 2024, Patriarch Bartholomew said that “nothing great and noble has ever been achieved without love and without sacrifice”, adding that the fewer the Greeks of the City become, the more love and sacrifice are needed to keep what they have inherited.

The AMNA report was also carried by Neos Kosmos and Dimokratia, and shared on Threads by the Union of Orthodox Journalists (ΕΟΔ):

View this post by @enosi_orthodoxon_dimosiografon on Threads

READ MORE: Istanbul Pogrom Remembered on 71st Anniversary

READ MORE: Turkey Approves Relocation of Historic Phanar Greek School

Featured image: the Evangelistria church at the foot of Tatavla, Istanbul. Photos: Ένωση Ορθοδόξων Δημοσιογράφων (Union of Orthodox Journalists) via Threads.

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