By Vasilisa Phillips-Pohil
The ancient city of Colossae is probably known to every Orthodox Christian in one way or another. It was here, on the territory of modern Turkey, that an unprecedented miracle occurred.
In this city, to whose residents the Apostle Paul once wrote, there was a church in the name of Archangel Michael, built by a local resident in gratitude to the Archangel for healing his daughter at a healing spring that flowed nearby. A pious man, Archippus, served as a sexton at this church for 60 years. With his righteous life, he converted many to Christianity.
At that time, Christianity was not yet officially recognized, and many pagans were irritated by the fact that people flocked to the Venerable Archippus and converted to faith in Christ. Then the "wicked people," as Saint Dimitri of Rostov tells us, decided to destroy the temple: they united two mountain rivers into one channel and directed their flow towards the church. The Venerable One refused to leave the holy place and began to pray to the Archangel Michael to save the temple from destruction. And then a miracle happened. The Archangel Michael appeared in front of the church, stopped the flow of water with the sign of the cross, and then cut it in two with a blow of his staff on a stone. All the water flowed into the resulting hole. From then on, the city received a new name - Chonae, which means "fissure" or "hole."
This miracle became known far beyond the city. The Orthodox Church remembers this event on September 6th, and in honor of the feast in 1365, the famous Chudov Monastery was built in the Kremlin - it was here that the future Tsars were baptized. However, few people know anything about the veneration of the city of Chonae today. Is it known where exactly this place is? And has the temple survived, or even the hole where the water flowed? Archpriest Pavel Nedosekin, rector of the Patriarchal Metochion - the Church of the Life-Giving Trinity in Brussels, answered these questions for us.
Father Pavel himself found the ruins of the city of Chonae completely by accident, "miraculously." He had been searching for a long time for the place where the miracle of Archangel Michael had occurred.
"At first I asked about it," the priest says. "When I was on Athos, I asked the monks. I said, 'Has anyone been there?' The monks said, 'You know, there's nothing there. We searched everywhere, questioned everyone.'"
"At first I asked about it," the priest says. "When I was on Athos, I asked the monks. I said, 'Has anyone been there?' The monks said, 'You know, there's nothing there. We searched everywhere, questioned everyone.'"
One day, Father Pavel went into a store and bought an ordinary Michelin map of Turkey.
"I found that in the entire territory of this large country, only one church was marked. I looked - there was a cross. I could not understand what kind of temple it was! I know that there is a Patriarchate in Istanbul, there are some parishes in Myra Lycia (Antalya). And suddenly, unexpectedly, it was marked on the map - Colossae. I began to look, study, and it turned out to be the town of Chonae."
Father Pavel was traveling in Turkey at the time. One day, his group was offered to watch a dervish dance that was supposed to last half a day. Instead, the priest decided to take a taxi and go to Chonae. He found a local Turk who drove him to the temple in a broken-down Zhiguli. As it turned out, there was not only a temple at the site, but even a guard who was paid a salary from the state treasury for guarding the place.
"I found that in the entire territory of this large country, only one church was marked. I looked - there was a cross. I could not understand what kind of temple it was! I know that there is a Patriarchate in Istanbul, there are some parishes in Myra Lycia (Antalya). And suddenly, unexpectedly, it was marked on the map - Colossae. I began to look, study, and it turned out to be the town of Chonae."
Father Pavel was traveling in Turkey at the time. One day, his group was offered to watch a dervish dance that was supposed to last half a day. Instead, the priest decided to take a taxi and go to Chonae. He found a local Turk who drove him to the temple in a broken-down Zhiguli. As it turned out, there was not only a temple at the site, but even a guard who was paid a salary from the state treasury for guarding the place.
The most interesting thing was that the surroundings immediately reminded the priest of the place described in the story of Archangel Michael and Saint Archippus.
"It really is like the miracle described. There are two riverbeds: on the right and on the left – we were standing on a peninsula. However, there is no water in the riverbeds. And on the left, cave hills begin – this is a local natural feature, there are caves everywhere. Saint Archippus could have lived in one of these caves."
As Father Pavel learned, the temple was built in the 4th century and was last restored in the 19th century by a magnate benefactor. The church itself is made of large stone blocks. Inside, there is a carved gilded iconostasis, but no icons. The walls are shabby. There are traces of large, thick stone columns on the floor. There is a small extension at the back – a choir. On the right side is a fresco of the Archangel Michael.
"It really is like the miracle described. There are two riverbeds: on the right and on the left – we were standing on a peninsula. However, there is no water in the riverbeds. And on the left, cave hills begin – this is a local natural feature, there are caves everywhere. Saint Archippus could have lived in one of these caves."
As Father Pavel learned, the temple was built in the 4th century and was last restored in the 19th century by a magnate benefactor. The church itself is made of large stone blocks. Inside, there is a carved gilded iconostasis, but no icons. The walls are shabby. There are traces of large, thick stone columns on the floor. There is a small extension at the back – a choir. On the right side is a fresco of the Archangel Michael.
And most importantly: at the entrance to the altar lies a white marble slab - a solea, about 90 centimeters wide and 90 centimeters long.
"I took it, moved it - I saw, there is some kind of crack. This could be the place where the Archangel appeared, struck the stone, and a deep crack appeared. That is, everything indicates that this, indeed, could be that temple."
As Father Pavel explained, on the outer wall of the church there was a memorial plaque from 1833, on which an inscription in large letters in Turkish was written. It stated that this church in honor of Archangel Michael was built in 327 by Saint Helen. But how could it have been erected by Saint Helen, if the church described in the miracle was built by a local resident, and the miracle occurred before the official adoption of Christianity, in which Queen Helen was involved?
Father Pavel suggests that, most likely, the church was completed later, when the great miracle became known. The city of Colossae stood right on the land route to Jerusalem. Apparently, Queen Helen, who erected similar churches throughout the Empire in 326-327, ordered the church to be built here. Thus, after the reconstruction of the church, the stone with the hole, which had previously been outside the church, now ended up right at the royal gates.
"I took it, moved it - I saw, there is some kind of crack. This could be the place where the Archangel appeared, struck the stone, and a deep crack appeared. That is, everything indicates that this, indeed, could be that temple."
As Father Pavel explained, on the outer wall of the church there was a memorial plaque from 1833, on which an inscription in large letters in Turkish was written. It stated that this church in honor of Archangel Michael was built in 327 by Saint Helen. But how could it have been erected by Saint Helen, if the church described in the miracle was built by a local resident, and the miracle occurred before the official adoption of Christianity, in which Queen Helen was involved?
Father Pavel suggests that, most likely, the church was completed later, when the great miracle became known. The city of Colossae stood right on the land route to Jerusalem. Apparently, Queen Helen, who erected similar churches throughout the Empire in 326-327, ordered the church to be built here. Thus, after the reconstruction of the church, the stone with the hole, which had previously been outside the church, now ended up right at the royal gates.
The plaque also read: "The third repair has now been completed by permission of Sultan Mahmud." Mahmud II, according to the inscription, issued a "god-pleasing decree" to the eastern patron, Elias, who was the last caretaker and trustee of the temple.
Moreover, the plaque contains words instructing Muslim women to pray to "Mihail Arhan" (as the Archangel Michael is called in Turkey) for childbearing.
Moreover, the plaque contains words instructing Muslim women to pray to "Mihail Arhan" (as the Archangel Michael is called in Turkey) for childbearing.
Archpriest Pavel visited the Church of Archangel Michael back in the 1990s. However, this church, which the Turks call the Church of Saint Helen, has now been restored. By 2009, the building was in such a deplorable state that it was even under threat of demolition. In addition, as was reported then, the amount of precipitation exceeded seasonal norms, which could also be dangerous for the church. Therefore, it was decided to begin restoration. Now the Church of Archangel Michael has acquired its former majestic appearance: the frescoes in the front part of the church have been restored, and icons have been inserted into the iconostasis, although not everywhere.
And although the temple is still inactive, it nevertheless remains a memory of an extraordinary miracle – the miracle of Archangel Michael in Chonae.
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
And although the temple is still inactive, it nevertheless remains a memory of an extraordinary miracle – the miracle of Archangel Michael in Chonae.
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
