Re: Blachernae Here is some information on Blachernai, mostly from the Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium. Blachernai, near the northern tip of the walls of Theodosios, was the site of major shrine of the Virgin Mary in Constantinople built by the Empress Pulcheria ca. 450. A circular chapel - called the "Soros" - was built by Emperor Leo I [457-474] next to the Church to hold the robe of the Virgin Mary, brought from Palestine in 473. The church was burnt down in 1070: it was rebuilt by 1077 by either Romanos IV Diogenes [1067-71] or Michael VII [1071-87] and then destroyed again 1434. Next to it was a bathhouse (louma) where a spring flowed, which still flows in the modern church on the site. See ODB 1:293; Janin, Eglises CP, 161-71 and the end map entitled "Byzance Constantinople", ref. D2; George P. Majeska, Russian Travelers to Constantinople in the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries, (Washington, D.C.: 1984), 333-337. SOROS: The chapel of the Virgin's robe was covered in silver and considered a "reliquary of architectural dimensions". Lay people were not allowed inside the "Soros" but could pray, it seems, in the main church. See ODB 3:1929. There was a specific icon type - the Virgin Hagiosoritissa - associated with this shrine. See ODB 3:2171 >From the time of the Patriarch Timotheos [511-18] there was a procession - the "panhgur j" - which took place each Friday from Blachernai to the Church of the Chalkoprateia, near Hagia Sophia, at the other end of the city: see Janin, Eglises CP, 177. Hope this Helps Paul Halsall [Submitted by: Paul Halsall <HALSALL@MURRAY.FORDHAM.EDU> Thu, 29 Dec 1994 17:02:43 -0500] Up