Worship under the Phanar
Before St Stephen’s Church of the Bulgars came into existence, the roots of the Church were embedded in its congregation, who were forced to worship ‘at the Phanar (Fener) Greek Orthodox Patriarch until the 19th Century’[1]. The period was marked by a growing tension, since those belonging and empathising with the Phanar Orthodox Patriarchate had held influence in Istanbul since the 17th Century. The Phanar established ‘the first among all the patriarchs of the Eastern-Orthodox Churches’[2] which creates the impression that it held much significance in Istanbul at the time.
As a lieu de memoire, the Golden Horn, where many of the Phanar Orthodox Patriarchate existed, would soon be home to St Stephen’s Church of the Bulgars. The existence of the Phanar Orthodoxy beforehand represents then the marked existence of an Orthodoxy that was able to conglomerate many other believers into its own belief system, and impose its religious observances on the population that existed there. It can be noted that the Bulgarians, in particular, that lived in the Golden Horn area, were expected to practice under the Phanar and were thus inhibited from expressing their own religious beliefs.
Viewing the site of the Golden Horn as the earliest lieu de memoire for St Stephen’s Church of the Bulgars, we can then ascertain that the earliest foundations were those of unsatisfaction with the system, since the Bulgarians inhabiting the area were forced to comply and were not willingly abiding by the Phanar. We see that this was a non-event, as Nora describes, since this dissatisfaction arose out of the rise of the Phanar as opposed to a singular event that caused tension. The general sentiment of resentment can be taken as a key feature of St Stephen’s Church of the Bulgar’s existence as a lieu de memoire here.