The Seventh Hill - Strolling Through Istanbul: The Classic Guide to the City - page 339

we walk along we soon pass on our left the courtyard wall of a very
venerable Greek church, St. George of the Cypresses. This church
was originally founded in the ninth century and has remained in the
hands of the Greeks ever since. The present building, however, dates
only from 1830.
MARTYRIUM OF SS. KARPOS AND PAPYLOS
A little farther along the avenue on the right side we see on the
height above the tall tower of the modern Greek church of St.
Menas. The church itself is of no interest, but beneath it, though
in no way structurally connected with it, are some very important
and ancient substructures. They are entered from Samatya Caddesi
and are presently used as a workshop. These substructures, discovered
only in 1935, have been identified as the crypt of the Martryium of
SS. Karpos and Papylos, who perished in the Decian persecutions in
250-1. The crypt is a large circular domed chamber which reminds
one of the beehive tombs at Mycenae, only constructed not of stone
but of brick, in the excellent technique of the fourth or fifth century
A.D. At the east is a deep apse, while completely round the chamber
runs a vaulted passage, also of brick. (This passage can be entered
through a door in the teahouse just beyond the workshop.) Since this
appears to be one of the oldest surviving places of Christian worship
in the city and since it is unique in form, it is much to be hoped that
it will be rescued from its base uses, and thoroughly investigated and
restored.
Some 500 metres farther along the avenue we see on the left a
modern Greek church, that of SS. Constantine and Helena. This
church has only very recently been rebuilt, but its foundation goes
back at least as far as 1563, the date of the earliest recorded reference
to it.
CHURCH OF ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST OF STUDIUS
We turn left at the second street beyond SS. Constantine and Helen
and come to the walled courtyard of a very ancient and interesting
Byzantine church. This is the church of St. John the Baptist of Studius,
known in Turkish as Imrahor Camii. It was founded by a Roman