Mikhail M. Yakushev Embassy Churches in Constantinople — Outposts of Russian Spiritual Presence on the Bosphorus (1721–1821)

Abstract
Under the Treaty of Constantinople of 1700, Russia obtained the right to maintain a permanent diplomatic representative in the Ottoman capital. One consequence of this was the establishment of embassy churches, whose rectors were usually “house priests” or “chaplains” of the Russian diplomatic mission. Among Orthodox pilgrims were Andrey Ignatyev, Varlaam (in the world Vasily) Lenitsky, and Anastasius Paussius Kondoidi (Kandidi). The most famous Russian pilgrim of the 18th century to visit Jerusalem was Vasily Grigorievich Grigorovich-Barsky, a native of Kyiv. The first permanent house church of the Russian diplomatic mission on the Bosphorus was the Church of Saints Anthony and Theodosius of the Caves, founded and consecrated in 1721 under Resident I.I. Neplyuyev (1721–1734). Its regular rector was Pyotr (Petr) Zlotkovich. In August 1733, he was replaced by the hieromonk Konstantin Politansky (or Neapolitansky), sent from the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra (served 1733–1736 and 1740–1742), who took the place of the now-blind Zlotkovich. Executed in 1742, he was later canonized by the Orthodox Church of Constantinople. After the embassy residence and the church housed within it, along with all its furnishings, burned down in 1808, all members of the church clergy returned to Russia and services ceased. Under the new Russian envoy Count G.A. Stroganov (1816), in accordance with an imperial decree, a small permanent church of Saints Constantine and Helena Equal-to-the-Apostles was established in 1818. Services were held there in the summer, while in winter members of the embassy attended the Greek Church of the Mother of God of Kaffa. The establishment of a Russian church in Constantinople became one of the first important steps in the development of Russian spiritual presence on the Bosphorus.

Keywords:
Russian church in Constantinople; Russian pilgrimage; Russian spiritual presence; A. Ignatiev; V. Lenitsky; A. Kondoidi; K. Politansky; D. Vozmuylov; Leonty

For citation:
Mikhail M. Yakushev. Embassy Churches in Constantinople — Outposts of Russian Spiritual Presence on the Bosphorus (1721–1821) // The Historical Reporter. 2026. Vol. 57. P. 260–277. DOI:

Mikhail M. Yakushev
Ph.D. in History, Advisor to the Historical and Documentary Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, senior researcher at the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Moscow, Russian Federation.
e-mail: mmyakushev456@gmail.com
SPIN-code: 8178-3806
AuthorID:875714

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