The monastery of St. George Koudonas crowns Yüce Tepe, the southernmost of the island’s two hills. A path leads up to the monastery from the meydan at the waist of the island.
According to tradition, the monastery was founded in 963, during the reign of Nicephorus II Phocas (r. 963-9). The earliest reference to it is in the chrysobull of 1158 by Manuel I Comnenus mentioned earlier. The name Koudonas, which in Greek means "of the bells," comes from the story that a shepherd was grazing his flock on this hill when he heard the sound of bells coming from beneath the ground; when he dug down he found an icon of St. George, which he and other locals enshrined on the spot. This story is traditionally dated to the year 1625, and it probably represents the refounding of the monastery rather than a new foundation. Legend aside, the first abbot of record, Isaias, started building the present katholikon in 1752 and completed the main church of the Blachernitissa seven years later, also adding a number of monastic cells. Several additions were made in the following half century by the abbots Anthemios and Arsenios. Meanwhile a number of miracles were attributed to the icon of St. George, which was especially effective in curing mental ailments and in exorcizing those "driven by unclean spirits."
The present complex consists of six separate churches and chapels on three different levels, the older sanctuaries being on the lower levels. On the ground floor are the abbot’s house and the main church of St. George, both built early in the twentieth century. On the southern interior wall of the church is the original icon of Hagios Georgios Koudonas, now clad in silver. On a corner of the icon is a much later inscription, a moving appeal by a young Greek woman, who writes, "Dear St. George, help me go to Athens and study pharmacology."
A flight of steps leads to the first level below. Just beside the steps is a chapel of the Virgin Blachernitissa. Beyond that is another chapel of St. George, where iron rings set into the wall indicate that this was the place where mental patients were confined in the hope that they would be cured by the wonder-working icon of Hagios Georgios Koudonas. The room at the bottom of the stairs is a tiny shrine with an hagiasma, supposedly the place where the sacred icon of St. George was excavated. Beyond that is another chapel, dedicated to the Holy Apostles.
The feast day of St. George is celebrated on 23 April when thousands of pilgrims from around the world—including Muslim Turks and other non-Christians—make their way to the monastery, many of them walking barefoot up the hill to attend the dawn service. After the service many of the pilgrims have lunch at the little outdoor restaurant on the hilltop, celebrating the day that traditionally marks the beginning of spring according to the old calendar. The restaurant serves simple meals and snacks, as well as its own unlabled red wine. The hilltop is embowered in pines, cypresses, and other trees in a setting reminiscent of the Greek isles, particularly when the bells of the monastery are ringing in this ancient shrine.The feast day of St. George is celebrated on 23 April when thousands of pilgrims from around the world—including Muslim Turks and other non-Christians—make their way to the monastery, many of them walking barefoot up the hill to attend the dawn service. After the service many of the pilgrims have lunch at the little outdoor restaurant on the hilltop, celebrating the day that traditionally marks the beginning of spring according to the old calendar. The restaurant serves simple meals and snacks, as well as its own unlabled red wine. The hilltop is embowered in pines, cypresses, and other trees in a setting reminiscent of the Greek isles, particularly when the bells of the monastery are ringing in this ancient shrine.
The view from the summit of Yüce Tepe is superb, encompassing all of the Princes’ Isles and the Asian shore of the Sea of Marmara, a prospect duly praised by Grosvenor, although the villages that he mentions have now all been amalgamated into the urban sprawl of Istanbul:
The view from this peak is the most extensive which Constantinople affords. From the height of six hundred and seventy feet the eye sweeps over the sea and comprehends the eastern shores of the Marmora. Northwest, beyond the island group, the fairy outline of Stamboul and Kadikeui fringes the sky, while the sombre point of Phanaraki advances in the foreground. North and east along the sinuous Asian coast, village presses upon village, each enriching the landscape with the tints of natural beauty or association.
