CONSTANTINOPLE AND SANCTA SOPHIA 



479 



The countless priceless ornaments of gold 

 and silver have disappeared. The deco- 

 rations and ecclesiastical furniture added 

 by the Ottomans are incongruous with 

 and mar the whole architectural design 

 of the edifice. Above all must one re- 

 member that Sancta Sophia is centuries 

 older than the sanctuaries with which it 

 is commonly compared, and that it has 

 been worn by the feet and dimmed by 

 the dust of countless throngs of worship- 

 ers during more than 1,350 years. 



THE PERFECTION OE Tl-IE DOME 



The ethereal dome was and is the un- 

 rivaled masterpiece of Sancta Sophia. 

 Forty-five generations of progressive civ- 

 ilization and endeavor have since passed 

 away, but it has never been surpassed or 

 equaled. 



The relative degree of architectural 

 perfection among domes may be fairly 

 gauged by the following test : Let fall a 

 perpendicular from the summit of the 

 dome to the plane which passes through 

 its base ; make this perpendicular the 

 numerator and make the diameter of the 

 dome the denominator, in the form of a 

 fraction ; all other things being equal, the 

 smaller the fraction the more perfect is 

 the dome. The diameter of the dome of 

 Sancta Sophia is 108 feet; its perpendic- 

 ular, the distance from its apex to its 

 base, is 46 feet ; hence 46/108, or about 

 6/14, will represent its fraction. The 

 diameter of the dome of Saint Peter's is 

 139 feet, but its perpendicular is 190 feet; 

 its fraction, therefore, is 190/139, or 

 about 19/14. The diameter of the dome 

 of the Pantheon, now Santa Maria Ro- 

 tonda, is 143/^ feet, but its perpendicular 

 is the same; hence its fraction is 14/14. 

 So the relative fractions are : Saint Pe- 

 ter's, 19/14; the Pantheon, 14/14; Sancta 

 Sophia's, 6/i-j. 



These details are absolutely necessary 

 to a comprehension of that which consti- 

 tutes the peerless distinction of Sancta 

 Sophia. Those two wider domes, stu- 

 pendous masterpieces as they are, are 

 eclipsed in beauty as well as daring by 

 that sky-mocking vault which Anthemios 

 threw into the air 1,360 years ago. In 

 Saint Peter's at Rome the dome is com- 

 plement of the building and not its major 

 design. There the dome exists for the 



sake of the building and not the building 

 for the dome. In Sancta Sophia this is 

 all reversed. Here the dome is the end, 

 and the structure on which it rests is but 

 the means to uphold it and lift it near the 

 sky. 



The historical importance of Sancta 

 Sophia is almost boundless. No other 

 church in a,ny land, no other structure 

 reared in any age by human genius, has 

 held so large a place in a nation's life. 

 "In its name is centered the entire dura- 

 tion of Byzantine history." The Cathe- 

 dral of Rheims, Notre Dame, Westmin- 

 ster Abbey, Saint Peter's, the Parthenon, 

 tenanted and crowded as they are by 

 thrilling associations, evoke not so count- 

 less memories. This is the official sanc- 

 tuary of an empire wherein church and 

 state were one and which through more 

 than 1,100 years was the heir and equal 

 of Rome. 



Russia's debt to sancta sophia 



There, beside the Ephesian column, 

 stood, in 987, the pagan envoys of the 

 Russian Vladimir, who had been sent 

 over the world "in search of the true re- 

 ligion." The resplendent majesty of the, 

 temple, the venerable files of priests in 

 gorgeous sacerdotal robes, the celestial 

 chanting of the choir, the mounting 

 clouds of incense, the reverent hush of 

 bending thousands — all the mystery of an 

 unknown and sense-subduing ritual bore 

 captive the untutored minds of those rus- 

 tic children of the North. As their his- 

 torian Karamsin declares : "This temple 

 seemed to them the abode of Almighty 

 God himself, where he manifested his 

 glory direct to mortal eyes." 



So the envoys went back to their Sla- 

 Aonian prince and told their story in the 

 following words : "We knew not if we 

 were not already in heaven. Verily, on 

 earth one could never find such riches 

 and such magnificence. We can only be- 

 lieve that one was surely in the presence 

 of God, and that the worship of all other 

 countries is thereby far surpassed." 

 Adadimir accepted the narration and the 

 faith of his envoys. He was baptized as 

 the spiritual son of the emperors Basil 

 II and Constantine IX, and was soon 

 close bound to them by bonds of mar- 



