He came to Rome during the reign of Emperor Nero and was beheaded because of his testimony for Jesus.On the northwest pendentive of the dome, Saint Peter the Apostle is standing next to Jesus, who is healing two blind men sitting under trees.On the northern side of the bema arch is the scene where Jesus resurrects the dead son of a widow from Nain. And Virgin Mary can be seen on the left side between two angels.The judgment scene on the domical vault on the east side of the parecclesion forms the center of the Last Judgment composition that covers the upper walls and the vault covering. Here, the scene of him travelling to Bethlehem for a census is observed. Saints in military uniform have short tunics under their armors and some of them carry lances and shields. On the lunette on the south wall of this section, Joseph, who saw in his dream that Herod was going to harm Jesus, takes the holy family to Egypt.On the panel located to the right side of the doorway to the naos, the standing Saint Paul the Apostle from Tarsus is depicted in frontal form. Jesus holds the wrist of the girl, who is lying dead in her bed in the house of Jarius, and resurrects her. Only a part of the festival at the wedding is visible.
In the land, the dead are coming out of their graves, and in the sea, fishes are expelling human organs from their mouths. During their return from Bethlehem, where they had been for the census, since there was no room for them in the inn and since Mary was suffering childbirth pains, she was obliged to give birth to her baby in a cave. In a similar case last November, a Turkish court ruled that an Ataturk-era decree making the nearby Chora church a museum was unlawful. While, on the northeastern side of the vault, Jesus is seen healing another paralytic.The mosaic depiction on the west side of the arch is partially destroyed. The sticks of Mary’s 12 suitors, who were also the descendants of David, were left at the temple, and she would marry with the one whose stick blossoms.Entrance into the building is through the door located on the West side of the South facade. The tombs in the arcosollium were removed.
The Chora Church was originally built as part of a monastery complex outside the walls of Constantinople, to the south of the Golden Horn. Chora Museum is one of the oldest churches in the Christian world. The stories from the Old Testament have been interpreted as an expression, a forerunner of the arrival of Mary and Jesus.Below the arch in the northern section, Anne and Joachim are illustrated as being joyful and embracing each other upon Anne informing Joachim about the annunciation of their child.On the arch of the western wall in the central part of the northern section, Priest Zachariah and Mary are depicted standing before a four-columned ciborium. The priest on the right side is depicted while giving a skein of purple wool to Mary for the weaving of a curtain for the temple. The Chora Museum, located in Edirnekapi, is one of the original structures of East Roman art with its architecture, mosaics and frescoes. On the lower left corner of the scene, Joseph has thoughtfully fallen asleep after recognizing that Virgin Mary is pregnant. His name is inscribed on both sides of his head.Most of the mosaics on the east vault of the northern wing of the outer narthex have not survived. Before the throne are Adam and Eve in a kneeling position. Above the sarcophagus lid level are the fresco paintings of the people who have been buried here.In the scene on the northeast pendentive of the dome, Jesus is healing St. Peter’s mother-in-law, who is lying on a bed.On the walls of the parecclesion below cornices are full-length figures of martyrs. On the northwest pendentive, the poet and hymn writer of the 9th century, St Theophanes, was a monk at Chora and was also buried here.Above the external side of the entrance door of the main room is a scene where Theodore Metochites, who had completed the construction of the church and decorated its interior with mosaics and frescoes, presents the model of the church to Jesus, who is sitting on a throne.The niche wall of the southeast arcosolium and the frescoes inside the arch as well as the four arcosolia sarcophagi of the parecclesion have not survived.