1. Construction of the temple and Donor

The church of Theodore Gabras in Trebizond was built, according to his missal,¹ in honour of the saint who was martyred by the Seljuks on the 2^nd of October 1098 in Theodosioupolis (Erzerum). The church was a donation by Constantine Gabras, Theodore’s nephew, who, like his uncle, was a strategos from 1118 until 1143 in the Theme of Chaldia, whose capital was Trebizond.² It was built on the east of the city, in the quarter of St. Basil and near the church of St. Anne.³The Gabras family, a well-known lineage of officials in Trebizond that governed the city for a long time, had at times largely financed ecclesiastic monuments of the area.⁴

The church of St. Theodore was destroyed due to unknown reasons little before or during the Empire of the Grand Komnenoi of Trebizond (second half of the 12^th c. – first half of the 14^th c.). The gynaikonites in the northern part of the church seems to have been the only part preserved until the early 20^th century. No other information about the 12^th century building is known.

2. The Monastery in the Age of the Grand Komnenoi

A chrysobull⁵ issued by Alexios III Grand Komnenos of Trebizond (1349-1390) in 1364, concerning privileges granted by the Emperor to the Venetian merchants of the city, mentions a monastery dedicated to St. Theodore Gabras. This is not confirmed by the saint’s missal, which mentions only the original church of Constantine Gabras.⁶ Among others, the chrysobull of Alexios ratified the allocation of land to the Venetians, in an area spreading from the monastery of St. Theodore Gabras to the sea, on the eastern outskirts of the city.⁷ As a result, it is likely that the first building of the monastic complex, dedicated to Gabras and established by the mid-14^th century, when the chrysobull was issued, was the original 12^th century church. The establishment of a monastic community around the original church certainly shows that the cult of the local saint started to spread in the 13^th and the 14^th century and that the saint had become an important figure in the local religious tradition, his importance being not irrelevant to the social status of the Gabras family.

Another small double-apse church seems to have been built on the remains of the 12^th century building during the last years of the Empire of the Grand Komnenoi, incorporating the preserved northern part of the original 12^th century church (gynaikonites). The building certainly belonged to the monastic complex of St. Theodore Gabras, although it may not be identified with the katholikon of the monastery, because of its small dimensions and the fact that the documents of the time make no mention of the typology of the katholikon.

In that double-apse building, the left niche of the bema was dedicated to St. Theodore Gabras, while the right niche was dedicated to St. Demetrios.⁸ The dedication to St. Demetrios may be inferred by the fact that during the liturgies of St. Theodore and St. Demetrios almost the same typika, Acts of Apostles and Gospel excerpts are read.

3. The Period of the Ottoman domination

3.1 General about the period

The monastery of St. Theodore Gabras remained Orthodox but it was devastated in the course of time. The former gynaikonites was the only part of the complex preserved in a fairly good condition until the early 20^th century, when the area was turned into a cemetery. The available information about the morphology and the decoration of the gynaikonites comes from J. Meliopoulos, who thoroughly studied and published papers about the remains of the monastic complex as it was preserved until the early 20^th century (1930). The complex seems to have been completely ruined since then, as there are no traces of medieval buildings in the area.⁹

3.2 Painting Decoration

According to information, the internal dimensions of the gynaikonites must have been 3.48 m in length and 3.37 m in width.¹⁰ On the western side of that space, which must have been fully decorated with wall-paintings, a fragment depicting the Last Judgement was preserved until the early 20^th century. The painting covered the entire western wall of the gynaikonites as well as a part of the southern wall, over the door through which the gynaikonites communicated with the rest of the church. It should be noted¹¹ that the painting depicted Jesus Christ at the centre, enthroned and encircled by a colourful, round mandorla (doxa). He was flanked by the full-length portraits of the Virgin Mary and St. John Prodromos to the right and left of Him respectively, praying in intercession. It is the well-known iconographical type of Deesis. Flames were painted beneath the figure of Christ. A little lower there were six Apostles to the right of the Deesis and six to the left, sitting on thrones and holding codices in their hands. The Apostles’ thrones were depicted in rows, under apses, while behind them were groups of saints, prophets and martyrs. The depiction of the wealthy man from the parable of Lazarus was preserved until the early 20^th century to the left of Christ. We should assume that this scene was followed by other scenes with the damned, since such scenes were part of the typical icononographic representation of the Last Judgement, adopted by the Byzantine art already from the 11^th century.¹²

It is also reported that the banner of Constantine Gabras was painted on one of the walls on the gynaikonites.¹³ It was a tricolour banner (brown, white and azure), with a crown at the centre, a single-headed eagle (the emblem of the Trebizond rulers) in the bottom left corner and the full-length facing portrait of St. Eugenios, on bishop’s attire, in the bottom right corner. The gynaikonites had three more doors to the east, west and south. Jesus Christ with tied hands and inclined head in front of the Cross was depicted above the western door. It is the iconographic type of the Man of Sorrows (Akra Tapeinosis).

Although these wall-paintings may date back to the 12^th century, when the construction of the gynaikonites started, it is more than likely that they were made during the last years of the Empire of the Grand Komnenoi, when the gynaikonites was incorporated in the later double-apse church and was probably restored.