The Reverend Dr. John Luke and the Churches of Chonai

The church of St. Michael at Chonai in south-west Turkey was one of the most famous pilgrimage centres through the entire Byzantine period. In the twelfth century Chonai was a vibrant urban centre able to sustain a huge multitude of travelers, merchants, and pilgrims. There had been a rapid recovery from the vicissitudes of Turkish ambitions that had beset the city and its central symbolic focus in its recent history. The magnificent church of St. Michael the Archangel and the salvific reputation of its icon and nearby holy waters annually welcomed an immense panegyris--long established as the 6th September. Here, Cadwallader examines how pilgrims was accommodated at the church of St. Michael.