SYKEONLU THEODOROS’UN HAYAT HİKAYESİ IŞIĞINDA BİZANS’IN ANADOLU KIRSALINDA DİNÎ HAYAT (VI – VII. YÜZYIL)
RELIGIOUS LIFE IN THE ANATOLIAN RURALNESS OF BYZANTINE IN THE LIGHT OF THE LIFE STORY OF THEODOROS OF SYKEON (6TH – 7TH CENTURY)

Summary/Abstract: Besides the limited resources providing information about the Anatolian cities of the 6th and 7th century, there are almost no resources about the Anatolian countryside. The hagiography of St. Theodore (d.613), as understood from the narrative of events in its content, It must have been completed in the middle of the 7th century. While this work, which provides valuable information about the cities, toponymy, topography, political and socio-cultural history of Anatolia at that time, has been the subject of many studies in the West, it has not yet received the attention it deserves in our country. As a matter of fact, the hagiography, published with its original text in Greek by the French scientist Festugière, is the main source for the 6th and 7th centuries, when Anatolia was under Byzantine rule. Hagiography contains the miracles of Theodore and was written to announce these miracles to the next generations. The work also reflects the beliefs and thoughts of the Anatolian people at that time. The cult of saints, deep respect for icons, the church hierarchy of the period, religious groups, holy days and holidays can be given as examples in this context. The aim of this article is to reveal the world of beliefs of the people living in Byzantine Anatolia in the 6th and 7th centuries, with Sykeon as the center, a rural settlement, based on the data in Theodoros' hagiography. In this context, in our study, we will focus on the common religious groups of the period, the importance of religiosity, the origin of holiness and the ways of legitimation, the cult of Saints in particular the cult of St. Georgios (Aya Yorgi) attempted to be processed. The article is based on the Greek edition of the hagiography published by A.J.Festugière, with a partial English translation prepared by Elizabeth Dawes and J.L. Partially benefited from the French translation published by Mattei. The data about religious life in Theodoros' hagiography has been tried to be presented by comparing it with period sources and copyrighted works.

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