The Monastery of Saint Sergios of Medikion ( el, Μονή Αγίου Σεργίου του Μηδικίου), commonly simply known as the Medikion monastery (Μονή Μηδικίου; tr, Medikion manastırı), and later as the Monastery of the Holy Fathers ( el, Μονή των Πατέρων) is a ruined

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

-era monastery near modern

Tirilye Tirilye (also known as Zeytinbağı, ''Olive yard'') is a town in Bursa Province, Turkey, situated west of Mudanya along the Marmara seashore. The area, which was inhabited since the eighth century BC, was formerly known as Τρίγλεια, ...

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...

(medieval Trigleia in Bithynia). It is best known for the role its founders played in opposing

Byzantine Iconoclasm The Byzantine Iconoclasm ( gr, Εικονομαχία, Eikonomachía, lit=image struggle', 'war on icons) were two periods in the history of the Byzantine Empire when the use of religious images or icons was opposed by religious and imperial a ...

. The only remnants of the monastery complex is the perimeter wall (''peribolos''), which has a fortress-like appearance with its high walls and solid door. Above the entrance, there is a heavily damaged inscription on which only the date 1801 is legible. The historian Adolphe Hergès, in his ''Les monastères de Bithynie'', indicates that the name ''Medikios'' may derive from the name for "cloverleaf" and that the church was referred to in more recent times by the people as "''Pateron''", that is, "Fathers". Tryphon E. Evangelides and W.M. Ramsay dated the monastery's construction to 810, but Hergès preferred a date around 780. This is now the accepted date.Talbot (1991), p. 1328Nesbitt & Oikonomides (1996), p. 103 The founder of the monastery was Nikephoros, who restored a ruined church dedicated to Saint Michael and built the monastery around it. Nikephotos served as its first abbot until his death and in 813. Nikephoros participated in the

Second Council of Nicaea The Second Council of Nicaea is recognized as the last of the first seven ecumenical councils by the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Catholic Church. In addition, it is also recognized as such by the Old Catholics, the Anglican Communion, an ...

in 787, where he indicates the monastery full original name as "Saint Sergios of Medikion". After Nikephoros's death, his pupil Niketas became the abbot. Niketas was persecuted with the beginning of the second Iconoclasm under Leo V (r. 813–820). He died in 824, and is celebrated by the Orthodox Church as an

iconodule Iconodulism (also iconoduly or iconodulia) designates the religious service to icons (kissing and honourable veneration, incense, and candlelight). The term comes from Neoclassical Greek εἰκονόδουλος (''eikonodoulos'') (from el, ε ...

Confessor of the Faith Confessor of the Faith is a title given by some Christian denominations. Etymology The word confessor is derived from the Latin ''confiteri'', to confess, to profess. Among the early church fathers, it was a title of honor, designating those in ...

. Both Nikephoros and Niketas were buried at the

narthex The narthex is an architectural element typical of early Christian and Byzantine basilicas and churches consisting of the entrance or lobby area, located at the west end of the nave, opposite the church's main altar. Traditionally the narthex ...

of the monastery's church of Saint Michael. The history of the monastery is only intermittently known thereafter. The monastery was given as a grant to Michael Psellos in the mid-11th century, by which time it was known as the "Monastery of the Holy Fathers", indicating a cult around the two founding '' hegoumenoi''. The monastery disappears from literary sources thereafter. The monastery burned down in 1800, and was rebuilt in 1801, but was in a derelict condition during a visit by

Frederick William Hasluck Frederick William Hasluck (16 February 1878 – 22 February 1920) was an English antiquarian, historian, and archaeologist. Hasluck was educated at The Leys School and King's College, Cambridge, graduating with a first class degree in classics i ...

early in the 20th century. Hasluck described the '' katholikon'' as "magnificent", and wrote that it was ornamented with originally arched and black and white mosaics in the courtyard. Pancenko, who came here in 1910, drew the attention to the old icons and likened it to "a museum where Greek Church pictures are exhibited". Evangelides (1889) defined the church as a large rectangle and he added: "It has no roof and columns, it is almost like a large inn deserted by its owner...".

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* * {{Coord missing, Turkey Byzantine church buildings in Turkey Byzantine Bithynia Byzantine Iconoclasm Greek Orthodox monasteries in Turkey 8th-century establishments in the Byzantine Empire Buildings and structures in Bursa Province Churches completed in 780 8th-century churches in Turkey