Şammaspir Kilisesi Kalıntıları

I wish the building was still standing

In case of ruins, this place smells of history in ruins, although they have been destroyed in time to protect them by wire. Even if the treasure hunters destroy the piece in historical time, let's claim the rest.

Gergeme village, which later joined Bünyan, was one of the villages where Turks and Greeks lived together. We used to go to the village of Gergeme, which floated on a big green sign, by way of cil. These narrow roads were called the "goat road" in Bunyan. Anyway, those roads were too short. We would go and come right away. Gergeme village was also a historical place among irem vineyards and gardens. Just like Bünyan Ulu Mosque was built on a large elevation, there was Şammaspir Monastery on a large elevation in Gergeme. My father was a very imposing structure and was standing still, he said that the churches and monasteries in Bünyan were destroyed during the governorship of Nazmi Toker. Even demolishing the Greek Church and Şammaspir Monastery in Kayaaltı has been a very difficult task. He used to say that we carried stones with oxen for days. Armenians had a small chapel on Demircioğlu street… It still stops. Now it looks like home. It is next to the power station. In our childhood, we used to call the fountain in front of it as a “priest fountain”. Now people with a narrow horizon have made their name "Waterfall Fountain". One day, my brother Mahmut Çakıcı, who was my father, was calling me from Gergeme. -Burhan, you are very curious about history. He said I will give you a photo, you will read the text there. I have a little talk, Brother Mahmut, the inscription on hand is the inscription of the Shammaspir monastery and now in a house that marble is used as a kitchen table in an inverted state. I took the photo, I went to meet with Harun Güngör, from Erciyes University. He was a History of Religions teacher and I thought he would help me. Harun Hoca said to me, "You read this article." An alphabet I never knew, how would I read… Harun Hodja, the encyclopedias have a Greek alphabet, look from there, read. Gee…. I do not know Greek… Harun Hodja said to me, I did not say that the article was in Greek, which I said was only the Greek alphabet. I went home and did what the teacher said. I found the Greek alphabet and replaced the letters with the Latin alphabet, so look what happened: “It is one thousand eight hundred and ninety-nine This room was built in the Monastery The marvel of the Neftçi Abraham Aga The effort of the Father to remember Sit here meat prayer Peace to Father Sabbas Huda Kayseri " This poem, written with the 11th pattern of the syllable size, was the inscription of the isolation room of the monastery in 1899. The poet did not write his name, only a note was made from “Kayseri”. Thanks to this inscription, what did I learn? We called the monastery “Shamas”. Pir was added to the word “smash” later. The person that we call “Shamas” was called “Sabbas” in the inscription. So, Karaman people, when we say Sabbas, we changed this word and made it shammas. And who was Sabbas? Sabbas was the name of a Christian saint who was born in Talas between 439-532. If Hamidiye Is My Village, S. Burhanettin Akbaş, 2014

Located in Bünyan, the historical district of Kayseri, Gergeme village was established on the slope of a large stalactite rock block in the western part of Bünyan. The village is also found in the literature under the name Kerkeme. There are Byzantine (even Roman) traces in the village. At the highest point of the village, there is a 40-room church and a bath, as the muhtar said, this church is under protection today. It is thought that the church was built in the 13th century and its name is known as Şammas Pir. It is mentioned in some sources that this church was built in Talas on behalf of the priest named Sabbas the Sanctified, born in 439.

Just like the Bünyan-Ulu-Mosque was built on a large elevation, there was a Şammaspir monastery on a large elevation in Gergeme, which consists of 40 rooms, a church and a bath, which is now under protection. It is believed that the church was built in the 13th century and its name is known as Şammas Pir. In some sources it is mentioned that this church in Talas was built by order of the priest Sabbas the Sanctified, born in 439. Since we took the coordinates from the marking on Google Maps, we found nothing at first. When we were searching a piece of the region, a local resident came up and showed us the right location. Actually, the remains of the ruins in the aerial photo from Google Maps were very airy, which would have saved us some search time with closer research. This visit was part of the daily program from August 17th, 2020, which we described in detail with photos in the "Travel Report Round Trip Ağırnas".