Batheos Rhyakos Monastery was a

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...

-era monastery near medieval Trigleia in

Bithynia Bithynia (; ) was an ancient region, kingdom and Roman province in the northwest of Asia Minor (present-day Turkey), adjoining the Sea of Marmara, the Bosporus, and the Black Sea. It bordered Mysia to the southwest, Paphlagonia to the northeast a ...

(modern Tirilye in

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

). It is known locally as Aya Sotiri. The

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a place/building for Christian religious activities and praying * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian comm ...

of the

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of Monasticism, monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in Cenobitic monasticism, communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a ...

had an east-west oriented rectangular naos, with a rounded

apse In architecture, an apse (: apses; from Latin , 'arch, vault'; from Ancient Greek , , 'arch'; sometimes written apsis; : apsides) is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical Vault (architecture), vault or semi-dome, also known as an ' ...

in the north part of the east end and a

narthex The narthex is an architectural element typical of Early Christian art and architecture, early Christian and Byzantine architecture, Byzantine basilicas and Church architecture, churches consisting of the entrance or Vestibule (architecture), ve ...

at the west end. The building’s exterior dimensions measured 16 by 9 meters. In the 1880s, the monastery was described as “neglected,” with only the four walls of the church and some scattered

column A column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a structural element that transmits, through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. In other words, a column is a compression member ...

s remaining. However, In 1910, it seems to have been described as “recently restored.” When the area was cleared of brush and mapped in 1987, the monastery was in ruins and mostly rubble; then, in 1988, the landowner cleared the area with heavy machinery and built a shed. In 2017, piles of stones from the walls remained. The monastery is also known as the Monastery of the Transfiguration of Christ the Savior (Greek: Μονή Μεταμορφόσεως Σωτήρος Χριστού ), the Soteros or Savior Monastery (Μονή Σωτήρος).

References

Byzantine church buildings in Turkey Byzantine Bithynia Greek Orthodox monasteries in Turkey Buildings and structures in Bursa Province {{Orthodox-monastery-stub Christian monasteries in Turkey