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| The Neorion Harbor (second inlet from bottom along the left side of Golden Horn), from Byzantium nunc Constantinopolis Braun and Hogenberg, 1572. |
According to the Synaxarion of Constantinople, on May 16th we commemorate the Church of Saint Euphemia near the Neorion Harbor of Constantinople at the Church of Hagia Dynamis. It appears this commemorated the consecration of the church. It was one of at least five churches in Constantinople dedicated to Saint Euphemia. We are not specifically told if it was a church, a chapel or a shrine, but it appears to have either been right next to or even inside the Church of Hagia Dynamis, which was dedicated to the Holy Power of God. The Neorion Harbor itself was active since the fourth century under Emperor Constantine the Great, and was in fact the first harbor erected after Constantinople was founded, and lay on the southern shore of the Golden Horn, east of today's Galata Bridge.