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PHOTO COURTESY MUSTAFA ŞAHİN

EXTENDED BY GOD. After the Edict of Milan (313 CE), the earliest shrine to Neophytos was incorporated into a larger martyrion (commemorative church). What must have been a largely wooden structure is now discernible only from pieces of charcoal and wood, including large supporting beams found beneath the marble floor of the later basilica, as well as a large number of nails (pictured). Eusebius, who attended the First Council of Nicea, writes that the church hosting the assembly was seemingly “extended by God” to accommodate the gathered bishops. The wooden church would have served the purpose and provided a suitable venue to welcome a church council only two decades after the local martyr’s death.