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PHOTO BY MARK FAIRCHILD

PEACE ETERNAL. Fragments of a stone sarcophagus were discovered in a room adjacent to the church’s apse. This large panel is now on display in an open-air museum in İznik. The material and decoration project the deceased’s importance and imply the sarcophagus was intended for display and commemoration. Archaeologists believe Neophytos’s remains were removed from the original shrine and put into this ornate sarcophagus following the construction of the basilica in the second half of the fourth century.