I had heard many rumors about the "Church of the First of the Month", which is known by many people in Istanbul / Fatih neighborhood. As a rumor for years, I had heard it as the Church where those who went performed a certain ritual and wished for wishes by buying a key. Many people who wished here said that their wishes came true. I never had the opportunity to visit this much-rumored church until today! I finally had the chance to visit it today.
Although the church is in a very familiar place for me, I don't know how it didn't attract my attention even though I had passed by it many times. However, I am a person who is very interested in places of worship. When we arrived at the church door, we saw that there was a line outside. Since it was my first time, I didn't know that the garden was big. Thinking that the queue was small, I poked my head inside the garden and saw that there was a queue of meters. We waited in line for about 40 minutes to enter the church.
While we were waiting in line, I saw some people handing out treats such as chocolates and candies. Then I asked them why. They explained the ritual to me from beginning to end. It is as follows;
Wishing ritual
First of all, after waiting in a long line, you enter the interior of the church. At the entrance gate, the officials sell some symbols. Key, House, Abundance, fertility, Marriage etc. You can choose any of these symbols. You have to buy the key because the key is the sine qua non of the wishing ritual!
After you get the key, you turn the key one by one on the paintings hanging on the walls and everything that is considered sacred. As you turn the key, you repeat, "The door to my wishes is unlocked." This is a very tiring and long process because everyone is doing the same thing in a very dense crowd. After the turning process is over, you go downstairs where there is a fountain. You fill the water gates with water from the fountain and go up again and finally the priest reads a special prayer for you with the key in your hand. After leaving the church, we light a candle in a separate section in the garden courtyard and complete our ritual.
When our wishes come true, we bring the key we get from here and hand it back to the attendant and distribute chocolate as a treat. All of those people who distribute chocolate are doing this because their wishes have come true. 🙏🤍🧘
I made many wishes for myself and my loved ones. I hope that my wishes will come true together with all the beautiful-hearted people who came here and I prayed at the same time. The energy of the environment was incredibly impressive. There were people from many different nationalities here. We all wished in different languages, but the only thing we all had in common was tolerance and love. 🤍
If you want to learn more about this place and its story in detail. I will leave here an article that I did research and read before I went. I hope you come to this beautiful place one day and make your wishes come true. I want to go and distribute my treats as soon as possible!🧘
https://www.neredekal.com/blog/istanbulda-bir-dilek-kosesi-ayin-biri-kilisesi/