Guide
The church stands in the village of Yeşilöz, about ten kilometres south-east of Ürgüp, and is also known as the Tağar church. Among the rock-cut churches of the region its plan is unusual: a trefoil, three leaves of a clover. From the corridor past the entrance you turn left and reach the naos through the western exedra. The naos is a square centre with three half-circles set against its north, south and east sides. The main apse on the east is raised above the floor, and because of how the church sits, the altar was placed against the inner face of that apse.
The Deesis appears in the half-domes of the main apse and the north exedra. In the apse scene Christ makes the sign of blessing with his right hand and holds in his left a closed book with a cross on it. He is enthroned, with the Virgin on his right and John the Baptist on his left, and beside them the two archangels Michael and Gabriel in imperial dress. A round medallion above his cruciform halo carries five black stars. Two more medallions flank his feet, each holding a bust; the left one is largely destroyed, while the right and part of its inscription survive, and the names Joachim and Anna have been read beside them.
Below the Deesis, separated from it by a horizontal band, nine standing figures fill the lower half of the apse. Their dress identifies them as bishops and seven have been named: Germanos, Balsios, Epiphanios, Gregory, Basil, Epiphanios and John Chrysostom.
In the north exedra the same subject is treated differently. Christ appears as a bust within a large round frame, blessing with his right hand and holding a book in his left. John the Baptist stands to his right and the Virgin to his left, pointing toward him with her hands. Between the knees of the two figures and the frame enclosing Christ, two more busts sit in round medallions; the name Saint Julitta has been read on either side of the halo of the one beside John the Baptist.
