The edifice was built in 1833 near an early Christian Martyrion of the fourth or fifth century, possibly dedicated to the saints Carpus and Papylus (Greek: Μονὴ τῶν ἁγίων Κάρπου καὶ Παπὺλου, Monì ton Agíon Kárpou kai Papýlou ), and on the site of an ancient church dedicated to Hagios Polykarpos.

The church is located in Istanbul, in the district of Fatih, in the neighbourhood of Kocamustafapaşa (historically Samatya), on Bestekar Hakkı Sokak.

It lies inside the walled city, in an elevated position a short distance from the shore of the Sea of Marmara.

The Martyrion is located under the church, on İmrahor İlyasbey Caddesi, and currently houses an iron workshop and a car wash shop.

According to the Fathers of the Church, in the fourth century Empress Helena, mother of Constantine I, authorized construction of a martyrion and a monastery dedicated to the Saints Karpos and Papylos at the foot of the steep southwestern face of the Xeropholos (part of the seventh hill of Constantinople and at that time, before the construction of the Theodosian Wall, still outside the walls of the city).

[1] Moreover, the extant round structure under the modern church stems from the fourth or fifth century and has the typical form of a martyrion.

[1] Indeed, at that time and at least until the twelfth century there are attestations to the existence of a female monastery dedicated to the Saints Karpos and Papylos in the vicinity of the Helenianai Palace.

[2] This church was destroyed in the great fire of Samatya of 1782, and rebuilt in 1833 by architect Konstantis Yolasığmazis, with money collected through an offertory of the local Mahalle assembly with the consent of Sultan Mahmud II (r.