Neither archeological excavations nor medieval sources have made it possible to find a satisfactory answer as to its original dedication as a church.

As its Turkish name suggests, it is possible that it was a small chapel belonging to a monastery, possibly that dedicated to the Holy Martyrs Menodora, Metrodora, and Nymphodora, which existed near the Gate of St. Romanus (today Topkapı, in Turkish “Gate of the gun”), in the neighborhood of Constantinople named ta Elebichou.

[1] In the first half of the 14th century, a certain Phokas Maroulas, domestikos of the imperial table, restored the church and dedicated it to the Theotokos, founding a small monastery.

Shortly after the Fall of Constantinople, Mustafa, a çavuş (page) of Sultan Mehmed II, converted the building into a mescit (oratory).

[3] During the years 1956–58 the buildings cluttering around the small mosque were torn down during the opening of Turgut Özal Caddesi, and since then its usage as worship place ceased.