World's oldest church...or something, in Turkey?

Factual Questions
1

Years ago I took a Humanities class. I saw a picture of the world’s oldest Christian church, allegedly, in Istanbul, IIRC (but, I’m not too sure that I RC).
For years, it stuck in my memory that it was the Hagia Sofia, but, when I searched Youtube, the Hagia Sofia seemed totally different from what I remember as the church of which I was thinking, and substantially larger.

So, the church that I’m looking for actually looks pretty durned small. I’m pretty sure it’s around Turkey, maybe Armenia. I think it was located in the heart of town, whatever town it was, and looked pretty ratty.

Can anybody help me ID it?

Thanks,
hh

2

Is it on the list ?
Wikipedia’s List of oldest church buildings … Turkey and Armenia compete…

3

I think you may have confused your records. Hagia Sofia was at one time the world’s largest church but I don’t think it was ever in contention as one of the oldest churches. St Peter’s Basilica in Rome (the original one) was already a couple of centuries old when Hagia Sofia was built.

4

That’s my read, but, as I said, the name is what stuck in my head.

5

Lemmee check… Thanks for the link.

6

Hmmm…it may be the Church of St. George in Sofia, Bulgaria. Church of Saint George, Sofia - Wikipedia , from the link from Isilder.
May have been the Sofia part that tricked me. Sure looks a lot nicer than I remembered it, tho!

Thanks, all.

7

While it sure as shit isn’t Christian Gobekli Tepe is the oldest known religious site on Earth, and is in Turkey.

8

The Pantheon in Rome dates to 126 AD, although it wasn’t a church until the 7th Century - meaning that while it isn’t the oldest church in the world, it may be the oldest building used as a church.

9

The Chora Church in Istanbul dates IIRC in pieces from about 600AD. Certainly not close to oldest, but small church in the right place.

10

Some of the megalithic temples in Malta date back 1000 years before the oldest pyramid in Egypt was even thought off.

11

If you were thinking of a plainer-looking church, there is also a Hagia Sofia in Sofia, Bulgaria. I took a tour there and the guide said the church’s popularity inspired the town’s change of name from Serdica to Sofia.

12

We call them “temples”, but in fact we have no realy idea why they built or what they were originally used for. Religious ritual worship or funeral practices or both are plausible guesses, but that’s about as far as we can go.

13

The Parthenon is older than the Pantheon (by about 550 years), and it was in use as a Christian church for about a thousand years, though of course it no longer is. It may have the distinction of being the oldest extant building ever to have been used as a church.

I think the Pantheon is claimed to be the oldest building still in regular use for any purpose.

14

There’s a “Little Hagia Sophia” in Istanbul, earlier than Hagia Sophia (but not much) and now a mosque.

(was in it a few weeks ago - very pretty in a knocked-about-by-the years way but prob not the droid you are searching for)