 But whereas the church of the Holy Wisdom was in the city's oldest part, that of the Holy Apostles stood in the centre of the newer part of the much expanded imperial capital, on the great thoroughfare called Mese Odós (), and was the city's busiest church.Most emperors and many patriarchs and bishops were buried in the church, and their relics were venerated by the faithful for centuries.The church's most treasured possessions were the skulls of Saints Andrew, Luke and Timothy, but the church also held what was believed to be part of the "Column of Flagellation", to which Jesus had been bound and flogged.