Qualla: St. John's Cathedral (Izmir)

St. John's Cathedral (Izmir): Introduction

Fri, 24 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Hierarchicus2, CC BY-SA 4.0. Sultan Abdulaziz of the Ottoman Empire donated 11,000 gold lira to the construction of a Catholic cathedral in 1863, and that fact alone tells you more about late-nineteenth-century Smyrna than most history books will. The city was Ottoman, the city was Greek, the city was Armenian, and the city was Levantine, all at the same time. Smyrna had Catholics enough to need a cathedral, and a sultan willing to fund one. The cornerstone of St. John's was laid on 26 November 1862. The building was dedicated on 25 May 1874 to John the Evangelist, whose letter in the Book of Revelation greeted the church at Smyrna and warned it that some of its members would be tested.

Image: Hierarchicus2 | CC BY-SA 4.0

St. John's Cathedral (Izmir): A Donation from Lyon

Fri, 24 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Ozlmktv, CC BY-SA 4.0. The other major donor was an unexpected one: Christians from Lyon, in central France. The link between the two cities is older than the cathedral by seventeen centuries. According to ancient tradition, missionaries from Smyrna brought Christianity to Lyon in the second century. P...

Image: Ozlmktv | CC BY-SA 4.0

St. John's Cathedral (Izmir): The Eagle and the Pen

Fri, 24 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Ozlmktv, CC BY-SA 4.0. Above the high altar hangs a painting of John the Evangelist with his liturgical symbol the eagle, pen and scroll in his hands as he writes the gospel. The painter signed it: A. Von Kramer. Around the sanctuary, paintings of Augustine, Andrew, and Athanasius face Polycarp and Joh...

Image: Ozlmktv | CC BY-SA 4.0

St. John's Cathedral (Izmir): A Long Tradition Carved in Carrara

Fri, 24 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit MarkusMark, CC BY-SA 3.0. Pope Pius IX granted St. John's the rank of minor basilica during the cathedral's construction, with the same indulgences as St. John Lateran in Rome, and donated the high altar with its precious stones and metals. He also lent his image, along with Gregory XVI and Leo XIII, to t...

Image: MarkusMark | CC BY-SA 3.0

St. John's Cathedral (Izmir): NATO at Mass

Fri, 24 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Ozlmktv, CC BY-SA 4.0. Archbishop Joseph Emmanuel Descuffi opened the cathedral in 1965 to the NATO military personnel and their dependents stationed at Cigli and across the Izmir region. Both Catholic and Protestant services were welcomed; the building took on a different congregation alongside its Le...

Image: Ozlmktv | CC BY-SA 4.0

St. John's Cathedral (Izmir): What a Cathedral Holds

Fri, 24 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit A.Savin, FAL. Above the sanctuary, near the ceiling, a painted triangle frames an eye, the symbol of the Trinity and of the all-seeing wisdom of God. The phrase Deo Optimo Maximo, abbreviated D.O.M., is carved over the main entrance: to God, the best, the greatest. The Catholic community of Iz...

Image: A.Savin | FAL