Worshipers walk over the ruins before attending a mass for members of their community killed by last year’s earthquake at the Greek Orthodox church that was also destroyed by the quake in the historic city center from Antakya, to Hatay, Tuesday. (Reuters)
The Antioch Greek Orthodox Church brought together Christians in Antakya, Turkey, for centuries until last year, when an earthquake killed dozens of them and pushed hundreds more to flee.
Although it now lies in ruins, many pray that it will bring them back again.
“Our churches are razed and our bell towers are silent,” Fadi Hurigil, head of the Antakya Greek Orthodox Church Foundation, said Tuesday during a mass in honor of the victims of the 7.8 magnitude earthquake. devastated southern Turkey and northwest Syria on February 6. Last year.
The deadliest disaster in Turkey’s modern history, the earthquake killed more than 53,000 people in Turkey and nearly 6,000 in Syria, and left millions homeless. It also ravaged the rich cultural and religious heritage of Antakya, once called Antioch and founded in 300 BC by the Seleucid dynasty.
The ancient city, home to Jews, Christians and Muslims, changed hands over the centuries between Greeks, Romans, Arabs and Ottoman Turks.
Those gathered at the church prayed in Arabic and Turkish for the 63 deceased from the local Christian community.
Icons, crucifixes and liturgical utensils have since been recovered from the rubble of the church and given to the Hatay Archaeological Museum, Hurigil said. Some remain under the rubble.
“I saw the church for the first time after the earthquake and I couldn’t believe my eyes (at the scale of the devastation). I was deeply touched,” said Larina Balikcioglu, 18, a medical student who attended the mass.
But today, Antioch’s Greek Orthodox Church – which was also destroyed by an earthquake in 1872 but later restored by Russian architects – is poised for a new renaissance as a restoration project has been approved. Construction work is awaiting the results of a soil study.
“This city has been destroyed and rebuilt seven times. It was demolished for the eighth time and hopefully it will be rebuilt again,” Hurigil said, referring to other earthquakes that have shaken a region atop a geological fault line.
‘Please come back’
Some 370 Greek Orthodox families lived in Antakya before the 2023 earthquake, but only 20 remain today, he told Reuters.
Hurigil, 49, born and raised in Antakya, said 45 families had moved to Mersin province, a three-hour drive away.
Although the family’s house in the city center was only slightly damaged by the earthquake, they are currently staying at their summer home in Hatay province due to poor living conditions in Antakya.
“Antakya holds a special place in the hearts of those who had to leave, because that is where they have their roots and their land. Abandoning this city is not easy for us,” he said.
David Cagan, 53, another member of the local Greek Orthodox community, said it was essential to rebuild the churches. Even before the earthquake, he said, Antakya’s Christian community was shrinking every year in predominantly Muslim Turkey, and the latest disaster brought it to the brink of extinction.
“Our place of worship is what unites us, and without it we cannot come together,” he said, adding that Turkish authorities and international organizations should promote projects that would encourage people to return to their homes. Antakya.
“We are not going to leave here. The soul of the city is its people. To those who have left, I say: please come back. (Reuters)
