András Veres, bishop of Győr, president of the Hungarian Catholic Bishops’ Conference (HCBC) visited Izmir at the invitation of Martin Kmetec OFM Conv., archbishop of Izmir, president of the Bishop’s Conference of Turkey. Mgr. Tamás Tóth, general secretary of the HCBC accompanied him on the journey.
Archbishop Martin Kmetec celebrated Holy Mass with Bishop András Veres in Ephesus on 15 September. The delegation then visited the cathedral in Izmir, which was damaged in the 2020 earthquake and has now been restored. Archbishop Kmetec thanked the Hungarian Catholics and the Hungarian Catholic Bishops’ Conference for their prayers and for the 40 000 EUR donated for the reconstruction of the damaged cathedral. The event was also attended by Lucian Abalintoaiei OFM Conv., general secretary of the Bishop’s Conference of Turkey.
Izmir is the third largest city in modern Turkey with a population of four million, located in Anatolia on the Aegean coast. It is a Catholic archiepiscopal see. Its cathedral was built in the 19th century in honour of St. John the Apostle and was severely damaged in a recent earthquake in 2020. The restoration of the church was also supported by the Hungarian Catholic Bishops’ Conference, in the spirit of solidarity between Christians.
The town was previously a thriving Christian settlement called Smyrna. One of its most famous bishops was Saint Polycarp in the 2nd century. The ceiling of the church named after him still bears signs of the earthquake.
The Archdiocese of Izmir covers an area of about 100 000 square kilometres, with only 5 000 Catholics living there today.
The settlement on the Aegean coast, formerly known as Smyrna, is also mentioned in the Book of Revelation (Rev 1:11; 2:8-11). Bishop Ignatius of Antioch (~35 – ~107), wrote four of his seven, still extant letters in the city and two were addressed to the local church community. Saint Polycarp (before 69–155) was a bishop who lived and died a martyr's death in the city of Smyrna.