TURKEY: The Orthodox Church of Prophet Elias in Izmir to Be Demolished

A historic monument of Christianity is being sacrificed on the altar of modernization. The Orthodox Church of Prophet Elias in Izmir (Smyrna) in Turkey, one of the few Christian churches in the region, is set to be demolished under the threat of plans for creating a new highway.
Greek Culture and Sports Minister, Panos Panagiotopoulos after hearing the news of the upcoming demolition of one of the last surviving Greek Orthodox Churches, addressed a letter to his Turkish counterpart asking for the preservation of this great monument.


Profitis Ilias (named after the Prophet Elias/Elijah, a revered figure for both Christians and Muslims) is a three-aisled basilica commissioned in 1846 by the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople Anthimus VI. Its dimensions are 10 by 19 meters and it has a quadrilateral rooftop.
However, according to archaeologists and Achilleas Chatziconstantinou, a Greek geographer and researcher of the historical topography of Izmir, today the church lies totally abandoned and dilapidated.