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Patriarchal exarchate Turchia, Türkiye

Apostolic Exarchate of Turchia

Syriac Catholic patriarchal exarchate for Turkey, established in 1991 on territory previously administered as a patriarchal vicariate, under the Syriac Catholic Patriarch of Antioch. Since 2018 the Istanbul community has used Sacre Coeur Church in Besiktas, leased from the government for 49 years.

On the map

Esri
Turchia, Türkiye, drawn to the town rather than to the door: the register holds no verified address for its cathedral.

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Established
1991
Territory
814,578 km²

Parishes and churches

3 listed churches in our records. Open a parish for Mass times, confession, directions and sources where recorded.

This is our recorded coverage, not an official diocesan parish count. Confirm service times with the parish before travelling.

The bishop

Patriarchal Exarch
Orhan Abdulahad Canli

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The cathedral

Church of the Sacred Heart, Istanbul stands in Turchia, the church that holds the cathedra from which this see takes its name.

On what a cathedral is, see the cathedral; every see church on earth is gathered at the cathedrals.

History

The Syriac Catholic Church's presence in Turkey takes the form of the Syriac Catholic Patriarchal Exarchate of Turkey, sometimes called informally Turkey of the Syriacs. That church, an Eastern Catholic particular church, celebrates its liturgy in the Syriac language according to the West Syrian Rite, and this exarchate falls under the jurisdiction of the Syriac Catholic Patriarch of Antioch.