HATAY, Türkiye

Although many historically sacred places were reduced to rubble in powerful earthquakes that struck southern Türkiye early this month, miraculously, the world’s first cave church in Hatay remains largely intact.

Carved into the side of Mount Staurin in the Antakya region of the Apostle Peter's early ministry, around 38-39 A.D., the Saint Pierre cave church is recognized as the world’s very first cathedral, according to UNESCO.

Only the recently built retaining wall of the historical church was slightly demolished. The cave church and its surroundings played a significant role in the early days of Christianity and the spread of this belief.

The church spans some 9.5 meters wide, 13 meters long, and seven meters high (31 feet by 42 ft. by 23 ft.), and in 2011 was added to UNESCO's Tentative World Heritage List.

In 1963, Pope Paul VI declared the cave church a pilgrimage site. Saint Peter (or Pierre), the head of the first Christian community, is also considered the first pope.

In the powerful Feb. 6 quakes, which struck Hatay hard, Anatolia’s first mosque, the Habib-i Neccar Mosque, and the Antioch (Antakya) Orthodox Church, which dates to the first century A.D., almost completely collapsed.

Antakya is home to various minority groups such as Syriac Orthodox Christians, Syriac Catholics, and Armenians.

The magnitude 7.7 and 7.6 quakes struck 10 other provinces – Adana, Adiyaman, Diyarbakir, Elazig, Gaziantep, Hatay, Kahramanmaras, Kilis, Malatya, Osmaniye, and Sanliurfa. More than 13 million people have been affected by the devastating quakes.

Several countries in the region, including Syria and Lebanon, also felt the tremors that struck in less than 10 hours.

Over 41,000 people were killed by the twin earthquakes in Türkiye, according to the latest official figures. Over 100,000 more were injured.