St. Stephen's Cathedral (Paris)

In 1890, according to the project of the French architect (1829-1914) on in the XVIth arrondissement of Paris, the laying of the Greek Orthodox Cathedral took place, consecrated on September 22, 1895 in honor of the first martyr Archdeacon Stephen .

The 42-meter-high cathedral building was built in the Byzantine style, faced with white and brown glazed bricks, and the walls are carved with long arched windows. The cathedral is crowned by a dome located on sails and an equilateral Byzantine cross. The arched entrance to the temple is framed by Corinthian columns of yellow limestone. The exterior walls of the cathedral are partially built up by later buildings.

The interior of the cathedral is divided into three longitudinal naves by columns from different varieties of jasper that support lancet arches. The iconostasis in the temple is single-tier, made of white marble with delicate decoration. The frescoes, also of the Byzantine style, were performed by the artist Charles Lamier (1832-1910). The main apse depicts Christ Pantocrator . In the semicircle of the apse in large letters in Greek, the words of the Savior from the 14th chapter of the Gospel of John are fulfilled: “I am the way, the truth and the life.” In the side naves there is a mosaic ornament and paintings on the plots from the lives of the saints. The flooring is also mosaic. From the right nave you can get into the cloister - a small rectangular courtyard of the cathedral.

In 1962, the legendary singer Edith Piaf , who converted to Orthodoxy, and the Greek hairdresser Theofanis Lambukas, better known as Theo Sarapo, were married in the temple.

In 1977, an opera singer of Greek origin, Maria Callas, was buried in the cathedral. ^[1]

Since 1980, the community of Antioch Orthodox Church has regularly held divine services in Arabic on Saturdays in the temple.