Dedicated to Paul the Apostle, it is home to the Antiochian Orthodox Archdiocese of São Paulo and All Brazil [pt].

It was constructed to serve the many Lebanese Brazilians of the Orthodox Christian faith who had been immigrating to Brazil since the late 19th century.

It is one of the largest Eastern Orthodox cathedrals in the world,[1] and a fine example of Byzantine Revival architecture.

[2] Construction of the cathedral began in 1942, inspired by the Hagia Sophia,[1] and built under the supervision of Paul Taufick Camasmie with the architects Francisca Galvão Bueno and Igor Sresnewsky.

The cathedral was inaugurated in January 1954, along with the celebrations of the quatercentenary of the city of São Paulo,[4] and consecrated by Patriarch Elias IV and Metropolitan Ignátios Ferzli in 1978.