The Metropolis of Nafpaktos and Agios Vlasios ( el, Ιερά Μητρόπολις Ναυπάκτου και Αγίου Βλασίου) is a
metropolitan see of the
Church of Greece
The Church of Greece ( el, Ἐκκλησία τῆς Ἑλλάδος, Ekklēsía tē̂s Helládos, ), part of the wider Greek Orthodox Church, is one of the autocephalous churches which make up the communion of Eastern Orthodox Christianity. Its ...
. Its seat is the town of
Nafpaktos (Naupaktos or Naupactus, in the late Middle Ages known as Lepanto) in southeastern
Aetolia-Acarnania, and occupies the municipality of
Nafpaktia and the municipal unit of
Parakampylia
Parakampylia (Greek: Παρακαμπύλια) is a former municipality in Aetolia-Acarnania, West Greece, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Agrinio
Agrinio ( Greek: Αγρίνιο, , Latin: ''Agrinium' ...
of the Agrinio municipality. The current metropolitan (since 1995) is
Hierotheos (Vlachos).
History
The see of Nafpaktos is attested since the 4th century, and was initially a
suffragan
A suffragan bishop is a type of bishop in some Christian denominations.
In the Anglican Communion, a suffragan bishop is a bishop who is subordinate to a metropolitan bishop or diocesan bishop (bishop ordinary) and so is not normally jurisdictiona ...
of
Corinth and later of
Athens.
[Gregory (1991), pp. 1442–1443]
Like the rest of
Illyricum, Nafpaktos depended on the
pope of Rome
The pope ( la, papa, from el, πάππας, translit=pappas, 'father'), also known as supreme pontiff ( or ), Roman pontiff () or sovereign pontiff, is the bishop of Rome (or historically the patriarch of Rome), head of the worldwide Cathol ...
until 733, when
Leo III the Isaurian annexed it to the
Patriarchate of Constantinople.
Its bishop, Anthony, is attested among the participants of the councils held at
Constantinople in
869–70 and
879–80.
When Nafpaktos became the seat of the new
Byzantine ''
thema'' of
Nicopolis in the second half of the 9th century, the bishopric was elevated to a
metropolitan see in the late 9th century, assuming the role which
Nicopolis had formerly held.
It is thus that the see appears in the sources from the 9th century on as "Nafpaktos of Nicopolis" (μητρόπολις Ναυπάκτου Νικοπόλεως), counting initially eight suffragans covering all of
Epirus:
Vonditsa
Vonitsa ( el, Βόνιτσα) is a town in the northwestern part of Aetolia-Acarnania in Greece, seat of the municipality of Aktio-Vonitsa. Population 4,916 (2011). The beach town is situated on the south coast of the Ambracian Gulf, and is domina ...
,
Aetos,
Acheloos,
Rogoi
Rogoi ( el, Ρωγοί) is a Byzantine castle in Nea Kerasounta near Preveza, in western Greece. It is located on the site of the ancient city of Bouchetion (Βουχέτιον), which was abandoned in the late 1st century BC. Re-occupied in th ...
,
Ioannina
Ioannina ( el, Ιωάννινα ' ), often called Yannena ( ' ) within Greece, is the capital and largest city of the Ioannina regional unit and of Epirus, an administrative region in north-western Greece. According to the 2011 census, the c ...
,
Photike,
Hadrianopolis,
Buthrotum. In the ''
Escorial Taktikon
The ''Escorial Taktikon'' (other spellings: ''Escurial Taktikon'', ''Escorial Tacticon'', ''Escurial Tacticon''), also known as the ''Taktikon Oikonomides'' after Nicolas Oikonomides who first edited it, is a list of Byzantine offices, dignities, ...
'' of the early 970s, the bishopric of
Chimara has been added, and during the 11th century, two further sees,
Kozyli and
Arta Arta, ARTA, or Artà may refer to:
Places Djibouti
* Arta, Djibouti, a regional capital city in southeastern Djibouti
* Arta Mountains, a mountain range in Djibouti
* Arta Region, Djibouti
Greece
* Arta, Greece, a regional capital city in northwes ...
were established under Nafpaktos. Following the
Byzantine conquest of Bulgaria ca. 1020, the northern suffragan dioceses came under the jurisdiction of the
Archbishopric of Ohrid.
[Veikou (2012), p. 467]
In 1025, the metropolitan was at the head of a rebellion of the local populace, which led to the death of the local ''
strategos
''Strategos'', plural ''strategoi'', Linguistic Latinisation, Latinized ''strategus'', ( el, στρατηγός, pl. στρατηγοί; Doric Greek: στραταγός, ''stratagos''; meaning "army leader") is used in Greek language, Greek to ...
'' George. Emperor
Constantine VIII
Constantine VIII Porphyrogenitus ( el, Κωνσταντῖνος Πορφυρογέννητος, ''Kōnstantinos Porphyrogénnetos''; 960 – 11/12 November 1028) was ''de jure'' Byzantine emperor from 962 until his death. He was the young ...
(r. 1025–28) brutally suppressed the uprising, and
blinded the metropolitan.
After the
Fourth Crusade
The Fourth Crusade (1202–1204) was a Latin Christian armed expedition called by Pope Innocent III. The stated intent of the expedition was to recapture the Muslim-controlled city of Jerusalem, by first defeating the powerful Egyptian Ayyubid S ...
, Nafpaktos became part of the
Despotate of Epirus
The Despotate of Epirus ( gkm, Δεσποτᾶτον τῆς Ἠπείρου) was one of the Greek successor states of the Byzantine Empire established in the aftermath of the Fourth Crusade in 1204 by a branch of the Angelos dynasty. It claim ...
.
Under its metropolitan,
John Apokaukos
John Apokaukos ( el, Ἱωάννης Ἀπόκαυκος, ca. 1155 – 1233) was a Byzantine churchman and theologian. Having studied at Constantinople, he became bishop of Naupaktos and played a major role in the rivalry between the Epirote Chur ...
, the see of Nafpaktos gained in importance and headed the local
synod
A synod () is a council of a Christian denomination, usually convened to decide an issue of doctrine, administration or application. The word ''wikt:synod, synod'' comes from the meaning "assembly" or "meeting" and is analogous with the Latin ...
for the southern half of the Epirote domains, but was soon overshadowed by the Archbishopric of Ohrid under the energetic
Demetrios Chomatenos.
The town came under
Frankish rule from 1294,
and became a
Roman Catholic see, of which there were about 20 archbishops in the 14th–15th centuries. The city remained a
titular see of the Roman Catholic Church until 1977.
References
Sources
*
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{{coord missing, Greece
Nafpaktia
Naupactus
Naupactus