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. It ...
. Its seat is the town of
Nafpaktos (Naupaktos or Naupactus, in the late Middle Ages known as Lepanto) in southeastern
Aetolia-Acarnania
Aetolia-Acarnania ( el, Αιτωλοακαρνανία, ''Aitoloakarnanía'', ) is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the geographic region of Central Greece and the administrative region of West Greece. A combination of the histo ...
, 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 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
Leo III the Isaurian ( gr, Λέων ὁ Ἴσαυρος, Leōn ho Isauros; la, Leo Isaurus; 685 – 18 June 741), also known as the Syrian, was Byzantine Emperor from 717 until his death in 741 and founder of the Isaurian dynasty. He put an e ...
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
The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...
''
thema'' of
Nicopolis
Nicopolis ( grc-gre, Νικόπολις, Nikópolis, City of Victory) or Actia Nicopolis was the capital city of the Roman province of Epirus Vetus. It was located in the western part of the modern state of Greece. The city was founded in 29  ...
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
Nicopolis ( grc-gre, Νικόπολις, Nikópolis, City of Victory) or Actia Nicopolis was the capital city of the Roman province of Epirus Vetus. It was located in the western part of the modern state of Greece. The city was founded in 29  ...
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
sq, Epiri rup, Epiru
, native_name_lang =
, settlement_type = Historical region
, image_map = Epirus antiquus tabula.jpg
, map_alt =
, map_caption = Map of ancient Epirus by Heinric ...
:
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 domin ...
,
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 t ...
,
Ioannina,
Photike Photice or Photike ( grc, Φωτική) was a city in Epirus in the Roman and Byzantine periods. In the late Middle Ages it was known as Hagios Donatos (Ἅγιος Δονᾶτος).
History
The city was likely settled since Classical Antiquity, bu ...
,
Hadrianopolis,
Buthrotum
Butrint ( el, Βουθρωτόν and Βουθρωτός, ''Bouthrōtón'', la, Buthrōtum) was an ancient Greek and later Roman city and bishopric in Epirus. "Speakers of these various Greek dialects settled different parts of Greece at differen ...
. In the ''
Escorial Taktikon'' of the early 970s, the bishopric of
Chimara has been added, and during the 11th century, two further sees,
Kozyli and
Arta were established under Nafpaktos. Following the
Byzantine conquest of Bulgaria
From ca. 970 until 1018, a series of conflicts between the Bulgarian Empire and the Byzantine Empire led to the gradual reconquest of Bulgaria by the Byzantines, who thus re-established their control over the entire Balkan peninsula for the firs ...
ca. 1020, the northern suffragan dioceses came under the jurisdiction of the
Archbishopric of Ohrid
The Archbishopric of Ohrid, also known as the Bulgarian Archbishopric of Ohrid
*T. Kamusella in The Politics of Language and Nationalism in Modern Central Europe, Springer, 2008, p. 276
*Aisling Lyon, Decentralisation and the Management of Ethni ...
.
[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'', Latinized ''strategus'', ( el, στρατηγός, pl. στρατηγοί; Doric Greek: στραταγός, ''stratagos''; meaning "army leader") is used in Greek to mean military general. In the Hellenisti ...
'' George. Emperor
Constantine VIII (r. 1025–28) brutally suppressed the uprising, and
blinded the metropolitan.
After the
Fourth Crusade, 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 clai ...
.
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 Churc ...
, the see of Nafpaktos gained in importance and headed the local
synod for the southern half of the Epirote domains, but was soon overshadowed by the Archbishopric of Ohrid under the energetic
Demetrios Chomatenos Demetrios Chomatenos or Chomatianos ( el, Δημήτριος Χωματηνός/Χωματιανός, 13th century), Eastern Orthodox Archbishop of Ohrid from 1216 to 1236, was a Byzantine priest and judge.
His comprehensive legal education allowe ...
.
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
*
*
*
*
{{coord missing, Greece
Nafpaktia
Naupactus
Naupactus