The Stauropolis ( gr, Σταυρόπολις) is the former
metropolitan see
Metropolitan may refer to:
* Metropolitan area, a region consisting of a densely populated urban core and its less-populated surrounding territories
* Metropolitan borough, a form of local government district in England
* Metropolitan county, a typ ...
of
Caria
Caria (; from Greek: Καρία, ''Karia''; tr, Karya) was a region of western Anatolia extending along the coast from mid-Ionia (Mycale) south to Lycia and east to Phrygia. The Ionian and Dorian Greeks colonized the west of it and joined the ...
in
Asia Minor
Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The ...
within the
Patriarchate of Constantinople
The Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople ( el, Οἰκουμενικὸν Πατριαρχεῖον Κωνσταντινουπόλεως, translit=Oikoumenikón Patriarkhíon Konstantinoupóleos, ; la, Patriarchatus Oecumenicus Constanti ...
. It remains a
titular see
A titular see in various churches is an episcopal see of a former diocese that no longer functions, sometimes called a "dead diocese". The ordinary or hierarch of such a see may be styled a "titular metropolitan" (highest rank), "titular archbis ...
of the
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
.
History
The
bishopric
In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop.
History
In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associate ...
was
centered on the
ancient
Ancient history is a time period from the beginning of writing and recorded human history to as far as late antiquity. The span of recorded history is roughly 5,000 years, beginning with the Sumerian cuneiform script. Ancient history cove ...
town of Stauropolis (
Aphrodisias
Aphrodisias (; grc, Ἀφροδισιάς, Aphrodisiás) was a small ancient Greek Hellenistic city in the historic Caria cultural region of western Anatolia, Turkey. It is located near the modern village of Geyre, about east/inland from the ...
), on the site of modern
Geyre,
Turkey
Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...
. It was the metropolitan seat of the
Roman province
The Roman provinces (Latin: ''provincia'', pl. ''provinciae'') were the administrative regions of Ancient Rome outside Roman Italy that were controlled by the Romans under the Roman Republic and later the Roman Empire. Each province was rule ...
of
Caria
Caria (; from Greek: Καρία, ''Karia''; tr, Karya) was a region of western Anatolia extending along the coast from mid-Ionia (Mycale) south to Lycia and east to Phrygia. The Ionian and Dorian Greeks colonized the west of it and joined the ...
in the civil Diocese of
Asia
Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an ...
and the
Patriarchate of Constantinople
The Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople ( el, Οἰκουμενικὸν Πατριαρχεῖον Κωνσταντινουπόλεως, translit=Oikoumenikón Patriarkhíon Konstantinoupóleos, ; la, Patriarchatus Oecumenicus Constanti ...
.
In the
Hellenistic
In Classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Mediterranean history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the emergence of the Roman Empire, as signified by the Battle of Actium i ...
-
Roman era
In modern historiography, ancient Rome refers to Roman civilisation from the founding of the city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingdom (753–509 B ...
, the city was called
Aphrodisia
The Aphrodisia festival (Ancient Greek: Ἀφροδίσια) was an annual festival held in Ancient Greece in honor of the goddess of love and beauty, Aphrodite (Ancient Greek: Ἀφροδίτη Πάνδημος). It took place in several Ancient ...
. In the Christian era, it was renamed Stauropolis ( grc-gre, Σταυρούπολις) 'city of the cross'. In later
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 Constantin ...
times, it assumed the name of Caria, a name preserved by the village of Geyre.
Stauropolis was home to an
ancient Christian community. The
Roman Martyrology
The ''Roman Martyrology'' ( la, Martyrologium Romanum) is the official martyrology of the Catholic Church. Its use is obligatory in matters regarding the Roman Rite liturgy, but dioceses, countries and religious institutes may add duly approved ...
of
May 3
Events Pre-1600
* 752 – Mayan king Bird Jaguar IV of Yaxchilan in modern-day Chiapas, Mexico, assumes the throne.
*1481 – The largest of three earthquakes strikes the island of Rhodes and causes an estimated 30,000 casualties.
...
remember the
martyr
A martyr (, ''mártys'', "witness", or , ''marturia'', stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an external ...
s
Diodorus and Rodopiano, who were condemned to be stoned to Aphrodisias during the
Diocletianic Persecution
The Diocletianic or Great Persecution was the last and most severe persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire. In 303, the emperors Diocletian, Maximian, Galerius, and Constantius issued a series of edicts rescinding Christians' legal ri ...
.
The Roman Martyrology
'' Transl. by the Archbishop of Baltimore. Last Edition, According to the Copy (Printed at Rome in 1914). Revised Edition, with the Imprimatur of His Eminence Cardinal Gibbons. Baltimore: John Murphy Company, 1916. pp. 125-126.
At the
Council of Chalcedon
The Council of Chalcedon (; la, Concilium Chalcedonense), ''Synodos tēs Chalkēdonos'' was the fourth ecumenical council of the Christian Church. It was convoked by the Roman emperor Marcian. The council convened in the city of Chalcedon, Bi ...
(451) bishops signed the documents of confession as ''Aphrodisiadis Metropolitan Cariae''. There are about thirty known bishops of Stauropoli in the first Christian millennium, many of them thanks to
epigraphic
Epigraphy () is the study of inscriptions, or epigraphs, as writing; it is the science of identifying graphemes, clarifying their meanings, classifying their uses according to dates and cultural contexts, and drawing conclusions about the wr ...
and sigillografiche discoveries.
In the ''
Notitia Episcopatuum'' composed during the reign of Emperor
Heraclius I (about 640), the seat of Stauropolis is listed at the 20th place in the hierarchical order of metropolitanates under the
patriarchate of Constantinople
The Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople ( el, Οἰκουμενικὸν Πατριαρχεῖον Κωνσταντινουπόλεως, translit=Oikoumenikón Patriarkhíon Konstantinoupóleos, ; la, Patriarchatus Oecumenicus Constanti ...
and are attributed 28 dioceses suffragan. In the ''Notitia'' attributed to Emperor
Leo VI (early tenth century) Stauropolis fell to 21st place among the metropolitanates of the Patriarchate, and the suffragan dioceses have become 26.
Residential bishops

* Ammon (mentioned at the
First Council of Nicæa in 325)
* Eumenius (Eudocius) (mentioned at the
First Council of Constantinople
The First Council of Constantinople ( la, Concilium Constantinopolitanum; grc-gre, Σύνοδος τῆς Κωνσταντινουπόλεως) was a council of Christian bishops convened in Constantinople (now Istanbul, Turkey) in AD 38 ...
in 381)
* Cyrus (at the
First Council of Ephesus
The Council of Ephesus was a council of Christian bishops convened in Ephesus (near present-day Selçuk in Turkey) in AD 431 by the Roman Emperor Theodosius II. This third ecumenical council, an effort to attain consensus in the church th ...
in 431 – after 449)
* Critonianus (mentioned at the
Council of Chalcedon
The Council of Chalcedon (; la, Concilium Chalcedonense), ''Synodos tēs Chalkēdonos'' was the fourth ecumenical council of the Christian Church. It was convoked by the Roman emperor Marcian. The council convened in the city of Chalcedon, Bi ...
in 451)
* Nonnus (mentioned in about 488)
* Euphemius (? – 518
exiled) (
monophysite bishop)
* Severianus (mentioned at the
Second Council of Constantinople
The Second Council of Constantinople is the fifth of the first seven ecumenical councils recognized by both the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Catholic Church. It is also recognized by the Old Catholics and others. Protestant opinions and re ...
in 553)
* Paul (558-576
deposed) (monophysite bishop)
* Deuterius (about 577 – about 582)
* Theopropius (5th–7th century)
* Ortagoras (5-7th century)
* Theodore I (mentioned in 680)
* Sisinnius (mentioned in 692)
* Eustacus (before 730 or between 787 and 815)
* Anonymous (mentioned in 787)
* Michael (8th century)
* Nicephorus I (first half of
9th century)
* Theodore II (before 861 – after 869)
* Niephorus II (mentioned in 879)
* Sergius (8th – 11th century)
*
Ephraem of Caria
Ephrem is a masculine given name, a variant spelling of Ephraim (also spelled ''Efrem'', ''Ephraem''). It is the name of biblical Ephraim, a son of Joseph and ancestor of the Tribe of Ephraim.
People
First name Pre-Modern
* Saint Ephrem, one of ...
(
11th century
The 11th century is the period from 1001 ( MI) through 1100 ( MC) in accordance with the Julian calendar, and the 1st century of the 2nd millennium.
In the history of Europe, this period is considered the early part of the High Middle Ages. ...
)
* Joseph (
10th century
The 10th century was the period from 901 (CMI) through 1000 ( M) in accordance with the Julian calendar, and the last century of the 1st millennium.
In China the Song dynasty was established. The Muslim World experienced a cultural zenith, es ...
)
* Anonymous (10th century)
* John I (mentioned in 997)
*
Leo the Deacon Leo the Deacon ( el, Λέων ο Διάκονος) (born c. 950) was a Byzantine Greek historian and chronicler.
He was born around 950 at Kaloe in Asia Minor, and was educated in Constantinople, where he became a deacon in the imperial palace. Whi ...
(10th - 11th century)
* Eustation II (11th century)
* Anonymous (after 1025 - before 1043)
* John II (mentioned in 1030)
* Constantine (mentioned in 1032)
* Ignatius (mentioned in 1039)
* John III? (first half of the 11th century)
* Demetrius (mentioned in 1054)
Surviving ''acta'' record that between 1356 and 1368 it was without a metropolitan, but was under the administration of the metropolitan of
Bizye. In 1369 metropolitan reappears as the recipient of the churches of
Miletus and
Antioch on the Maeander
Antioch on the Maeander or Antiochia on the Maeander ( el, Ἀντιόχεια τοῦ Μαιάνδρου; la, Antiochia ad Maeandrum), earlier Pythopolis, was a city of ancient Caria, in Anatolia. The city was situated between the Maeander an ...
, and another is mentioned in 1399. Isaias of Stauropolis attended the
Council of Florence (1439) and fled to avoid signing the decree of union.
Catholic titular see
The see ( la, Archidioecesis Stauropolitana) survives only as a
titular see
A titular see in various churches is an episcopal see of a former diocese that no longer functions, sometimes called a "dead diocese". The ordinary or hierarch of such a see may be styled a "titular metropolitan" (highest rank), "titular archbis ...
(archdiocese) of the
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
:
* Diego Hortiago de Escacena (28 August 1693 – 1696)
* Aloisio Scacoz (2 December 1831 – February 22, 1842)
* Guglielmo Massaia (August 2, 1881 – August 6, 1889)
* Francesco Domenico Reynaudi (Raynaud) (May 5, 1885 – July 24, 1893)
*
Alessandro de Risio
The archdiocese of Santa Severina was a Roman Catholic ecclesiastical territory in Calabria, southern Italy, that existed until 1986. In that year it was united into the diocese of Crotone, forming the Archdiocese of Crotone-Santa Severina. (November 30, 1896 – April 20, 1901)
*
Aurelio Zonghi Aurelio may refer to:
People Politicians
*Aurelio D. Gonzales Jr. (born 1964), congressman in the Philippines
* Aurélio de Lira Tavares (1905–1998), President of Brazil
*Aurelio Martínez, Honduran politician
*Aurelio Mosquera (1883–1939), Pr ...
(January 9, 1902 – June 27, 1902)
* Giovanni Battista Guidi (September 6, 1902 – July 22, 1904)
*
Saint Guido Maria Conforti (November 14, 1904 – December 12, 1907)
* Bernard Christen (May 29, 1908 – March 11, 1909)
* Emilio Maria Miniati (April 29, 1909 – March 17, 1918)
*
Ricardo Isaza y Goyechea (July 19, 1918 – June 28, 1929)
*
Giovanni Battista Dellepiane (July 18, 1929 – August 13, 1961)
*
Joseph Wilhelmus Maria Baeten
Dorylaeum or Dorylaion ( el, Δορύλαιον; tr, Şarhöyük) was an ancient city in Anatolia. It is now an archaeological site located near the city of Eskişehir, Turkey.
Its original location was about 10 km southwest of Eskiş ...
(September 8, 1961 – August 26, 1964)
*
Gabriel Thohey Mahn-Gaby (November 9, 1964 – June 19, 1971) of Rangoon
References
{{Authority control
Catholic titular sees in Asia
Defunct dioceses of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople
Byzantine Anatolia
Aphrodisias