Mürefte ( formerly Myriophyton; , or Miriofito) is a village in the district of Şarköy,

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...

, on the

Sea of Marmara The Sea of Marmara,; grc, Προποντίς, Προποντίδα, Propontís, Propontída also known as the Marmara Sea, is an inland sea located entirely within the borders of Turkey. It connects the Black Sea to the Aegean Sea via t ...

about 51 km southwest of

Tekirdağ Tekirdağ (; see also its other names) is a city in Turkey. It is located on the north coast of the Sea of Marmara, in the region of East Thrace. In 2019 the city's population was 204,001. Tekirdağ town is a commercial centre with a harbour ...

. After the

population exchange Population transfer or resettlement is a type of mass migration, often imposed by state policy or international authority and most frequently on the basis of ethnicity or religion but also due to economic development. Banishment or exile is a ...

some Megleno-Romanian families were settled. The early history of this town is not known. We find it mentioned for the first time in connection with an earthquake which destroyed it in the year 1063. It was visited by John Cantacuzene about 1350.

Ecclesiastical history

The original

diocese 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 associa ...

was in

Thracia Prima Thracia or Thrace ( ''Thrakē'') is the ancient name given to the southeastern Balkan region, the land inhabited by the Thracians. Thrace was ruled by the Odrysian kingdom during the Classical and Hellenistic eras, and briefly by the Greek D ...

, a suffragan of Heraclea Perinthos. A diocese of Peristatis (modern Şarköy) was established by 1170. The see was later transferred to Myriophyton, and renamed Peristasis and Myriophyton, mentioned first in a ''

Notitia episcopatuum The ''Notitiae Episcopatuum'' (singular: ''Notitia Episcopatuum'') are official documents that furnish Eastern countries the list and hierarchical rank of the metropolitan and suffragan bishoprics of a church. In the Roman Church (the -mostly Lati ...

'' of the end of the fifteenth century. In the sixteenth century Myriophytum displaced Peristasis, and the diocese took the name of Myriophyturn and Peristasis. According to the Ottoman population statistics of 1914, the

kaza A kaza (, , , plural: , , ; ota, قضا, script=Arab, (; meaning 'borough') * bg, околия (; meaning 'district'); also Кааза * el, υποδιοίκησις () or (, which means 'borough' or 'municipality'); also () * lad, kaza , ...

of Mürefte had a total population of 16,876, consisting of 14.146

Greeks The Greeks or Hellenes (; el, Έλληνες, ''Éllines'' ) are an ethnic group and nation indigenous to the Eastern Mediterranean and the Black Sea regions, namely Greece, Cyprus, Albania, Italy, Turkey, Egypt, and, to a lesser extent, oth ...

and 2.730 Muslims. The

Greek Orthodox The term Greek Orthodox Church ( Greek: Ἑλληνορθόδοξη Ἐκκλησία, ''Ellinorthódoxi Ekklisía'', ) has two meanings. The broader meaning designates "the entire body of Orthodox (Chalcedonian) Christianity, sometimes also cal ...

diocese became in January 1909 an autocephalous

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 ...

, the Metropolitanate of Myriophyton and Peristasis. The Orthodox population of the metropolitanate was evacuated in October 1922, just before the

Greek-Turkish population exchange The 1923 population exchange between Greece and Turkey ( el, Ἡ Ἀνταλλαγή, I Antallagí, ota, مبادله, Mübâdele, tr, Mübadele) stemmed from the " Convention Concerning the Exchange of Greek and Turkish Populations" signed at ...

, leaving no Orthodox population since then, but the church continues to appoint titular metropolitans to the see. The last

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

holder of the

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 Myriophytos or Miriofido died in 1932, and the see has been suppressed.

Agriculture

The coastline between

and Şarköy, particularly Mürefte, are notable centers for

viticulture Viticulture (from the Latin word for '' vine'') or winegrowing (wine growing) is the cultivation and harvesting of grapes. It is a branch of the science of horticulture. While the native territory of '' Vitis vinifera'', the common grape vine, ...

and

winemaking Winemaking or vinification is the production of wine, starting with the selection of the fruit, its fermentation into alcohol, and the bottling of the finished liquid. The history of wine-making stretches over millennia. The science of wine and ...

. A well-known wine producer, "Kutman", is located in the village, and maintains a wine museum also.

Notable people

* Aristotelis Kourtidis (1858 – 1928), Greek educator and writer. * Vasilis Logothetidis (1897 - 1960), Greek actor.

References

Sources

* The entry cites: *Drakos, ''Thrakika'' (in Greek, Athens, 1892), 72-93. * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Murefte Catholic titular sees in Europe Fishing communities in Turkey Populated coastal places in Turkey Former Greek towns in Turkey Villages in Şarköy District