Comba or Komba () was a city in

ancient Lycia Lycia (; Lycian language, Lycian: 𐊗𐊕𐊐𐊎𐊆𐊖 ''Trm̃mis''; , ; ) was a historical region in Anatolia from 15–14th centuries BC (as Lukka lands, Lukka) to 546 BC. It bordered the Mediterranean Sea in what is today the Prov ...

. Comba lay inland, near

Mount Cragus Mount Cragus or Mount Cragos or Mount Kragos (Greek: ) – also recorded as Hiera Acra – is a mountain in Turkey, in what was formerly ancient Lycia, Asia Minor. It is identified with the modern Sandak Dağ. Strabo (p. 665), whos ...

, and the cities

Octapolis Octapolis or Oktapolis () was a city of ancient Caria or Lycia. Per the Stadiasmus Patarensis it included the town of Lyrnai as one of eight constituent settlements implied by the name "8-city". It is noted by Ptolemy Claudius Ptolemy (; , ...

and Symbra. Its site is located near Gömbe in Asiatic Turkey. Comba appears as a bishopric, a

suffragan A suffragan bishop is a type of bishop in some Christian denominations. In the Catholic Church, a suffragan bishop leads a diocese within an ecclesiastical province other than the principal diocese, the metropolitan archdiocese; the diocese led ...

of the

metropolitan see Metropolitan may refer to: Areas and governance (secular and ecclesiastical) * Metropolitan archdiocese, the jurisdiction of a metropolitan archbishop ** Metropolitan bishop or archbishop, leader of an ecclesiastical "mother see" * Metropolitan ...

Myra Myra (; , ''Mýra'') was a city in Lycia. The city was probably founded by Lycians on the river Myros (; Turkish: ''Demre Çay''), in the fertile alluvial plain between, the Massikytos range (Turkish: ''Alaca Dağ'') and the Aegean Sea. By the ...

at a relatively late stage: it is not mentioned in the ''

Notitia Episcopatuum The ''Notitiae Episcopatuum'' (singular: ''Notitia Episcopatuum'') were official documents that furnished for Eastern countries the list and hierarchical rank of the metropolitan and suffragan bishoprics of a church. In the Roman Church (the mos ...

'' of Pseudo-Epiphanius, composed during the reign of

Emperor The word ''emperor'' (from , via ) can mean the male ruler of an empire. ''Empress'', the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), mother/grandmother (empress dowager/grand empress dowager), or a woman who rules ...

Heraclius Heraclius (; 11 February 641) was Byzantine emperor from 610 to 641. His rise to power began in 608, when he and his father, Heraclius the Elder, the Exarch of Africa, led a revolt against the unpopular emperor Phocas. Heraclius's reign was ...

(''c.'' 640), and its bishops appear only in the second half of the 7th century. The first is John, who participated in the

Quinisext Council The Quinisext Council (; , literally meaning, ''Fifth-Sixth Meeting''), i.e., the Fifth-Sixth Council, often called the Council ''in Trullo'', Trullan Council, or the Penthekte Synod, was a church council held in 692 at Constantinople under Ju ...

of 692. Bishop Constantine was at the

Second Council of Nicaea The Second Council of Nicaea is recognized as the last of the first seven ecumenical councils by the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Catholic Church. In addition, it is also recognized as such by Old Catholic Church, Old Catholics and others. ...

in 787, while another Constantine was one of the fathers of the

Council of Constantinople (879) The Fourth Council of Constantinople was held in 879–880. It confirmed the reinstatement of Photius I as patriarch of Constantinople. The result of this council is accepted by the Eastern Orthodox as having the authority of an ecumenical c ...

that rehabilitated the

patriarch The highest-ranking bishops in Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy, the Roman Catholic Church (above major archbishop and primate), the Hussite Church, Church of the East, and some Independent Catholic Churches are termed patriarchs (and ...

Photios I of Constantinople Photius I of Constantinople (, ''Phōtios''; 815 – 6 February 893), also spelled ''Photius''Fr. Justin Taylor, essay "Canon Law in the Age of the Fathers" (published in Jordan Hite, T.O.R., and Daniel J. Ward, O.S.B., "Readings, Cases, Mate ...

. A ''

'' of the 12th century still reports the presence of this diocese, even if it is not certain that at that time it still existed; the diocese certainly disappeared with the Turkish conquest of the next century. No longer a residential bishopric, Comba is today listed by the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

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 archbi ...

.''Annuario Pontificio 2013'' (Libreria Editrice Vaticana 2013 ), p. 873

Bishops

* John (mentioned in 692) * Constantine (mentioned in 787) * Constantine (II) (mentioned in 879)

Titular bishops

* Tarcisius Henricus Josephus van Valenberg, OFM Cap. (December 10, 1934 - December 18, 1984)

References

External links

Catholic Hierarchy

*Pius Bonifacius Gams
''Series episcoporum Ecclesiae Catholicae''
Leipzig 1931, p. 450 *Michel Lequien
''Oriens christianus in quatuor Patriarchatus digestus''
Paris 1740, Vol. I, coll. 991-992 *Raymond Janin, v. ''Comba'', i
''Dictionnaire d'Histoire et de Géographie ecclésiastiques''
vol. XIII, Paris 1956, col. 355 Populated places in ancient Lycia Catholic titular sees in Asia Ancient Greek archaeological sites in Turkey Former populated places in Turkey Kaş District {{Authority control