Meloë () was a town in ancient
Lycia
Lycia (; Lycian: 𐊗𐊕𐊐𐊎𐊆𐊖 ''Trm̃mis''; , ; ) was a historical region in Anatolia from 15–14th centuries BC (as Lukka) to 546 BC. It bordered the Mediterranean Sea in what is today the provinces of Antalya and Muğ ...
, located near
Cape Kilidonia.
[
]
Bishops
When speaking of 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 ...
of Meloë in Lycia, Le Quien
Michel Le Quien (8 October 1661, Boulogne-sur-Mer – 12 March 1733, Paris) was a French historian and theologian.
Biography
Le Quien studied at , Paris, and at twenty entered the Dominican convent in Faubourg Saint-Germain, where he made ...
assigned to it three bishops mentioned in the acts of relatively late church councils. To do so, he assumes that Meloë was also called Mela. The first is Nicetas. who signed the acts of 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. ...
(787) as "Nicetas of Mela". Another is Paulus, who signed the acts of the Council of Constantinople (869)
The Fourth Council of Constantinople was the eighth ecumenical council of the Catholic Church held in Constantinople from 5 October 869, to 28 February 870. It was poorly attended, the first session by only 12 bishops and the number of bishops ...
and those 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 ...
as "Paulus of Mela". Also present at the last of these councils was "Petrus of Meloë". Le Quien takes it that Paulus became bishop under Patriarch Ignatius of Constantinople
Ignatius of Constantinople (; 798 – 23 October 877) was the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople from 847 to 858 and from 867 to 877. Ignatius lived during a complex time for the Byzantine Empire. The Iconoclast Controversy was ongoing, Bo ...
and Petrus under Photius
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 ...
. Gams accepts Le Quien's list of three named bishops.
Le Quien mentions as present at the council of 787 a bishop of Mela in Bithynia
Bithynia (; ) was an ancient region, kingdom and Roman province in the northwest of Asia Minor (present-day Turkey), adjoining the Sea of Marmara, the Bosporus, and the Black Sea. It bordered Mysia to the southwest, Paphlagonia to the northeast a ...
whose name is given in some accounts as Nicetas, the name also of the Nicetas of Mela whom Le Quien assigns to Meloë in Lycia, while other accounts refer to him as Nectarius.[ Gams, on the other hand, makes no mention of Mela in Bithynia among the bishoprics of either Bithynia Prima or Bithynia Secunda.][Gams, pp. 442–443]
No longer a residential bishopric, Meloë in Lycia is now 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. 927]
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Meloe (Lycia)
Populated places in ancient Lycia
Catholic titular sees in Asia
Ancient Greek archaeological sites in Turkey
Former populated places in Turkey
Antalya Province