Germia was a town and Byzantine pilgrimage site in the late

Roman province The Roman provinces (, pl. ) 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 ruled by a Roman appointed as Roman g ...

Galatia Secunda Galatia (; , ''Galatía'') was an ancient area in the highlands of central Anatolia, roughly corresponding to the provinces of Ankara and Eskişehir in modern Turkey. Galatia was named after the Gauls from Thrace (cf. Tylis), who settled here a ...

in Central Anatolia.''Annuario Pontificio 2013'' (Libreria Editrice Vaticana 2013 ), p. 902 The town's name is of

Indo-European The Indo-European languages are a language family native to the northern Indian subcontinent, most of Europe, and the Iranian plateau with additional native branches found in regions such as Sri Lanka, the Maldives, parts of Central Asia (e. ...

origin and reflects the presence of

thermal springs A hot spring, hydrothermal spring, or geothermal spring is a spring produced by the emergence of geothermally heated groundwater onto the surface of the Earth. The groundwater is heated either by shallow bodies of magma (molten rock) or by cir ...

nearby.

History

From the time of

Justinian I Justinian I (, ; 48214 November 565), also known as Justinian the Great, was Roman emperor from 527 to 565. His reign was marked by the ambitious but only partly realized ''renovatio imperii'', or "restoration of the Empire". This ambition was ...

(527–565) Germia became known as Myriangeloi (Myriads of Angels) because of its celebrated shrine of

Michael the Archangel Michael, also called Saint Michael the Archangel, Archangel Michael and Saint Michael the Taxiarch is an archangel and the warrior of God in Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. The earliest surviving mentions of his name are in third- and second- ...

and the Holy

Angel An angel is a spiritual (without a physical body), heavenly, or supernatural being, usually humanoid with bird-like wings, often depicted as a messenger or intermediary between God (the transcendent) and humanity (the profane) in variou ...

s.Siméon Vailhé, "Germia" in ''Catholic Encyclopedia'' (New York 19090
/ref>Cyril Mango, “The Pilgrimage Centre of St. Michael at Germia” ''Jahrbuch der Österreichischen Byzantinistik 36'' (1986): pp. 117-32 The fame of the site begun when a citizen of the nearby town of Goeleon healed the consul Stoudios with water taken from one of Germia's thermal springs in the fifth century. This consul then went on pilgrimage to Germia and built a church for Michael the Archangel as well as hospitals and old people's homes. Later, Justinian went in fulfilment of a vow to this town and bathed here. The saint

Theodore of Sykeon Saint Theodore of Sykeon, also known as Theodore the Sykeote (Greek: Θεόδωρος ό Συκεώτης), was a revered Byzantine ascetic, who lived between the first half of the 6th century and the thirteenth year of the Emperor Heraclius' ru ...

came often to the town which was also the place of his most famous miracle, the exorcising evil spirits from some of Germia's inhabitants. A priest from the church of St. Sergius participated in 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 and the town survived the various

invasions An invasion is a military offensive of combatants of one geopolitical entity, usually in large numbers, entering territory controlled by another similar entity, often involving acts of aggression. Generally, invasions have objectives of ...

throughout the middle Byzantine period. The ruins of the

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...

shrine are located in the village of Gümüşkonak, known as Yörme until 1984, 8 km south of

Günyüzü Günyüzü () is a municipality and district of Eskişehir Province, Turkey. Its area is 828 km2, and its population is 5,155 (2022). Its elevation is . Günyüzü became a bucak (subdistrict) in 1932 and gained the status of a district in ...

Eskişehir Province Eskişehir Province () is a Provinces of Turkey, province and Metropolitan municipalities in Turkey, metropolitan municipality in northwestern Turkey. Its area is 13,960 km2, and its population is 906,617 (2022). Its adjacent provinces are B ...

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

, as are the remains of

necropoleis A necropolis (: necropolises, necropoles, necropoleis, necropoli) is a large, designed cemetery with elaborate tomb monuments. The name stems from the Ancient Greek ''nekropolis'' (). The term usually implies a separate burial site at a distan ...

, baths and of an inn that Justinian built.

Episcopal see

In the 6th century, the geographer Hierocles mentioned Germia as a bishopric. By about 650 it was an autonomous archdiocese, a status it maintained in the 9th century and also under the emperors

Leo the Wise Leo VI, also known as Leo the Wise (; 19 September 866 – 11 May 912), was Byzantine Emperor from 886 to 912. The second ruler of the Macedonian dynasty (although his parentage is unclear), he was very well read, leading to his epithet. During ...

(886–912),

Constantine Porphyrogenitus Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus (; 17 May 905 – 9 November 959) was the fourth Byzantine emperor of the Macedonian dynasty, reigning from 6 June 913 to 9 November 959. He was the son of Emperor Leo VI and his fourth wife, Zoe Karbonopsina, an ...

(913–959), and

Alexius I Comnenus Alexios I Komnenos (, – 15 August 1118), Latinized as Alexius I Comnenus, was Byzantine emperor from 1081 to 1118. After usurping the throne, he was faced with a collapsing empire and constant warfare throughout his reign, Alexios wa ...

(1081–1118). It had become an autocephalous metropolitan see in the time of

Michael VIII Palaeologus Michael VIII Palaiologos or Palaeologus (; 1224 – 11 December 1282) reigned as Byzantine emperor from 1261 until his death in 1282, and previously as the co-emperor of the Empire of Nicaea from 1259 to 1261. Michael VIII was the founder of th ...

(1259–1282),

Andronicus II Andronikos II Palaiologos (; 25 March 1259 – 13 February 1332), Latinized as Andronicus II Palaeologus, reigned as Byzantine emperor from 1282 to 1328. His reign marked the beginning of the recently restored empire's final decline. ...

(1282–1328) and

Andronicus III Andronikos III Palaiologos (; 25 March 1297 – 15 June 1341), commonly Latinized as Andronicus III Palaeologus, was the Byzantine emperor from 1328 to 1341. He was the son of Michael IX Palaiologos and Rita of Armenia. He was proclaimed co ...

(1328–1341), but disappeared soon after. It is now in 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 ...

's list of

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 ...

References

{{coord, 39, 20, N, 31, 50, E, region:TR_type:city, display=title Populated places of the Byzantine Empire Dioceses of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople Dioceses in Asia Catholic titular sees in Asia Eastern Orthodox pilgrimage sites Michael (archangel) History of Eskişehir Province